India Awards 7.5 Mn Science, Engg Degrees But Low on Doctorals

India is sixth, behind the US and China, in the number of doctoral degrees it awards.

Visva Bharati breaks tradition as it announces to distribute degrees without the usual convocation attended by PM.

(Photo: The Quint)

Although India awards the highest number of bachelor degrees in science and engineering in the world – estimated at around 7.5 million– it drops to the sixth rank when it comes to the number of doctoral degrees given out, The Telegraph reported, quoting the US National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators report for 2018.

The top spot for the most number of doctoral degrees awarded was the US (40,000), followed by China (34,000), Russia (19,000), Germany (15,000), the UK (14,000) and India (13,000).

The US, however, accounts for only 10 percent of the the bachelor degrees awarded in science and engineering.

Gangan Prathap, senior faculty member at the Abdul Kalam Technological University, told The Telegraph: “We don't see the same level of conversion from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees in India as in the US and China. India lacks the capacity to absorb graduates into postgraduate and doctoral degrees.”

The low proportion, Indian academicians believe, reflected the quality of the institutions and low research funding.

“We have few institutions of excellence at the bachelor's (undergraduate) level but many mediocre institutions, and most are inferior institutions,” a professor toldThe Telegraph.

In India, the Institutions with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade of A+ and A++ will soon be able to offer three-year degree programmes through online mode, which will be treated at par with regular courses.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) is formulating guidelines for three-year degree programmes to be provided online.

"Nearly 15 percent institutions in the country with top NAAC score of A+ and A++ will be able to offer three-year degree programmes online," HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters at the 65th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

(With inputs from The Telegraph, PTI)