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It has been debated for some time now whether what you learn in the classrooms of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is as important as what you learn in the common rooms.
It depends to some extent, of course, on where you have ended up. If you are working in the private sector in India or abroad, the common room scores. If you are at these institutes — ostensibly teaching — the classroom has no competition. What’s more, it is likely that you never visited the common room. Folks who spend all their time studying to the exclusion of almost everything else do so to become toppers and go places in life. Then they find they lack the gumption to take on life. They end up as living testimony to the adage: “He who can does; he who cannot teaches.”
But not all professors at such places are refugees from the real world; the institutes wouldn’t be so highly rated if they were. Some have worked for many years, discovered their calling and returned to teach. They are what differentiate good institutes from the bad. The faculty comes first. The other key elements in the reputation of the college are the alumni and the current students. But good students join only if they know the faculty is good.
Indians in the US went there to make a new life for themselves. There was seldom any thought of returning to India. That has changed. The inflexion point came somewhere around 2002, according to a study done on graduates from the IITs by Evalueserve, a provider of knowledge services.
“IITians have historically preferred to move to the US or other countries to pursue higher studies and explore more attractive career opportunities,” says the study. “However, preferences have changed during the past few years.” A couple of points are worth noting. First, the quality of education is what took them to the US in the first place. But that is gradually declining in importance (Later studies also bear this out). Second, the quality of life has dropped to nearly zero as an attraction.
The Evalueserve study relates to a working diaspora. A more recent study (by David Finegold, dean, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers; B. Venkatesh Kumar, professor, School of Labour and Management Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences; and Rutgers doctoral student Anne-Laure Winkler) looks at the potential teaching diaspora. “The results of this new survey of nearly 1,000 Indians who are currently undertaking, or have completed, graduate study in the US suggest that a great opportunity exists to attract this group back to India: only 8 per cent of the sample strongly prefers to remain in the US, with the remainder either planning to return to India (preferably after some work experience abroad) or undecided,” says the study.
What holds them back from taking up an academic career in India? The key factors identified are removing red tape, reducing perceived corruption, and expanding research opportunities for faculty. The sample does rate private sector jobs as a better option than joining academics. But there are enough who are willing to give the latter a try. Featuring lowest on the list of preferences (at an abysmal 15 per cent) are private colleges. By contrast, the IITs and IIMs are the choice of 73 per cent.
It is well known that if you want a good job you head for the IITs and IIMs. If you want a good job as a teacher you head there as well. Private colleges don’t seem to have credibility in the classrooms. Perhaps, at this stage, they need to focus on the extracurricular — the common rooms that make you a complete individual.
DECISION OF THE DIASPORA
Responses of IIT graduates (1964-2001)
■ Better educational opportunities 70
■ Better employment opportunities 15
■ Better standard of living 12
■ More lucrative offers 1
■ Better work culture 1
Responses of IIT graduates (2002-2008)
■ Better educational opportunities 63
■ Better employment opportunities 17
■ Better standard of living 0
■ More lucrative offers 10
■ Better work culture 7
Responses of Indian students in the US (2011)
■ High quality teaching 50
■ Cutting edge research 43
■ Professionalism and work ethic 43
■ Better options after graduation 39
■ Want a job and emigrate to the US 8
■ Family reasons 6
