Besides launching online registration; the university has also decided to allow
engineers with Ph.D working in different companies to act as guides
Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has made it easy
for engineers with M.Tech degree to pursue Ph.D programmes. Besides launching
an online portal to make the registration process easy, the varsity will allow those
working in different companies after completing M.Tech and Ph.D to act as guides.
The decision will be a boon for the country, and the state in particular considering
the severe shortage of professors with Ph.Ds. The state alone has around 30,000
faculty members at various engineering colleges, but barely 10% of them have Ph.D
degrees. According to an estimate, around 1,000 new universities, including branches
of foreign ones, are expected to come up in India in the next five years. This will
create a need for 15,000 to 20,000 faculty members with Ph.D.
VTU vice-chancellor Dr. H Maheshappa said, Hitherto, VTU had stringent rules for
Ph.D programmes. For example, only those colleges which had research and development
(R&D) facility were eligible to offer Ph.D programmes and one faculty member could
guide only five students. This had limited the openings for students who wanted
to pursue Ph.D. The online facility will allow people who are working in different
organisations to register for the programme. After they have registered the synopsis
and information about their guides, an expert panel will check and approve their
enrolment. The university, which has around 100 colleges with R&D facility under
it, has awarded Ph.D degree to altogether 159 candidates during the past three academic
years.
Courtesy: Timrd of India
