Fresh PhDs opt teaching as a career
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 15:03 IST
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Fresh PhDs opt teaching as a career
Ahmedabad: There has been a tremendous growth in the number of students, who are opting teaching as an option in their career. A lot of fresh doctoral students from IIMs are now getting lured by this profession after the recessionary pressure felt by the global economy and the implementation of sixth pay commission, reports Avinash Nair of Economic Times. The trend is quite prominent in the faculty recruitment that happened recently at some of the smaller IIMs. IIM-Indore has recruited around 20 fresh PhDs from the top three IIMs in the last one year, whereas IIM-Shillong has opted to recruit fresh passouts from IITs. IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Kozhikode have also recruited PhDs from the IIMs. ?A few years ago, the number of PhDs choosing to join academics was hardly 50%. There were significant numbers of students who used to opt for an opening in the industry. However, after the recession and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, academics has suddenly become more attractive. The numbers of students opting to take up teaching as a career has now risen to 80 percent,? says Abraham Koshy, a senior faculty at IIM-A. IIM is no doubt an attractive destination for the doctoral students to be employed and at the same time, grooming home bred talents becomes easier for the reputed institutes. ?In the last one year, we have recruited about 22 faculty. About three-four of them are from the US, while the rest are from the top IIMs. All of them are young and energetic,? says N Ravichandran, director, IIM-Indore. On being asked about fresh doctoral students being tapped by the institute, Ravichandran said, ?Who else is available? Moreover, there is a talented crop of young fellows who pass out every year from the top IIMs.? The Director?s comment seems to fit the opinion of Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal. As per Sibal, about 25 percent of faculty positions within the IIMs were lying vacant and the government had initiated various long-term measures to attract young people to take up teaching as a career option.

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