Promoting Research and Innovation in Higher Education Institutions

Somak Raychaudhury

Inter-University Centre

for Astronomy and Astrophysics Pune

An autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission www.iucaa.in

National Conference of Vice-Chancellors and Directors of HEIs 2018

Teaching and Research in HEIs

•  Pre-independence: pioneering work in Science

was done in Colleges and Universities

•  Post-independence: emphasis has shifted to

research institutions; Universities have largely

remained outside (contrary to most countries

who do well in education)

•  Within Universities: small research groups

function better than large collaborations

Scientific output from Indian HEIs is increasing in quantity, but not as much in quality (citation, impact)

Asutosh Mookherjee 1914: First Indian National Science Congress In his Presidential Address, Asutosh Mookherjee made the case for research in Universities and its funding

“……But, looking to the future, … India’s landed classes should realise that science enables us to solve difficult agricultural problems and thereby to revolutionise agricultural methods” e.g. Taraknath Palit, Rashbehari Ghosh: University Science College Rs 37.5 lakhs in 1914.

Small and large-scale Research in HEIs

•  Research (mostly scientific) is of two kinds:

• Small group based research

• Large collaborative research

•  HEIs in India need to get engaged in both

•  This has required radical changes in

• Pedagogic practices- skill-based teaching,

problem solving, inquiry-based learning

• Bureaucracy in individual institutions

• Relation with the outside world, in

particular industry

The“Collectingfunnel”=Hornantenna

Penzias & Wilson

Nobel 1978

Jagadis Chandra Bose’s microwaves In Presidency College, Calcutta

The Synergy between Teaching and Research in HEIs

•  In doing research, students gain and develop

essential skills for gathering, synthesising

and creating knowledge

•  Teachers and Research Staff get fresher

insight into research conventions and habits,

and also learn how to teaching skills

It is necessary to •  Bring together specialised research for many institutions •  Harness skills necessary to enhance the employability of

students both within and outside of academia

Key Challenges for HEIs

•  Balance between teaching and research at

Universities and Colleges

•  Innovation in ways of linking research with

teaching

•  Delivering 21st century skills suited to

individual student strengths (flexibility)

•  Collaboration between HE institutions, HEIs

and industry

•  Outreach, dissemination of achievements, and

protection of rights

IndianInstitutesofScienceEducationandResearch(IISERs)

FoundedontheconceptofResearchUniversities.

IISERsaredesignedtointegrateundergraduatescienceteachingwithhighqualityresearch.

Emphasisisonmultidisciplinarylearningandresearch

Haveadoptedopencurriculum.Studentschoosetheirownbasket-fullofcourses:allstudentsgainsufficientbreadthinbothnaturalsciencesandHumanitiesandSocialSciencesandatthesametimegaindepthina

disciplineoftheirchoice.Wepursueinquiry-basedandresearch-basedunder-graduateandgraduate

scienceeducationprograms.

…Redefiningscienceeducation

Courtesy: L Shashidhara, IISER Pune

The UGC Inter-University Centres in Physics

•  Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Delhi

•  Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and

Astrophysics, Pune

•  UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research,

Indore

“..IUCAA,Punewassetupin1988asanautonomouscentreofexcellencetohelpinitiateandnurture,researchanddevelopmentalactivitiesinAstronomyandAstrophysicsintheUniversitysector.IUCAAwassetupwiththebasicpurposeofprovidingadvancedcentralizedfacilitiesforsubjectsnotadequatelycoveredintheuniversitydepartmentsandcolleges.“

JayantVNarlikar

Research&Development

UniversityProgrammesLarge

InternationalCollaborations

PublicOutreach

Activities at the Inter-University Centres

Teaching/LearningCentre

Visiting Associates from Universities and Colleges

IUCAA, Pune (200 HEIs) UGC-DAE CSR, Indore (350 HEIs)

