India cannot figure in the global university ranking list unless the entire process of awarding doctoral degrees is revamped. The UGC, in particular, must reconsider its research norms and guidelines and link funding to good research output
Research is the backbone of the higher education system and universities. Functions of higher education include teaching, research and extension. Teaching and research are expected to consume 80 per cent of the time and efforts of teachers as well as students. In fact, research can be the single most important criterion for judging the quality of any university.
If teachers are not involved in research, they won’t be able to update themselves. Consequently, they would be delivering same lectures year after year. However, I must add that research does not always mean doctoral research or research leading to an award of a degree. Teachers at the undergraduate level may be involved in action research or short-term research to test their own understanding about different areas of teaching.
During the mid-1970s, the University Grants Commission (UGC) made it compulsory for all teachers to earn a doctoral degree to get promoted and to get salary increments. Since then, every teacher has earned a PhD degree, and as a consequence, has become eligible to extra increments.
If we look at the rate of award of PhD degrees, the maximum number of them must have been awarded during the late 1970s. Every eligible supervisor got their scholars registered in double digits. In fact, some supervisors had more than 50 scholars registered with them. Some of the lesser known universities awarded most of the PhD degrees.
I don’t think even one per cent of those registered for PhD were denied their degree because they did not have research acumen or their work was not up to the mark. And ever since, there has not been any break in this process. It will be anybody’s guess that either the UGC never reviewed its decision or it did not have any understanding of the process and, hence, expected outcomes from its decisions.
It is a fact that Indian research has been under criticism time and again. A report said, “Indian PhD is not worth the paper on which it is printed.” Nothing could be more damaging to the Indian higher education. Instead of defending the degrees awarded by our universities, we must take such comments seriously. Universities with non-functional libraries and laboratories with no supplies are awarding PhDs in bulk, that too in major subjects.
Once I had the occasion to read a PhD thesis in which the scholar was pleading to pass the right of children to primary education. This, more than a year after the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act was passed in 2009. One wonders what has the UGC been doing to maintain the quality of researchIJ
On a lighter note, a senior teacher once mentioned that doctoral degree is the easiest degree to be obtained/awarded. Once a scholar has been able to find a guru, he/she can rest assured that the degree will be awarded. The supervisor approves the research proposal and also defends it at the Board of Studies or Research Council, as the case may be. If the supervisor is a senior person, chances of rejection of the topic is unlikely. Once the topic is approved, the supervisor makes sure that the candidates’ presentation is not rejected. Finally, the thesis, approved by the supervisor, is submitted.
There was a provision made recently to prepare a pre-submission presentation by the candidate and also a viva-voce. But again, rejections have been rare. In any case, the name of the examiner is submitted by the supervisor. In academia, peer review is sacrosanct; and we boast of it but in India, we have made a mockery of peer review. A thesis is rarely rejected. We know the reasons. The UGC too must know. If it does not, it must do some exercise to find the truth.
In a number of Western universities, the supervisor does not sign the thesis and certify that the work of the scholar is genuine. How is it possible for the supervisor to certify that the work of the scholar is genuine and not copied from any other sourceIJ The supervisor is not expected to have accessed all the sources that the scholar accesses as a researcher of that area/topic. However, in most Indian universities, the supervisor is also one of the examiners. These are age-old processes and we stick to it. More reputed universities have done away with these processes. The supervisor neither signs the thesis nor is he/she the examiner. Is it not time we reconsider our processesIJ
In fact, the whole process of awarding doctoral degree needs reconsideration and revamping but I will put the case of distance education universities and rest my case. In 2009, the UGC came out with a regulation and made all distance education universities ineligible for awarding doctoral degrees. Nothing could be funnier than this. The word and the institution named ‘university’ incorporates in it, the act of research. How can a university be made ineligible to award doctoral degree and be justified to be called a universityIJ
The open university is among the top five research universities in the UK. The Indira Gandhi National Open University first decided not to promote research during the early years of its establishment. The ill-effects of this decision can be seen now and later when it decided to start research degree programme.
The UGC is posed with major roadblocks. In fact, open universities should be the best platform to promote non-conventional research and also retain researchers, who otherwise cannot go to regular universities. Here is a message for the Chairman, UGC DP Singh: Better late than never. If we want to see some of our universities in the best 200 list, reconsider your research norms and guidelines and also link funding to good research output.
(The writer is Professor of Education at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal)
