Nature magazine interviews BT2020

Some days back we had Ms.Paroma Basu, news correspondent for Nature ( www.nature.com), based in New Delhi interviewing a series of academicians,industrialists and

,students about Indian Biotech trends with the following set of questions aimed at finding out answers for hundreds of letters being received by them at Natrure-Jobs section from Indian students and researchers over the past few months, who are frustrated over the lack of biotechnology jobs in India, despite the country's so-called biotech boom.

We give you the full interview here since it would not be fully available at the forthcoming Nature article.


## Several thousand Indian students are graduating with Masters degrees in biotechnology every year. But many of them are apparently not getting jobs to their satisfaction or not getting jobs at all. In your experience, has this really been true? If so, what seems to be the problem?

First of all Biotechnology is a research oriented subject.It might be largely suitable only for people who are keen in doing research.Recently because of the hype created by a section of media and others comparing BT with IT made huge number of students to opt for this. Even during the NDA government once A.P.Vajpayee the then PM was describing IT as India Today and BT as Bharat Tomorrow..It is true that many are jobless.

I have come across students who are not really interested in this but they are taking up the course because of their parents compulsion who are influenced by the aforementioned hype.On the other hand large number of students take up Biotechnology on sheer enthusiasm without analysing the specific requirements of the subject( dedicated research) thinking they will get a nice pay packet just after their UG or PG just like their IT mates.

As a result people rush into all the available colleges and Universities whoever offering the course.Apart from people graduating from highly reputed institutes like IISc,IIT,JNU others mostly suffer in the job market.Biotechnology was initially offered by the Government through very few institutions like JNU, MKU, Pune University,Delhi University where the entry is so competitive and very limited. Later in order to increase the HR in the country it allowed many other institutions.

Most of the private colleges affiliated to Government Universities and endless number of private universities(Except a very few) which have unlimited autonomy started giving Biotechnology courses at all the available streams( B.sc/ M.sc/ B.tech/ M.tech / M.phil/ P.hd) has resulted in endless number of students with BT degree without employ ability (proper practical exposure/training) since most of these institutions neither have the required infrastructure nor qualified staffs.

Many wonder on what basis the UGC and MHRD provide private university status to an existing institute??! Not just existing institutions, UGC act even permit someone to create a new private university from nothing.These varsities donot have any proper regulatory process and do not come under AICTE or State government control.MHRD can only question them or check their status even it happens once in five year. Many M.L..A's ,M.P's,former politicians who have power and money have their own universities for whom no one need to teach how to cheat the existing regulatory system.There is no proper fee structure or intake mechanism in these institutions.

It might be very hard to believe but there are private institutions running Biotechnology courses with out any laboratory or staff on their own.They produce at least 1000 graduates per annum.Needless to say about the future of the students coming out of these institutions.Now the same institutions are geared up to offer BT courses on distance mode..How horrible it is?!!!Maharashtra has the highest no of private universities closely followed by Tamilnadu.

There is general feeling that south India is better place for education because of English fluency and other factors.But people here make use of this opportunity and market their degrees.One can even find more number of North Indian students in such private universities.It is because they have agencies in all the states who convince the parents and students showing the colourful prospectus and website.These agencies are getting good commission for each student they refer.The worst scenario is students (from these private universities) referring their institutions to their own friends and relatives in their native(like north) for which these senior students are getting commission from the management.

Around 75% of Biotech students are from private colleges and universities.

On the other hand be it companies or National laboratories,they mostly prefer experienced candidates.Because these companies or NRL's are not ideal place for the freshers to get training/ learn.In an industry everything is fixed and set.Secrecy should be maintained and hence training for a fresher becomes difficult.

The industry is still in its early stage in the country and also most of the Bio companies are smaller and they also prefer chemical engineers for production and pharmacist for quality control.

##After struggling to find work, what do most people end up doing? Leave the country, or pursue another degree? For those who do get jobs, what kinds of work do they end up doing? And is the salary commensurate with expectations?

Most people prefer higher education.It is like a B.sc/ B.tech guy thinks his chances of landing up in a good job is bright after PG,so he does M.sc/M.tech.After that he finds its not true and pursue M.phil or P.hd in the same hope. But employ ability purely depends on the individual skill set and other factors.

A section of students from premier institutions and even people with political or other influence land up in good jobs in bio companies just after their graduation.The no of students coming out of DBT funded PG courses is around 900 /year out of which 85% of students opt for higher studies.Some people pursue short term courses like PG diplomas in Bio informatics,SAS,IPR,Clinical Reasearch,.. to enhance their employ ability.While frustrated people do take up different path like M.B.A...

People landing up in software companies (TCS,CTS,Cognizent ,..) just after their B.tech/M.sc Biotechnology are equally well paid like their IT mates.But a section of such people does not have job satisfaction since their domain is different.

