Date:25/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/25/stories/2008052558600300.htm

Karnataka

‘Industry, academia should work together’

Staff Correspondent

Students urged to study basic sciences

Government to set up six centres for study of sciences
Impetus sought to be given to
doctoral studies

Manipal: Director general of Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) Shrikumar Suryanarayan said on Saturday that it was important for both the industry and the academia to move forward without preconceived notions.

He was speaking at the annual day celebrations of Manipal Life Sciences Centre, a constituent of Manipal University, here.

Dr. Suryanarayan said that it was only through better individual interactions that the ties between organisations could be strengthened. There were several possibilities of collaboration that could arise from strong ties between universities and institutions, he said.

National research professor M.S. Valiathan said that the flight of students to professional courses, especially Information Technology, had affected the basic sciences. To reverse this trend, the Government had decided to set up six centres dealing with basic sciences in six cities across the country. The country was lagging behind in producing Ph.Ds, especially in the field of engineering. In many cases, it was found that students who had completed post-graduation in biotechnology were simply not qualified enough to pursue doctoral studies. This trend should be reversed and the quality of higher education should be improved, Prof. Valiathan said.

Registrar of Manipal University G.K. Prabhu welcomed the gathering. Director of the centre K. Satyamoorthy presented the report. The best outgoing student award in M.Sc. and B.Sc were given to Shelly Kaushik and Sohini Sarkar, respectively. Kranthi Kumari proposed a vote of thanks.