On 17/07/07, Vikram Vincent vincentvikram@gmail.com wrote:
There used to be a time when students in India used to do research which was useful for the Indian economy. If I am not mistaken the current public investment in higher education is just about 0.37% of the GDP and is much below the required levels.
Sorry lost the thread... But due to the reduction of funding towards education students were forced to not take up research topics that were oriented towards our self-sufficiency but rather took up research that were oriented towards the development of other countries as the foreign corporations such as the Ford Foundation, etc.. were/are providing funding. Can you identify the vicious circle?
We see education as a public service which is responsible for providing
us(students/youth) with the skills needed for economic success and also for building the foundations of a civil society. While the Indian Govt has already permitted 100% FDI in education under the GATS2000 negotiations I still feel that there are some options to negate or reduce its impact. But first we need 6% of GDP and 10% of Central budget allocated towards education. That should reduce some of our problems.