800-year-old Cambridge will brain-train Bangalore's IISc
Academicians discuss possible collaborations that will help reverse the brain drain, with an eye on improving the institute’s ranking in the world.
The 100-year-old Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the premier science research institute in the country, is set to be ‘brain-trained’ by the 800-year-old Cambridge University to help improve its ranking among science institutions in the world.Cambridge University’s vice-chancellor, Alison Richards, visited the IISc on Tuesday to discuss possible large-scale collaborations to trigger a reverse brain drain with an eye on improving the institute’s ranking in the world. She said, “We are exploring options with the young institute for further collaborations in physics, astronomy, drug discovery and material science faculties. We want to reinforce the partnership on a larger scale.”According to world ranking by Cybermetric Lab, which is the largest public research institution in Spain, IISc does not even figure in the top 500 research institutes of the world, let alone the top 100.IISc has been ranked 583 in terms of size — number of pages covered by Google, Yahoo, Exalead and other search engines — and visibility, which is based on the total number of unique external links received (in-links) by a site.“By working closely with the (IISc’s) academia, we will scale up capacity to offer high-quality and advanced training opportunities. Since Cambridge has proved good at doing so, I believe we can help build programmes here,” Richards said.“In other words, I call it ‘brain training’ instead of ‘brain drain’ that has plagued India. I am confident that our model will help to promote innovation thus bringing enhancements to the economy and society,” she said.The vice-chancellor recalled a study conducted by Anna-Lee Saxenian, dean of School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, which highlighted that the Silicon Valley was fuelled by the talent and energy of several young enterprising Indians.“But many of these no-longer-so-young, enterprising Indians, are not returning to India, (as they are) attracted by opportunities in the West. Now it is time for brain circulation — stopping the brain drain,” she said.