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LATEST
NEWS |
16th
March 2010 / Times of India / Bangalore Edition
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 Global Campuses Homing In
Big guns to roll out India campuses, poach professors
MORE AYES THAN NAYS. THAT’S THE CLEAR VERDICT FROM TOP EDUCATION EXPERTS
Mumbai: In 2008, when Atlanta-based Georgia Tech University bought 250 acres of land in Hyderabad, it left many gaping. It did something even more astonishing shortly afterwards: it invited its own faculty members to quit their jobs and consider moving to India.
A professor in the computer science department of the university told TOI: “Each one of us got a formal note. Even more amazingly, all of us were offered the same salary that we were getting in Georgia. It was clearly an offer very few would even think of refusing; given the cost of living in India, it would straightaway translate into a fortune, if not a killing.’’
The note read, “Those who take a transfer to Hyderabad, or are recruited for the India campus, will be offered the same dollar-salary compensation that is paid in Georgia.’’
This is not a unique case, though. Quite a few American and European universities, which have plans of setting up a campus in India, have sent out similar messages to their teaching staff.
With the government paving the way for foreign universities to set up campuses in India, it can only mean one thing: poorly paid academic superstars of the country’s top institutes can finally expect to get value for their worship. In other words, lowly paid teachers will be poached. Three American academics — L Rumbley, I Pacheco and Philip Altbach, who drew up a chart — found that Saudi Arabia paid its professors the highest on an average — $6,611, followed by Canada at $6,548 and United States at $5,816 per month. India, on the other hand, pays only — $1,547.
S Biswas, dean of academic affairs at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, said, “I gave up a high-paying job in the US and came to teach here. A lot of us will not merely join a foreign university for the pay. The university has to have a complete environment: from bright students to well-equipped labs, to high-end research facilities to independence that they will give professors.
The Bill is an opportunity for our children to get quality education. If colleges like Stanford or Cambridge come to India, then there’s nothing to beat that. However, they must make sure there is a transparent and wellarticulated regulation committee. We should not let them commercialise the industry. Even the fee structure will have to be regulated.
— M S Thimmappa | FORMER BANGALORE VICE-CHANCELLOR
Our universities need to get ready now — start providing infrastructure, high-tech labs and good faculty. We have an advantage of collaborating with the foreign universities. The Bill will do us good if our universities take up the challenge.
— K Balaveera Reddy | FORMER VICE-CHANCELLOR, VISVESVARAYA
TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
As we are on our way to becoming a developed nation, we should be far more inclusive. Such foreign institutions will encourage the best of talents to come to us. However, there is no dearth of third-rate institutions; we should not let them come and establish here. As long as that is taken care of, I’m all for it.
— S Sadagopan | IIIT-B DIRECTOR
The Bill is a step in the right direction. There have to be certain regulatory and safeguard measures before letting them. This is to prevent education becoming a business.
— R Venkata Rao | VICE-CHANCELLOR, NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA’S UNIVERSITY
The Bill, if approved in Parliament, will strengthen Indian universities and improve the quality. Initially, it will be competition for faculty and students. It will also save foreign exchange and students can experience international-quality university in India.
— Prof. R Natarajan | FORMER DIRECTOR, IIT-MADRAS, AND FORMER AICTE CHAIRMAN
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