Kottayam: Undermining excellence

 Kottayam: Its students have gone on to pursue research in prestigious Indian and foreign universities. It has some of the best and costly equipment a post-graduate study centre in India can boast of. Its visiting faculty included some of the best in the field.

But that will most likely be history soon.The Institute for Integrated programmes and Research in Basic Sciences (IIRBS) of Mahatma Gandhi University is now ailing. The reason: apathy and indifference of the varsity leadership which cannot stomach the progress the centre has made since its establishment 10 years ago, say the students and the faculty.

The IIRBS was established in 2009 under the President's Mission project to enrich the ongoing teaching and research activities of the university and for providing intellectual, instrumental and experimental support in all branches of sciences. It offers five-year integrated post-graduate course in chemistry apart from PhD.

The academic activities of the centre have been hit for the last one year as the visiting faculties, who form the backbone of teaching at the centre, stopped coming as the centre has no money to invite them. The faculties who used to visit the IIRBS include experts from diverse disciplines. The prominent visitors to the campus in the previous years included Prof. Subramaniam (IIT Chennai) and Prof. S. Sankararaman (IIT Madras), Prof Anil J. Elias, professor, department of Chemistry, IIT Delhi, Prof. Bakthan Singaram, professor, department of chemistry and bio-chemistry, University of California and Prof. Siddharth R. Gadre, professor of physical chemistry, University of Pune.

Worse, some of the centre's temporary faculty have not been paid their salaries for many months, throwing the functioning of the centre to further trouble as it has no permanent faculty other than the director. The admission process, based on a thematic entrance exam, which is usually initiated in

June, has not started for this academic year as yet. This programme receives maximum number of applications for admissions (last year there were 600 applications for 10 seats) in the university.

The latest to hit the centre was an order from the university earlier this year which limited the spending power of the head of the department to Rs 25,000 a month against a corpus of Rs 5 crore a year which was at the disposal of the HoD. The corpus fund had helped the director meet the expenses including the salary and payments to the visiting faculty. At present, only a minor share of the centre's budget is being spent, allege the students.

Students say the step-motherly treatment of the university has resulted in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy unit, the first major instrument obtained through IRPHA- DST scheme of the government of India, purchased at a cost of Rs 2 crore in 2009, lying unattended in the centre. The power supply to the unit has now been cut off as the electricity bill dues were not settled for many months!

The students with whom this newspaper interacted were despondent over the pathetic state of affairs at the centre.  At present, there are 39 students (maximum strength is 75) in the five year MSc integrated course in chemistry in different batches. The students who completed their plus two were selected after a detailed screening which comprised a written examination and interview.  

Apart from the institutional apathy that hit the academic activity at the centre, they say the university has stopped the monthly stipend of Rs 2000 (under learning though employment programme), which has been in vogue since the centre started in 2009.

IIRBS director Ibnusaud said there are concerted efforts to destroy the centre which produced tremendous results over the last 10 years. "I fear that there are some private institutes, which are worried over the growth of the centre, are out to destroy us," Dr Ibnusaud said. "Ten of our students who completed their course in the last four years are now pursuing their Ph D in prestigious universities in the United States. Sixty per cent of the students studying here have got placements in IITs, and a few in IISc (three students, this is a unique distinction.)" The alumni of the IIRBS who now do research abroad include Dellamol Sebastian at the City University New York, Tharique Ahammed Ansari N at the University of Louisville and Abhijith A at University of Purdue.

He said some former officials of the university had ill-will towards the centre and they began initiatives to destroy it, which the current officials are following.

Dr Ibnusaud said the future of the centre, and the students, is in trouble and he is left alone to manage it. The students who had dreamt of pursuing their future studies in IITs and renowned universities abroad are now blaming the university for their fate now.

The students had approached the vice-chancellor a number times pointing out to him the condition of the centre and the need to revive it, said Phelin Rose Saji, another third year student. “He showed some enthusiasm in the initial stages but no action followed,” she said.

The students said the vice-chancellor asked them to fend for themselves running the course when they approached him with their complaints, especially the financial constraints. "How could they even think of asking us to fund the centre?" asks Manu Jyothi Ravi, a third year student. "How could students find money for the expenses of the centre? The actions of the authorities are inimical to the interests of the centre. The last time we had visiting faculties was a year ago. They have not been paid their remuneration, not even travelling allowance. All that the university has done is to curb the financial powers of the director."

The students are at a loss as to why the university chose to be inimical to a centre which added prestige to it. "There was five staff in the laboratory to look after the equipment till July last," said Nihala Rasheed, a student. "They were sacked one fine morning but no one replaced them. With this, the onus of looking after the costly equipment fell on us."

K.T. Zabeera, a research scholar in organic chemistry at the centre, told DC that there is a concerted effort on the part of certain higher level officials of the University to destroy it since it earned a reputation and placed students in foreign Universities in a span of 10 years.

T.N. Suresh Kumar, who holds a Ph.D from IIT Delhi and a  visiting faculty at the centre, told DC that he has not received salaries for the last seven months. He said the ego clash of certain syndicate members and higher officials may be  the reason for the anti-academic atmosphere prevailing in the centre.