There are lots of Indian College/ Universities which does not provide any funding forresearch in real but does on paper only. The regulatory body of universities and colleges has to be very strick on this regards. It should not be compromise with some randsome money...

There are lots of Indian College/ Universities which does not provide any funding forresearch in real but does on paper only. The regulatory body of universities and colleges has to be very strick on this regards. It should not be compromise with some randsome money...

Every country must have tougher regulations for the establishment of private University to protect quality and standards in our higher education. the regulations should include necessary equipment, laboratories, libraries and acceptable Prof/student ratio.

I do not oppose the cooperation of Universities and the private sector. However the bridge between the University and the private sector, should be carefully and rigorously 

constructed in such a way the autonomy of the research in University will be not touched at all. No contracts under the table! We should be very strict on this.

As for private universities, these should bee under the control of Ministry of Eduction, with strict laws.  

It is really a proud moment to feel such an accolade land on final year students of Private Universities, "SRM University's satellite to take to the skies - Students of SRM University explaining the features of SRMSAT to be launched along with Megha-Tropiques satellite, on board PSLV-C18"....

Such of these activities require a lot of motivation and financial support which the government run cannot afford...

http://www.srmuniv.ac.in/node/7229

In such universities, perhaps research and supervision of research students should be a pre-requisite for continued tenure.

I believe that this situation will spread further aggravating the reported problems.

Dear @Debi, I think that  promoting scientific research in privately-funded academic universities can have a huge impact for and of great benefits for the institution. The following book entitled:"Science in the private interest: Has the lure of profits corrupted biomedical research?‏"  by S. Krimsky discusses the private interest in science, see the link:

http://books.google.jo/books?hl=ar&lr=&id=W_qKbgQ5XbwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=Promoting+scientific+research+in+privately-funded+academic+institutions+and+universities%3F&ots=R-tGuAeKc1&sig=f0n74o73TexGP_Hx-z2AcfVs5mo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dear all

I personally feel that funding is not the key issue in these institutions, but the environment that has been made very suffocating by the institutions concerned. If you ask academics to mark attendance and remain in the office for 6 days a week from 9 to 5, research can not be done even if you have funding.

I was wondering if you can bring out some issues that are beyond the funding. I believe that the issues here are quite different from those in the publicly funded universities.

I agree ambiance and freedom contributes to research contributions, At time in Engineering and scientific disciplines the FUND sanctioned is not enough to complete a project.

More than getting the fund, running errands to get it sanctioned, and the sweet time it takes for the sanction to happen with the projected timelines of the project are concern areas too..

Dear Debi,

Dear All,

In Hungary the system of private higher educational institutions is undeveloped. I have practically no information on their scientific or research activity. Generally their staff consists of quite weak scientists and private colleges try to increase the standard of their activity by hiring some distinguished specialists timely.

I thought as naive as I am that most of these private institutions are well financed and so from point of view of facilities they have no material troubles which are the most essential obstacles these days. Is it right?

In Jordan, all universities should spend 3% of its operational budget to scientific research. In addition to that, there are many external resources available for supporting researches.

In my opinion, every ministry of higher education should develop a criteria to control the fund on scientific research and combine this criteria in local accreditation system. Thus each university required to implement it.

within Malaysian context, ministry of higher education offer a huge budget for scientific research for all universities either public or private, but there is one condition that each project should has a practical contributions to fund it and the project should be decided to many publication in isi or Scopus.

regards

Yes Mr. Simula 

 i am also in favour of "Establishing a scientific council' 

Scientific research depends upon many factors such as the temperament of the people, research infrastructure, good set of available students, support, and of course research budget. Now it is easy to blame others without sincerely trying. There are a large number of funding sources available, as also a number of things that can be done without money if we think of a good number of theoretical formulations. It is easier to blame on others and other factors and get away with that. I think we should not expect that everything be provided on a platter to do. The more difficult the circumstances, more challenging it is for the researchers to accomplish. I know many people not doing research in spite of having all the facilities. The person himself/herself will need that resolve and willingness to do research.

I agree to quite an extent with what dear Nageswar  says i.e. funding sources can be availed of from the existing bodies that provide for research for academics in these institutions. And, of course, where there is will there is a way. But only to some extent. People who are unusually passionate and determined on doing certain things they find a way. But the issue is normal humans are not like that. May be only about 5 to 10 per cent people can find a way in any kind of environment. Normal people require certain basic minimum conditions.

