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OUR TAMIL NADU BUREAU
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Research in Tamil Nadu’s non-technical universities has got a fresh impetus, thanks to consistent liberal funding, and the focus has moved beyond signing MoUs to taking the benefits to the end-user.
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Photo: K. Ganesan
Cultivating talent: The Plant Transformation Laboratory at the Madurai Kamaraj University developed with funding support.
Far from the conventional stereotype of ill-funded, under-equipped research dens, research in Tamil Nadu’s non-technical universities has internationalised rapidly, with a slew of global collaborations, liberal grants and systemic changes in the benefits to the end-user.
Education Plus takes a look at the semantics of research in a few universities:
With a 150-year-old history behind it, the University of Madras leads from the front. While the first-ever national testing facility in a university for neurotoxins will soon be set up by the Department of Pharmacology and Environmental Toxicology, the university itself has received research grants worth Rs. 15 crore from various agencies such as the University Grants Commission and the Department of Science and Technology. A multi-crore grant from the Department of Ocean Development under the Ministry of Earth Sciences will enable the study of anti-HIV properties of extracts from marine organisms.
The Nanotechnology Centre at Taramani is all set to receive a Rs. 100-crore grant. The university has mooted a ‘Centre for Excellence’ status for nine of its departments. “The newly set-up Centre for Ocean Studies has embarked upon an ambitious project of community-based coastal management, with expertise from the faculty of Kyoto University, Japan, to conduct research in areas like climate change. The Centre for Natural Hazards and Disaster Management is pioneering another concept whereby the results will be transferred directly to the user community,” says R. Krishnamoorthy, the university’s Scientific Officer.
The International Centre of Madras University (ICOM) has facilitated a series of collaborations between various university departments and overseas institutions such as University of Northern Ireland, University of Tours in France and Leeds University in the U.K. “The emphasis has now shifted from merely signing an MoU to having the benefits percolate to the ground level, as in identification of the university’s English department by Tours University as a centre for teaching Business English to its students,” says C.T. Indra, director, ICOM.
Madurai Kamaraj University
Among the universities in southern Tamil Nadu, Madurai Kamaraj University is the largest beneficiary of national and international funding, with science departments leading the way. In recent years, the quantum of grants had gone up phenomenally. According to K. Veluthambi, Dean (Research and Development) at MKU, projects worth Rs. 80 crore are underway right now. “At any given point of time, more than 150 research projects would be underway in our university and the huge grants are being utilised for establishing laboratories and developing infrastructure.” The funds come on a regular basis from the UGC, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Indian Council of Social Research and the Department of Environment and many more organisations. Also, projects with support of Indo-Swiss Collaboration and Israel collaboration are being carried out.
Thanks to the liberal funding, the university now has well equipped laboratories in many science departments like the genetic engineering research unit, bio-informatics lab, Centre for Genomic Sciences, tissue culture facility and plant transformation laboratory. The recent recognition of University with Potential for Excellence from the UGC has given MKU a fresh impetus and fresh funds to the tune of Rs. 30 crore. A total of 11 projects have been sanctioned under the Departmental Research Support scheme of the UGC. The core strengths have been identified and even the younger faculty are motivated to take up research activity in the laboratories that function till late at night.
To promote research interest among students, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, has set up a Centre for Life Sciences in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation. It has set up a nanofacility centre for specialised research in nanotechnology.
The university publishes about 300 research papers and has a sizeable number of patents every year. With active research progressing in nanotechnology, biotechnology and bioinformatics, it publishes close to 200 research projects every year, says vice-chancellor G. Thiruvasagam. Though the university is yet to receive international funds for research, it receives adequate funding support from the UGC and the Directorate for Science and Technology and also from the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
However, research facilities are confined to the university. “It should be extended to the colleges affiliated to it,” the VC points out. “Through this, more students can be motivated to take up research,” he adds.
Within just one year, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has received funds to the tune of Rs. 4.37 crore from various agencies such as the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, UGC, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), CISR, State Planning Commission and Ministry of Environment and Forests. Among these is a prestigious DBT project for establishing a Bioinformatics Infrastructure for promoting biology teaching under the Biotechnology Information System Network project.
(Inputs from Vani Doraisamy in Chennai, Shastry V. Mallady in Madurai, Anasuya Menon in Coimbatore and P. Sudhakar in Tirunelveli)
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