Research push by institutions adds value to learning

The emphasis on research, an important parameter in the ranking of institutions, is increasingly visible across campuses, going by the number of research publications on research forums. Platforms like Scopus which index peer-reviewed publications indicate that such publications have more than doubled in the past five years across institutions in the country and in Tamil Nadu.This holds true especially with private institutions.
While IITs across and some other central institutions have recorded more than 1,000 journals since 2010, a growth in the numbers can clearly be seen across private institutions too. VIT University, which had about 400 journals in 2010, had 2,230 in 2015, according to Scopus.
Similarly, Anna University has gone up from 880 to 2,000 while Sathyabama University's numbers have shot up from 200 over 1,500.
Experts say this kind of jump could be due to a conscious research push across institutions. VIT University's research director Prof Babu says in the past five years, the institute has made efforts to be recognised as a research-oriented one.
With most institutions signing MoUs and having collaborations with universities across India and abroad, collaborative research work could be a big factor for this push. However, some say that the numbers alone cannot indicate any improvement and it has to be simultaneously measured with quality.
While institutions like IISc, Bangalore or IITs have consistently been producing quality journals over the years, experts say quality has improved in private institutions too, but not completely. Due to this reason, the h-index (indicates productivity and citation impact of the publications) was high only where a consistent research record by institutions was shown.
"If 40% of the total published journals had an impact factor some years ago, the number has now risen to 50% and even 60% in some colleges. However, 20% to 30% of the total number of journals are still poor quality ones," said a professor of Sathyabama University.
Prof S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean (Development and Planning), SASTRA University, says that research funding for universities in India is not on a level playing field and therefore the numbers cannot be taken at face value completely. "As long as research funding is not competitive, analysis based on research publication metrics will favour only public-funded institutions," he said.