I am  invited  to many such institutions for delivering lectures or in some seminars. When I talk to the faculty they give a very dismal picture of the work environment; so do some colleagues who are heading some such institutions. The owner runs the institute on the basis of total distrust, and in all these organizations sits there full time either himself personally or some representative of the owner. And, his objective is to interfere in every little issue. So the real issue is not  just of funds, I agree. Often, one can do research on one's own as well. I have some papers in some good journals on the basis of data collected from my alumni student-managers. I did not get any money to fund these research papers. The problem lies elsewhere.

My experience is that many of the so called people who wine all the time is that they are in a place known simply for teaching and nothing else. There are many options that are available to them to move. Have they tried? Obviously not and if you ask them they will come up with some other excuses. I have seen even in Government universities even with facilities, they come up with all kind of excuses for not doing research. That is why I said it has to be the desire on the part of the person which will help. Many of them I have seen is that they have other interests and try to find some scape goats to not doing the job.

This is going to be very difficult indeed! However, this might differ from one country to another depending on several socioeconomic factors.

I agree with all what have been discussed previously.  I would like to see the culture of research increase in the society. If this spread between diverse people in the society, research fund from private sector would increased.  In addition,  facilitating fund raising is important if there are clear criteria adopted.  Meanwhile, University should priorities type of research needed for the society.  Classification of good journals also make researchers aware of what is importance for the academic ranking. I also agree that research centers should be able to function accordingly. 

Some posts mention about the need for a Scientific Council to regulate the privately-funded technical institutions. In Indian context, we do have such a body. It is known as: All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). In fact, this body regulates the functioning of all technical, engineering, medical and management education in India imparted by these privately set-up institutions. But a good amount of politics plays its role in its functioning. The former Chairperson of this body is fighting a criminal case of corruption against him related to taking money for conferring accreditation to some institutions that were not viable enough. In India, this body's working is far from satisfactory. But the point that you have made is very right. There is a need for strict regulation by dedicated academicians of these institutions through a well constituted scientific body.

Accreditation of a university must be highly reliant on the demonstrated scholarship and academic output of its students or represents little of value. Doctoral level work is often lonely work and is often not so much about class attendance as it is rigor and critical thinking--classes should cover core specialized subjects beyond Masters level, research methods and design, and developing a suitable, research relevant to the area of study,  and to find a justifiable research problem. Beyond that, the work goes independently with tethered mentorship. This is difficult work, not something someone can sleep through or merely say "aye" during roll call. Attendance is a one, rigor and demonstrated scholarship are a ten on the likert scale of doctoral work, as far as I am concerned.  

I agree with the observations of Max. While I am not opposed to private universities, I believe that regulatory body must ensure the quality of education in the private universities. Maintaining the quality of PhD level research is of utmost importance. Periodical assessment of PhD research work form the beginning to the end is essential. Periodical assessment must be done at every stage by group of experts including research guide, before acceptance of the thesis for submission to the university for referring the same to the examiners for evaluation. It may be true that some of the private universities may be driven by commercial considerations, but we cannot generalize.

Dear @Debi, as far as I am aware of scientific research in private funded Institutions and Universities in Serbia, nothing important happened so far. "Although there are no official statistical data concerning the participation of private faculties and private universities in the research activities, either on the national or international level, findings of surveys of research activities in the higher education sector indicate that most of the private higher education institutions are “teaching” faculties, with transmission of knowledge

(teaching) as their only activity".

So, much activities must be done in order to turn the private institutions and Universities toward research, mainly applied research. The problem is, as far as I am concerned, in fact that such institutions are not able to enter the market yet! In term of project financing, they are treated equally as state Institutes and Universities. Also, they make very good money in teaching!

http://www.herdata.org/public/HE_and_Research_in_Serbia_FINAL.pdf

Dear Ljubomir, The situation in Serbia, thus, is exactly the same as in india. Especially the ones having better reputation in teaching and placement of their products make fabulous money, but their research output is hopelessly low or absent. And, because the culture in the whole country is like that, even regulatory agencies overlook this aspect while grating them accreditation or re-certifying the same. I am sure, it is not due to lack funds alone. Dear Nages has a very important point to make in this regard. The whole system has got structured like that. But some of the young academics teaching in these institutions have a desire to rise the academic ladder, so they try to write some papers and publish them. But as such, there is no substantial  contribution to reserach. Thanks for sharing your view. However, some very promising universities have also come uo recently, which have been set up by big industrial houses. They are performing far better than the public universities. But such universities are not even in double digit.