LIGO-G1701635

Indo-US collaboration

Funding agencies: NSF (USA) and jointly DAE (India) & DST (India) Institutions: LIGO Lab., Caltech & MIT (USA), together with

LIGO-India:a Mega-Science project on Indian soil to build the 3rd Gravitational wave detector after the first two won a Nobel prize

1.  Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune 2.  Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar 3.  Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore 4.  Directorate of Construction, Services and Estate Management (DCSEM), Mumbai

Last three affiliated to Dept of Atomic Energy, India

★★

★★

NobelPrize2017:IUCAAbuiltthecoregroupforGW

researchinIndia

•  IIT Gandhinagar •  IIT Bombay •  IISER Trivandrum •  IISER Kolkata •  BITS Hyderabad •  and several others

15SeriesofmeetingsatIUCAAtobuildLIS&Tcommunity

Fourmeetingsin2017-18

IndianInstitutions:IUCAA,IPR,RRCAT,IITMadras,IITDelhi,IITKanpur,IISERPune,IISERTvm,IISERKolkata,TIFRMumbai,TIFRHyderabad,

ICTS-TIFR,PhysicalResearchLab.,NationalPhysicalLaboratory,Univ.ofPune&Nanded,SINPKolkata,…

http://www.gw.iucaa.in/litra2016/

Internationalexperts:RanaAdhikari(CaltechUS),

GilesHammond(GlasgowUK),KiwamuIzumi(LIGO-HanfordUS),

BrianLantz(StanfordU,US),DavidMcClelland(ANU,Aus.),

BennoWillke(AEI-Hannover,Germany)BrettShapiro(StanfordU.,US)

AndreasFriese(U.Birmingham,UK)

LIGO-IndiaSciencebuildup

Dates: August 16-18, 2016

Venue: IUCAA, Pune.

(An Autonomous Institution of the University Grants Commission)

INTER-UNIVERSITY CENTRE FORASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

LIGO-India:The Road AheadThis is the first LIGO-India specific meeting since it received its in-principle approval from the Government of India earlier this year.

The primary purpose of this meeting is to discuss the various activities that Indian experimenters will need to undertake in order to build and commission LIGO-India. There will be discussions on early plans for the next detectors beyond Advanced LIGO as well.

Plenary Speakers:Rana Adhikari (Caltech)Giles Hammond (Glasgow)Kiwamu Izumi (LIGO-Hanford)Brian Lantz (Stanford)David McClelland (ANU)Anil Prabhakar (IIT-Chennai)Umakant Rapol (IISER-Pune)C. S. Unnikrishnan (TIFR)Benno Willke (AEI-Hannover)

Organizing Committee

Sukanta Bose

Ajit Kembhavi

Sanjit Mitra

Somak Raychaudhury

Tarun Souradeep

Meeting website: www.gw.iucaa.in/litra2016/ | Contact: Ms. Pallavi Nalawade (pallavi@iucaa.in)For further information on Gravitational Wave research in IUCAA visit: www.gw.iucaa.in

IUCAA, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, S. P. Pune University Campus, Pune 411 007, India. Tel: +91 20 2560 4100 | Fax: +91 20 2560 4699

www.iucaa.in

**The image (courtesy LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations) shows the sky localization region in gray of GW150914 produced by the two LIGO detectors in the US. The small dark teardrop is what that region would have shrunk to if LIGO-India were present and had observed that event.

The Saraswati Supercluster

•  Bagchi, Raychaudhury, Dabhade (IUCAA Pune)

•  Sankhyayan (IISER Pune) •  Sarkar (NIT Jamshedpur) •  Jacob (Newman College,

Kerala)

KBC 21 Oct 2017

Key Challenges for HEIs

•  Balance between teaching and research at

Universities and Colleges

•  Innovation in ways of linking research with

teaching

•  Delivering 21st century skills suited to

individual student strengths (flexibility)

•  Collaboration between HE institutions, HEIs

and industry

•  Outreach, dissemination of achievements, and

protection of rights