90% Of India's Students Go To Colleges Where There Is Little Research: Principal Scientific Advisor To Centre

Addressing the CII Lifesciences Conclave, the Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre K VijayRagahvan stressed the need for the industry and science agencies to work together. He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought science agencies together in an extraordinary manner.

Ninety per cent of India's students go to colleges and universities where there is little research, which has to be rectified, Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre K VijayRagahvan said Friday. Addressing the CII Lifesciences Conclave, he stressed the need for the industry and science agencies to work together.

VijayRagahvan noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought science agencies together in an extraordinary manner. He said the country's research ecosystem has a robust spread-out -- the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR), Department of Science Technology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) -- which is "absolutely mind-boggling".

These institutes have an enormous intellectual, material and other infrastructure resources and these capabilities have to be leveraged, he noted. Similarly, there are nearly 70-75 central universities and hundreds of state and private universities across the country.

"Ninety per cent of the research support goes to those laboratories where 10 per cent of our students go. Ninety per cent of our students go to universities/colleges where there is little research. "Yet, they are literally just a stone's throw away from the best places of research and this is something that has to be rectified," the official said. If all agencies partner, the national lab network of resources can be available both to the industry and to these colleges and universities, VijayRaghavan suggested.