The echonomic crisis in Europe and expecially in some countries as mine let us to search new sources of funding for research. So private Institutions funding for research are wellcome. It is obvious that University must always maintain their autonomy as well as its role may be now also to arouse the interest of private institutions to its product. At present it is also a way forward out of necessity, "posterity will judge" in the words of Alessandro Manzoni.

The view expressed by dear @ Lerardi is one way of looking at the issue. This leads us to the conclusion that the market will take care of the malaise, as competition increases and the demand for excellence in these institutions increases, the best ones will survive; others will fade away as a natural process. And, the time will tell which ones were seeing the writings on the wall, and adapting themselves to the needs of the market in terms of fulfilling the research needs of the society. Indeed, a number of such institutions are getting closed in my own country due to the lack of demand consequent to the downturn, and they being perceived by the prospective students as not worth considering for their education.. 

But the issue is that if the time for their adopting more professional ways is too long, then can the society allow them to run themselves the way they are doing presently? That is a debatable question??

In the preamble of the question it is argued that

“they often record attendance of their academicians and researchers on a daily basis, and make them sit in the institution from 9 to 5, even as Ph.D. is an essential qualification for all faculty members.”

I do not understand what is wrong in it. I have seen persons with very high academic qualification are reluctant to take regular classes. Even they are seldom available in their office and or laboratory. They fail to understand that they are being paid for such responsibilities. When some body reminds them about this they become annoyed. It seems that, as because they are qualified they need not be answerable to any body. I have seen in many Government institutions costly equipments are purchased but unfortunately no output could be produced using them. Sometimes they are never used. I feel because of these misdeeds of our colleagues the owners of the private institutions get courage to behave as mentioned. I strongly believe that academic audit should be made mandatory for these institutions.

This leads to Morality and Conscience of Educators and Researchers

• INPUT - Experience and  Expertise
• OUTPUT - delivering the academic support and scientific work,

Output is linked to salary and Input is linked to Incentive or differential pay, but "Surging Output" because of "out weighted Input",is not legitimately RIGHT, should not lead to Excuse,as it is a psychological problem.

However, the "Watchful eye" concept of time -Time Management on these High profiled researchers will lead to CLOSURE of self and inhibits innovation and holds back creativity, they are liable for exemplary outputs.

They should have timeline reviews and Audits as their performance progress measures.

"Educational achievement pads up Self Esteem"

In some places, the student is looked at as an equivalent to the amount of money which s/he pays for education. Some universities have excelled in collection of money from the enormous number of students who joined them. Since they were successful "businesses", then some rich persons tried to invest in education by establishing private universities. In some places it worked & in some countries "private education" was resisted by " the old guys" because they thought of  the newcomers as a source of threat that will diminish their profits. The government  may have given the permit so "the old guys" will work upon denying any support for research so as the new arrivals will suffer from "weakness" from the start... and the long story goes on. Very sad, indeed.

This is a complex issue and hence one which I would have thought would be difficult to regulate via any government type of organization unless the government was one of the major funders.

Privately funded universities are going to purse business strategies which allow them to both a) compete and b) remain financially viable, and hence funding research may not always be viewed as a major priority (noting the current issues in Eurozone countries).

Plus research can be costly and not easy to sustain unless there is an organizational track record of research excellence, which also is related to leadership and organizational culture. For the younger newer organizations this then means that leadership and organizational culture are the major factors that help contribute to driving a research agenda forward. 

Interesting conundrum!

Pressure on Universities for Research - Governor advices Vice Chancellors

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/focus-on-research-governor-tells-varsities/article6340266.ece

Pressure on Universities for Research - Governor advises Vice Chancellors

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/focus-on-research-governor-tells-varsities/article6340266.ece

The observation of Dr Anup surprises me; that too coming from a distinguished academic.  If some people are shirkers, attendance for everyone is not the answer. In fact, by making the attendance compulsory, you are going to trouble those who have a sense of shame and are hard workers. They need flexibility, not control and suspicion. That is why nowhere in the world you have attendance register for academics. Even enlightened commercial establishments are providing 'work from home facilities' to their people. Do we want accountability or attendance? We need to be clear. When I was in a research institute during 1992-194, I had a bright research assistant, who was the best of the three I had. She told me on  one day that she would not be coming from the next day, as her maid had left and she had a small child to care. I immediately told her work from home, and come once in 2 or 3 days to deliver it and take the next lot of work in the evening. My bureaucrat Director General raised the same objection as Dr Anup is raising. I asked him, do we want attendance or result. I published 4 research/reference books besides many papers in the 2 years that I was there. Hats off to my research assistant  who did exceptionally good work.

