CREATING A RESEARCH VISION FOR IIT KANPUR

K. Muralidhar

Dean: Research and Development

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Kanpur 208106 India

PURPOSE

Foster excellence Make an impact Improve visibility Attract high caliber individuals

Overall, the hope is to raise quality.

2

A POSER…

Individuals are full of ideas Career plans are laid out

If so

Is a single vision statement at the Institute level possible?

3

A CONTRARY VIEW…

Real-life is competitive, quality conscious, and demanding while resources are invariably limited.

Research (including innovation) drives the economy.

Individual contributions need to add up.

A research vision can help in planning and prioritization and improve effectiveness.

4

WHAT IS VISION?It spells out clearly the following

attributes:

Focus

Priority

Emphasis

Leadership

Character (values)

5

EXAMPLES…

i. Excellence in engineering education

ii. number one or two

in anything you do

{Jack Welch, GE ?}

iii. Top 20 among technical universities worldwide

iv. Train students at the highest level

6

EXAMPLES

Topics such as

solar energy technologies,

public health,

water resources,

require a consolidation of expertise and a careful strategy.

7

CONSEQUENCES

Infrastructure Time management Recruitment

8

PRESENT STATUS

Individual (personalized) research has evolved quite well.

Institute has gained due recognition. Publication statistics are good. The culture of sponsored research is

well in place.

9

YET …

we are not organized to take on grand challenges,

We are not geared towards substantial research, and

our international ranking is unacceptable.

10

I FEEL … It is important to work on a large

enough scale; Quality of research is paramount; Lead publications must emerge

often; Research needs to be appropriately

dynamic; Ideas (impact and frequency) as well

as products and patents should be the defining features.

11

A VIEWPOINT

Participate in competitive proposal writing.

Research themes have to address complexity.

Connections among faculty need to be strengthened.

Fortunately a substantial amount of money is

available for research.12

CLOSURE

We need to have a collective vision to be known as an international institute of repute.

Vision may be built up in quantitative terms or qualitatively in the form of values.

We require a broad consensus on this important subject.

13

THANK YOU!

14