The outreach program by the prestigious United States-India Educational Foundation(USIEF) to share information of its much sought after Fulbright-Nehru and other fellowships at RGU campus a few days back can be construed as a significant effort to motivate the research-minded young Arunachalees, the future of the state. It has also brought to the fore the importance of research, an intrinsic aspect of any higher education model for shaping the future course of progress.
Being a major seat of learning for thousands of years India was home to both Takshashila - the first university in the world, and to the inventor of the digit 0 - Aryabhaṭta and it was thus not without reasons that Albert Einstein once remarked: "we owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."
Indian higher education system is the currently third largest in the world, next to the United States and China and it is estimated that by 2030, we will be amongst the youngest nations in the world with nearly 140 million people in the college-going age group implying that one in every four graduates in the world will be a product of the Indian higher education system. Also, there is nurturing of the ambition to eliminate poverty and become a $9 trillion economy by 2030.
Now, for realising this dream of becoming an economic superpower much will depend on the qualitative contribution from the higher education sector. In simple words, we need to improve the research orientation of the higher educational institutions with special emphasis on industry linkages. Without an active research base at the academic level we cannot lay the foundations for a progressive economy with inclusive growth as a cornerstone.
But sadly, after a B Tech or an M Tech, that what is invariably sought after is an MBA and a high salaried MNC job. The apathy for research is a fact and has been lamented by many scholars.Introducing undergraduate research along with offers of respectable fellowships and scholarships in institutes, not just in ‘Institutes of Eminence’ (IoE) but also in public universities, affiliated colleges and autonomous colleges might have an answer to this .
Arunachal, often called as the nature’s laboratory with vastly unexplored biodiversity and bio-resources could very well be the biotechnology research nerve centre of the country. Having quite a large number of biotechnology and allied research institutes with attractive fellowship bouquet will automatically draw the best minds of the state to pursue a career in research.
Also, as a huge repository of medicinal plants there could be vast opportunities for the pharmaceutical industries to flourish.
It is only with this symbiotic research-industry journey, the menace of unemployment can be tackled effectively.