Despite the presence of four premier research institutes and the recent boost in the biotechnology activities, Karnataka''s R&D spectrum seems deserted by quality human resource now. Though the country''s leading scientific institutions like Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in the IISc campus, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) undertakes prestigious industry projects, currently the major concern in pharma-biotech research here is availability of quality human resources.
According to the industry sources the research in the State is currently getting affected with lack of trained manpower. The shortage of quality human resource is mainly attributed to poor quality of education in the state. Although there are several colleges offering biotechnology degrees, the skills of teachers and students graduating from these institutes are questionable, said Prof. Paturu Kondaiah, associate professor, Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, IISc.
There are hardly any government-aided colleges offering biotechnology instead private colleges are mushrooming, with meagre staff, lack of infrastructure and exploitation by management. "The colleges insist on practical training as mandatory from leading science research institutes, and when students approach us we can only opt for two or three of them," informed Prof. Kondaiah.
While the students blame the colleges, the research institutes in general hold the Government responsible lack of stringency in permitting new departments or colleges come up with no teachers or labs. The freeze on appointments by the government has also resulted in vacancies that are now filled up by guest lecturers.
The growing hype on the scope of biotechnology has a negative impact, as there are no positions to offer biotech graduates or post graduates who come to IISc, NCBS or JNCASR for summer placements. The scope is limited despite their qualification as biotech research right now is facing excess supply over demand in human resources.
Graduates from recognised Universities who pass out with distinction marks either proceed for doctoral studies (PhD) or go abroad for higher education.
Those who graduate from mediocre private institutions are in a quandary. "In the hope of getting a job they spend money for education where quality of training is a big concern," noted Prof. Kondaiah.
The practice in some of the private colleges is that lecturers qualified as Masters in biochemistry read textbooks and teach molecular biology, which is just unacceptable. "Sometimes we see, postgraduates after the final semester results become lecturers for the first semester. They have no teaching background," informed Prof. Kondaiah.
Another issue affecting pharma-biotech research is grant constraints. The department of biotechnology plans to encourage research at Universities. The Society for Innovation and Development (SID) in IISc helps link the Institute''s scientists'' and the industry for development of research projects in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology and nano technology.
"Visible changes are there in many of the leading institutes -- National Brain Research Centre, New Delhi, National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune, IISc, JNCASR NCBS in Bangalore which are being upgraded with government funds. But the scientific community hopes that if a small portion comes from the private sector, the situation would improve considerably," said Prof. Kondaiah.On how the West looks upon Indian pharma-biotech scientists, Prof. Kondaiah said, "The demand for Indian scientists with a background for information technology is on the rise for Bioinformatics projects, while in research projects Indians are hired to conduct clinical trials- animal studies. Avenues for collaborative research with Indian companies from the West will increase."
"The strength of Indian scientists is judged by their scientific bent of mind and the number of scientific papers they publish," he added.