Careers360 World-class universities: What can India learn? | Page 3

INTERVIEW | Prof Ved Prakash

It is research output
that matters
India needs about 20 world class
universities to be set up across the
country and they can be set up at a
cost of say 20,000 crore rupees
Dr. Venkat Rangan

VC of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

One needs to develop on a
mission mode a system of preparing
high quality faculty in large numbers
with specializations in diverse areas
Dr. Shyam B Menon

VC, Ambedkar University, Delhi

W

orld class institutions, which
have comparable international
counterparts, whether Harvard, Cambridge or Oxford, cannot be created
ab initio. They have become world
class because of the quality of thought
they generated over a period of time.
By sheer dint of the depth and quality of their work, a larger number of
Indian institutions too could become
world class institutions.
So, the lesson here is that each university has to strive towards contributing to the frontier areas of knowledge to be among the top universities
and research institutions of the world.
It is the performance level of the university in research which would earn
for itself the status of recognition for
being a world class institution. However, it may not be out of place to
make an attempt to create a few centres with world class infrastructure
facilities where cutting edge research
in different knowledge domains could
be their forte for international recognition. Creation of facilities in such
centres could also act as a resource
support to other universities to benefit from the facilities created. In this
sense, it could be a good idea to set
up some top level institutions ab initio to act as catalyst to the best of
minds. This can prevent brain drain
of people in top ranking institutions
very well and nurture such institutions with creative talents on the soil
of the nation itself.
Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman of UGC