India needs more PhDs?

India needs more PhDs. Here's why!: "In other areas of engineering, the picture is no better. Most of us know that except for the Indian Institutes of Technology and a few other institutions, the quality of undergraduate training is poor although the intake from the 10+2 system is good. Basically, we not only need a large number of graduates, but also good quality graduates. The recent U R Rao committee report has highlighted this issue clearly [3]."

I think the reason for this is quite clear. Teaching just isn't seen as a worthwhile career option. Neither is it considered worth it to "waste" another few years in higher studies in India.

People don't want to pay large sums of money for education. Which means that the people teaching in these institutions can never be paid as much as in industry. Which means that the best brains who pass out of those institutions will never go back there to teach or for research. Why would a PhD in Computer Science go back to teach when he can make a fortune by simply joining a software company?

Strangely enough, people crib about the high standards of education in schools and colleges, especially about exams and entrance procedures. How, in the name of the FSM, do you expect more PhDs if you are going to make Maths an optional subject in school?

"If a state like California can have ten University of California campuses giving comparable undergraduate education, certainly a country of one billion can have at least 20 IITs or IIT-type institutions!"

Such things already exist and are called the NITs. One must understand that all the UC campuses are not considered on equal footing by the student community, at least they weren't when I was a student.

Perhaps what needs to change is the economics of education. We weren't allowed to take "optional" courses because there weren't enough students to fill a class even though the teachers were willing to teach only a handful of us. And I hear similar stories from every college.

And it goes without saying, keep the politicians' grubby paws away from these institutions.