Balram Avittathur at IIMB — A Chance Encounter and Learnings from a Decades-Old Friend
It’s always fun and happy to find one’s classmate and friend on an exalted podium talking on a very serious topic. It is even more happiness when the topic is covered in a very lucid manner, and has the potential to add value to all.
Well I am talking about the keynote speech of Dr. Balram Avittathur, from IIM Calcutta at IMRDC 2024, the IIMB Management Review (IMR) Doctoral Conference.
It was by chance I came to know about the session, and I joined as I was keen to know what Balram had to say. And I was not disappointed, I picked up a few nuggets that are worthy of sharing:
1. Research has always been a concern in India, but the good news is that the focus is steadily improving. However, at times some of the faculties are taking research and publications as more important than teaching.
I wonder what may be the reason, but I suspect that research credentials are often more portable than teaching, especially globally. However, the academic consensus is – that teaching is the primary objective for a faculty, and as such aberrations need to be corrected.
2. Publication is not easy. I was surprised that Balram could not make even one paper from his PhD work. Reasons were many, including not aligning with the objectives of the publication, or even not so a serious review (at least visibly). But there is a silver lining too, a paper that was not accepted for a small sample size of 26, but significant persuasion back by data changed it to acceptance status.
3. Publications in premier journals remain a challenge for Indian researchers, especially when the publication has all India-based authors. I quote this from the presentation:
“UTD Journal Ranking of Universities: For 2020-2024, 68 articles featuring authors from Indian institutes but just one article that had authors from India alone.”
As an outsider, this appears to be of concern. Even after Balram’s disclaimer that this is a cursory glance at the data and should not be considered as a “finding”, questions do arise – Is Indian work subpar? Or is it inherent bias? Or a combination of both?
Whatever it is, if it is a trend there is a lot to work on.
4. There is a need for institutes to progress completely from “faculty-run” to “faculty-governed”. Many institutions put enormous non-academic burdens on the faculty, including administrative work. While some faculties fancy such opportunities, many don’t. We must look at this transition for the good of both academics as well research.
However, this is not easy. It will need investments in both staff as well technical infrastructure. However, the rewards will soon show in branding, the ability to attract talent, and elevated tuition costs.
5. This is big, and possibly the biggest. India does not have journals of global repute, and we need to work hard to build some. It can’t always be foreign journals where we will dream to be published, and feel validated post that. We need to also build a strong Indian research ecosystem, including publications.
The link to the speech (caution – audio low quality)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_4HiI6esY&t=1268s
