CHENNAI: Faculty members at IIT-Madras
focusing on research projects may soon be
able to forego classroom duties .
Teachers at the institution, proposing
various solutions to promote research and
deal with increasing workload on faculty
members , suggested that researchers be
spared from spending long hours in
classrooms if they are working on intensive
projects.
They also said the number of courses that
faculty members take should be divided
among two or more teachers.
They made the suggestions to an expert
panel following the recruitment of 22
teachers last month. Some departments have
already adopted individual models to focus
more on research . IIT-M estimates that a
faculty member spends a minimum of six
hours in classrooms a week and teaches
three courses each semester. Every faculty
member has five research scholars to guide.
But faculty members usually spend much
more time than in just guidance of research
scholars as they have related work like
evaluation as well as administrative duties.
Similar suggestions in the past could not be
implemented because of staff shortage. IIT-
M has 530 faculty members and 7,800
students. It has a sanctioned strength of 800
faculty members. The institution decided to
enroll more students in 2010, resulting in a
54% increase in admissions, but faculty
strength remained at 450, roughly the same
as previously.
"If a department has more than one faculty
member for a specialisation, one can be
spared from classroom duties in the first
semester and another can be given the same
opportunity the next semester," a professor
said.
IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi
indicated that the proposals may only be
implemented as a stop-gap arrangement and
said the institution did not plan to
introduce them at the policy level.
"Departments come up with internal
arrangements so teaching and research are
not compromised," he said. "Teaching and
research should go hand in hand. We had
600 doctoral scholars in 2007 and the
number had now gone up to 1,800. Our PhD
and MS students make up 30% of the
student strength. Increasing enrolment has
also resulted in IIT-M acquiring more
faculty members and PhD students."
Not all faculty members support the
proposal to reduce classroom hours. A
senior professor said IIT-M's academic
freedom allowed teachers to start new
programmes in specialised fields.
"The rationale is to give students the
opportunity to work on projects with their
teachers while also attending classes," the
professor said. "If an ambitious professor
doesn't want to teach students, it will be a
loss to the student community. Unlike
institutions like Defence Research
Development Organisation , IITs are part of
the public education system."
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