I do agree with notion of @Anup:"...academic audit should be made mandatory for these institutions." 

Of course dear @Debi, I do agree on "need flexibility, not control and suspicion."

Dear Prof. Saini,

I appreciate your concern about flexibility and do agree that there are people like your research assistant who could understand her responsibilities. Possibly that is the reason why you could remember her contribution though it happened 22 years back. This incident is less probable and therefore the information content is extremely large. I do agree that most of the faculty members are responsible enough but my observation also include a considerable number. What I tried to express in my earlier post is that the intellectuals should also be answerable. I do believe that teachers in higher education institution who neglect  teaching in the name of flexibility should be taken to task. I do not understand why we should not be made answerable?

Debi makes important points. In our experience we find those who are allowed to work from home apply a deeper obligation upon themselves to be productive--going into the wee hours of the morning to complete their work when necessary--than they do when doing the obligatory on-site work. Private institutions understand this and have gone tremendously more toward the online and work from home model, and as a result are enormously more productive. 

In the research institutes where there is no teaching program and the nature of the work is such that not much interaction with other members is necessary may adopt work from home concept, but there also some form of accountability  is necessary. Nothing can work without such measure.

I agree, Anup--the University of Phoenix seems to have a tight accountability system I hear from my colleagues that work for them. Hopefully, one of them will enlighten us on how that is done.

Dear @ Dr Anup, Undoubtedly, we need accountability. And, I am of the view that take the strictest possible  action should be taken against  those who shirk their work. First through counseling, then tackle them legally. But my point is that attendance compulsion is not the answer to bring them to work. People who do not want to work, will not even work after compulsory attendance. They will create more nuisance and politics sitting at the workplace if you make them sit, and further vitiate the organizational climate. They need to be tackled very strictly. In fact, recruitments od academics need to be done very carefully after testing the attitude of the person, and multiple testings. The responsible academics must develop a performance culture in the organization whereby only the shameless will dare not teach or perform. To me, the best answers to dealing with  irresponsibility is: transformational leadership, peer pressure and performance culture.

In my institute, where there is no funding by the government at all, even as it is not strictly private (it was set up by a financial institution), we earn all the money for the institute's surivival and growth; we have our freedom as well. We have feedback from the  students so far as teaching is concerned. It is difficult to survive for anyone who is not acceptable to the students. For our consulting, if I am not acceptable to my client, I am out, and will not get more assignments. I am of the view, that the best way to destroy academic excellence is to enforce attendance. I have my co-author in a leading British university. She said sometime, I go to the department after 14 days, if I have no work there, I can work from anywhere. And, she is one of the leading names in my area in terms of research.

Dear Prof. Saini,

I have some different opinion. This I have developed during my 40 years long teaching career. I feel some kind of optimization is necessary in attendance issues. You have sighted two examples supporting  extreme relaxation.. I think I can also sight similar examples supporting my views and possibly this will continue.

I do not know whether you play bridge. It is possible to make GS with only 7 points but it is always better not to open a call unless you have at least 13 points in your hand.

Best regards

So much learning is truly self-taught. In the decades I attended classes, from primary to secondary to post-secondary to graduate school, I've rarely heard a lecture given nor explanation given of solving a problem or my classmate's answers or the teacher's questions because of deafness. But I always considered about two grade levels above my peers, read profusely, worked hard, and stayed at or near the top of class all the way through. Self-empowerment, self-discipline, self-control, self-learning: the attributes most important to be a lifelong learner and scholar. Does anyone truly have to punch a time clock if the task they are given is achieved in spades? The accountabilily is demonstrated in quality and quantity of outcomes.

Dear Dr Anup

I will just add a few points for the benefit of our other friends on RG. Research has revealed that even in the private systems, leading companies are those that are practicing "empowerment model of  people management," and those organizations that practice instrumentalist people management (means: control, suspicion, rules-centricity, bureaucratic practices) are on the decline. Thus, in order to attract more and more talented people organizations are following a heavy tilt towards trust, empowerment, ambiance-creation, involvement, dignity, respecting individual idiosyncrasy and diversity, flexibility, learning climate, work-life balance, employee care, transformational  leadership, proactive communication, respect for talent, and so on.

