One of the serious shortcomings in the present system of biotechnology education in India is that often the students doing graduation or post graduation in biotechnology or life sciences do not have enough exposure to the laboratory bio-techniques. This could be because of limited laboratory sessions during the course, lack of required instruments and reagents, which are expensive, in the institution offering the course and lack of expertise in the field or a combination of some such factors.
Another observation made by the education experts is that without research component in the areas being taught, the lecture content and student exposure is often limited to 'not so new' science.
According to Dr. Kshitish Acharya K, Faculty Scientist and Convener, Short term courses (STCs) and Lab course in Bio-Techniques (LCBT), Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB), students do not have prior knowledge of the options available. They choose subjects because of peer pressure. They are not clear about what actually the field is about or what type of jobs they can get after doing the course. Some institutes might be providing such information to the students (e.g., IBAB offers introductory level courses to explain students in simple terms about Bioinformatics and biotechnology and the scope in these areas). This should increase in all fields, including biotechnology.
"The crucial aspect to be stressed by the media, colleges and parents is to educate students about the possible options, the right colleges/institutions and the criteria to choose them. Many colleges don't have information about their strengths/infrastructure. Once public awareness increases and students and parents start making smart choices, organizations might set their balance straight between 'making money' and providing 'quality education'. Government enforcements, scrutiny might aid this process," informed Dr. Acharya.
Nevertheless, the key question concerns the biotech academia now is that whether biotech education today is job-oriented or not. A certain section of education heads are of the opinion that the courses are job-oriented to some extent. However, there are too many graduates and postgraduates with insufficient training even in basic theoretical and practical aspects. Because of this, industry might tend to rely heavily on Ph.D. candidates or waste a lot of time in training of postgraduate candidates. There is a dilution in quality of biotech education because of this and the education system has perhaps failed to meet the demand of the biotech industry and academics. Many of the courses do not have the scope to train the students enough, even in basic laboratory aspects.
To fill in this gap, IBAB has started a 6-month laboratory course in basic bio-techniques for postgraduates in life sciences. The course is perhaps the first of its kind in India and is intended to make the students more dependable laboratory personnel. "If the industry and academic organizations can encourage such courses by offering higher salaries, more institutions and students would be favouring such courses. But in general, closer tie ups with teaching organizations and industry would ensure that students are taught what industry needs," stated Dr Acharya.