Role of research in quality enhancement

Dr.P.T.Hanamgond
Associate Professor of Geology, G.S.Science Degree College, Belgaum hanamgondpt@gmail.com

Abstract

In the current era of liberalization, privatization and globalization enhancement of the teachers quality by undertaking research (either research degree or research projects) plays an important role for the development of the individual as well as helping the society. The undertaking of researches is inevitable for the teachers for their promotion as it is tagged with the number of points gained by way of researches undertaken such as number of research papers published/presented in national or international journals, number of projects (major or minor) completed or ongoing etc.,

By undertaking research projects one can develop collaborations with other departments or institutions, meet people working in their research field, get motivation/innovative ideas for further researches, publish and/present research papers or articles and be known worldwide, develop the research culture in the institution, with the financial support of the funding agencies one can develop and upgrade their research laboratories with additional equipments, motivate students and be a role model for the young minds to take up basic science courses as well as higher education (PG and research degrees). Key Words: Quality, research, projects, funding agencies
Paper presented at the NAAC sponsored National Conference on Best practices of quality enhancement in higher education institutions, 24-25 August 2012, at SN Arts, DJM Commerce and BNS Science College, Sangamner, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India.

Introduction It is said that, a teacher with research is like a running water, and without research the teacher is like a stagnant water.

Earlier days the teachers were involved with their classroom activities and satisfied with their routine teaching and other co-curricular activities. Since last about a decade the mandatory process of NAAC accreditation and quality assessment has made the teachers and the institutions to be on their toe in all the fronts of academic or research activities and enhancement of the quality. Because of the NAAC process, the teachers additional qualifications, research and extension work, extracurricular activities etc., started gaining importance and getting recorded in the institutional performance. In addition to that, the 6th Pay revision has tagged the Pay bands and grade pay, promotions or increments, with the performance and making a teacher to be very active and perform regularly. Teachers each activity has been evaluated with credit points which have been linked with annual performance or self appraisals.

Many teachers are either unaware of the importance of researches or benefits to be gained out of research. At places, non availability of basic research facilities and support set back the research interests of the teachers. Some teachers even though they have extra ordinary knowledge and expertise restrict their knowledge and experience for routine teaching and completion of the syllabi or confining their activities to classroom. Some of them are unaware of the research facilities, schemes or programmes available through research project funding agencies such as UGC, DST, MoES, CSIR, BRNS, MoEF, INSA etc.

The non- involvement of teachers in research projects is also due to lack of interest or low confidence in preparing research proposals, organizing field work or data collection and implementing the research projects.

In the present paper, an attempt is made to highlight the benefits of research and its role in enhancing the quality of the teacher or the institution where the researches are undertaken.

Role of research for academic up-gradation of a teacher Once the teachers involve in the research, they start updating their knowledge by referring research papers, understanding the latest happenings in the individuals research field, identifying the lacunae or gaps to conduct research, identify the research problem, contacting other researchers working in their field, developing collaborations, MoUs etc. The researcher gets familiar with various research

methodologies, data collection, use of latest equipments/techniques etc., which will help to get innovative ideas or approaches to solving the research problems. By undertaking researches, the teacher can publish the research findings in the national and international journals, make presentations at the seminars or workshops which will bring the fame to the teacher and his institution. It also helps to get the national and international recognition for his work. If the research is of applied type and can be used for the development of the society, patents can also be generated and in some cases consultancy with monitory benefits are also possible. Some of the researches can be brought out technical reports or books for the use of students and researchers. Through all these the teacher can build his profile strong.

Role of research in the development and quality enhancement of the institution There are many research funding agencies such as UGC, DST, MoES, CSIR, DRDO, MoEF etc. UGC provides funding for the minor projects for the early career researchers or teachers. If a teacher gets a funding from any funding agencies, the credit goes to the institution. The institution gets 15% of the total grants as overhead expenses. This grant can be used for the infrastructure development for the teachers department such as- table, chair, cupboards, cubicles, electrification, fans, and internet with telephone-fax facility etc. Similarly, if every department has such projects, the entire institution can upgrade the infrastructure. From the research grants, the departments can upgrade their laboratories through equipments (pertaining to the research projects) including the computing facility (computer, printer, scanner etc). The institution can have a central instrumentation from all such projects, so that the free time can be used by the needy students or teachers. The involvement of teachers in research will contribute to publications, books, technical reports etc. All this, will definitely enhance the quality of the institution and bring name and fame. The institution with well equipped laboratories, well qualified teachers with ongoing researches, can apply and get various new courses depending upon the need of the society.

As the promotions and increments have been tagged with individual performance, it is now said that, those who are competent and knowledgeable only will sustain. Hence, it is a wakeup call for the young teachers and the teachers who have more than 10 years of service to take up research along with their routine teaching.

Balaram, (2009) in his article Teachers and Teaching, quotes a poem of Richard Hodgetts which is befitting for the current scenario of teachers drawing UGC pay scale and the institutions seeking total quality and higher standing in the society.

The quote says Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up It notes it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesnt matter whether youre a lion or a gazelle when the sun comes up, youd better be running.

Reference

[1] P. Balaram, 2009. Teachers and teaching. Current science, V.97(5 ) , 609-610.