There is scramble   among the organizations to attract and retain the best so as to get competitive advantage, which would run away if they try to deal with the talent in a bureaucratic way. Of course, some degree of control of  what is called instrumentalist HRM has to be accepted by one and all in the interest of some semblance of a system in the organization, but the least the better. Of course, this needs a very careful selection of the key people resources  of such organization. I have been teaching a full course to MBA students on this in India and abroad, titled: "Strategic People Management."

Some years ago, I was on the Board of a management institute. In one meeting, the owner asked me, "I want to make this institute world class, and want your suggestions." I asked him,"Do you have a register for your faculty to mark attendance." He said, "Yes." I said the first pre-requisite of making your institute a world class is "Tearing off that attendance register, can you do not." He looked at me with grave surprise. When the Board was re-constitute after its term had expired, he removed me rather than the register. It has been found that only about 10 percent managers or decision makers are empowerment-centric; others are control-centric. The latter fear that empowerment would destroy the organization. I am of the view that institutions  that practice excessive control can not even be on the fringe of a world class institute."  

Dear Max, I am proud of you and the way to have marched to excellence in your career despite the deafness. i also wish the very best for you, and that all academic administrators also practice and internalize the self-control method of discipline with their faculty. There is a private steel -producing company called "Chaparral Steel." It believes in least control for its people and maximum freedom for them. Its CEO believes that "only 3 per cent people cheat; and for catching these 3% we should not trouble the rest 97 % and ask them to submit themselves to rules for catching the thief; if we do so we are sure to be out of business." 

Totally agree with the Chapparal Steel example, Debi. Most people are immensely more honest when trusted than when controlled, and when it is the product of their work that matters more than the time or wherewithal spent. This does not mean that all work can be accomplished in such a free environment, for you have to have the management skills to go with this--it seems our greatest shortage in humanity is in good managers. True managers lead and empower, and exercise obvious control sparingly.

There is a principal in rehab that we have developed at DigiCare Behavioral Research (and are continuing to develop) called the "Merkel Disc Approach": If you want to re-establish a faulty neurological system (after restoring lost myelin, healed injury, resolved infection, or atrophy) in the most poweful manner, you use the least pressure on the sensitive component of its mechanoreceptor sensor, the Merkel Discs which reside just below the Epidermis. Then, the body's own Neuron, which the energy stream feeds, becomes the one to inspire the Mitochondria to action and produces immensely more ATP with which to produce the necessary healing and rehabiiitative action. The neuron, in this example, becomes the individual's acquired and latent talent and skills and sense of stewardship (To thine own self be true), while the mitochondria become their self-starting ability and accountability. The manager finesses the individual with the least amount of pressure and direct control, and trusts the individual to perform (once they are sure they can perform). Once the individual feels that something outside itself is controlking it, it will succumb and allow the outside control to do the job (volition removed).

LIkewise, once the worker feels the boss is totally controlling them, the worker is released from the outcome which then all of that becomes the responsibility of the boss. There are some weaknesses in this model when dealing with work and human beings, but good managers know and act and are sensitive to where those weaknesses occur, accordingly.      

Medical Projects such as to  improve the ability to take care of osteopathic physicians while they are working diligently to improve the lives of their patients.

http://www.mi-osteopathic.org/?page=10

It is an interesting question ..... the challenge is that these institutions can only survive if they keep their professors many hours in the classroom. And if so, how to do research?

A first starting point would be the analysis of the profit margin of the investors behind the institution. I would suggest that the target profit margin was stated in the bylaws of the institution.

Every sincere efforts need to be made for promoting scientific research in privately-funded academic institutions and universities, particularly in developing countries like India. This would revolutionize teaching, research and HRD activities, and all sorts of advanced infrastructure, aids in funds and good salary need to be provided for this novel cause...all this will lead to a step for as developed nation

I fully agree with you , Debi S Saini . I had worked in public sector Institutes & the only question asked of me was whether I came on time & whether I signed the attendance register . I was never asked on my academic contribution & they are still unaware of it . The only solution is to assess the academic ranking of these Institutes & researcher should join them only if they have freedom to do independent work . The tragedy is that scientist , who become heads of these Institutes behave as administrators rather than researchers . Society also respects these administrators , rather than the unknown researchers of their Institutes . RG has ranked these Institutes & even our best are far lower than the Institutes of other countries in Asia .