Newindpress

Mangalore, Mar 12: Day four of Engineer-’07 was ‘The Last Word’, a panel discussion on ‘Public funding of higher education and its relevance to society’.

Eminent personalities from both industry and academia were part of the panel. Prof Deepak B Phatak of IIT Mumbai chaired the panel and opined that lack of interest in innovation among students and teachers and unwillingness to teach students to think creatively are the prime reasons, why increase in public funding cannot be justified.

He added that it is lack of incentives and low pay scale which prevents the students from entering the teaching profession.

UICT Mumbai Head of Chemical Engineering Prof G D Yadav said, innovation in every field is necessary for the overall development of the nation and not just in the field of IT and urged students of other branches of engineering to take up careers in their core branches.

Pointing out examples of people from US who make immense contribution to education, he urged the alumni association to offer support to their alma mater on financial fronts too.

Infosys Limited Head of Independent Validation Services Solutions vice-president Arun Ramu brought forth the industry perspective to the discussion and said that public funding is not a one sided approach.

He also emphasised on the need to treat people with respect and dignity while working in a team.

IIM Ahmedabad professor Dr Anil K Gupta felt that investment in higher education is justified if the people in the society are able to gain something from it.

He urged the students to develop an opinion on various issues and requested teachers not to be authoritarian as it discourages students to be expressive. As the Founder of the National Innovation Foundation, he highlighted the various awards which the foundation has given away over the past few years to boost education.

Globals Inc CEO Suhas Gopinath, the youngest panelist who is just 20 years old brought forth the need for the spirit of entrepreneurship to grow among students as that encourages students to think creatively.

His idea received support from Dr Anil Gupta who spoke on how entrepreneurs, if they fail in their venture can come back to continue their degree in college and be entitled to the same jobs as those currently graduating. He also felt that the mindset of the Indian society was such that they are not able to readily accept the idea of entrepreneurship.

Lack of incentives and low pay scale prevents the students from entering teaching profession.