Getting into research based jobs like Project trainees/ Associate/ JRF requires mostly some experience and the pay scale is less.But the CSIR has just hiked this amount and it is now Rs.9K- 13K where also one needs to be very dedicated.

The no of students taking up higher education in abroad is also ever increasing considering the globalisation trend.

A section of people also opt for data management/IPR related "data entry type of jobs" which they call Junior analyst/Reaserch analyst where they are out sourced do all the proof reading,editing jobs forgien magazine like Nature/Sciencedirect.com and their pay is considerably good when compared to reasearch based jobs.

Companies like Biocon,Reddy's lab come up to some exceptionally good Universities and colleges including Private varsities but the intake after hectic screening procedure is single digit.


##Is it true that it is much more expensive to study biotechnology then other course in India? What is roughly the money required?

Apart from Government run institutions where the education is subsidized, It is expensive in private colleges and Universities.The fee structures are being controlled now in the private colleges by the parent Universities and AICTE.But in the private Universities,there is no proper fee structure.Because nobody controlls them.

The rough estimation can be

B.Sc - Rs.20,000 - 45,000 per annum.
M.Sc-Rs.8,000 - 50,000- 100,000 per annum
B.tech-Rs.10,000- 35,000- 120,000 per annum
M.tech-Rs.10,000- 40,000 - 100,000 per annum.

The minimum fee can be found in Government run highly reputed Institutions.
Intermediate fee structure is to be followed by private colleges laid by Government Universities. But nobody knows how many private colleges follow the rules.!
The maximum fee structure is prevalent in Private universities.

It is better to remember that around 75% of students come from private institutions.
B.sc Biotech is not provided by most of the Government Universities.
This is just tution fee structure.There are so many fees in so many names which one can come across only after securing the admission.

It is painful when students from these private institutions donot get any job after the completion especially for those who have taken bank loans for this huge tution fees.
So most of such people are ready to take up any kind of decent job offers atleast for the sake of repayment.

##Would like to know more about biotechnology education. How are courses structured? Are teachers adequately exposed to the needs of industry?

Academicians always insist that there should not be anything like B.sc Biotechnology at the undergarduate levels especially in science since basic science at the UG level is need of the hour.But unfortunately we have hundreds of private institutions offereing Biotechnology at the B.sc level.

There is no uniform syllabus even at the M.sc/ B.tech/M.tech level.Each university has their own.It is upto the students to fulfil their further requirements.

Our education system also still follows learning by memory power,whereas the western universities like MIT,Harvard go for Integrative learning where discoordinated information will be provided to the students.the students should synthesize knowledge out of these and they are expected to come out with innovative solutions to the existing problems which is the need of the industries.It promotes innovative thinking or what we call problem solving skills.

The number of candidates clearing National Eligibility Test(NET)/GATE or any other competitive exam is very low comparing to the number of candidates taking up the same.
Why is it so? Where does the fault lies? Our education sytem and structure also plays a vital role in the issue.

It is disheartening to see that our faculties in most of the private institutions are not highly qualified or exposed to the needs.

These institutions also generally prefer fresh women talents having high percentage (never consider the real knowledge) for the faculty positions hence also it becomes easy for the management to manage.There are private institutions
having M.tech qulaified staffs for teahing M.tech and M.sc qulaified staffs for M.sc students.

##conversely what is industry looking for in terms of new recruits and how do candidates fall short?

Mostly industry expect the prospective candidate to have technical knowledge/ hands on experience pertaining to their specific field rather than just theoritical knowledge.Problem solving skills with strong basic concepts of the subject are also matters most.


##Finally, do you really believe that there is a so called biotech boom in India? Are there enough jobs available to justify such a perception? Is this just media and government hype? or some general misunderstanding of what biotech really is?

Considering the present suituation,the so called boom is trully a hype.Even the Government's National Biotechnology Draft policy says that the industry will create 1 million jobs by 2010 .It greatly depends on the Government policies.

It may not be possible unless and untill the government takes some urgent damage control measure to control,regulate such private institutions ensure quality education and increase the human resource.

The government provides industrial training and other ways to ensure quality human resource through various schemes.But only limited people having first class percentage qualify for the same or benefit out of these programmes leaving large number of medium and average candidates on the streets.

Proper career counselling should be done at the earlist before choosing the career.It might not be possible for the government to ensure quality education to each and every citizen considering the growing population and limited resources.So it becomes upto us to choose our own path and excel in it.

#I am also hoping you might refer me to other people I can speak to. I look forward to hearing from you--

I hope you can contact the following great people who can help you in the article.
I hope you might have come across these famous industry personalities.They inturn will give more leads.

1)Academic contacts:
a)
b) The contact list provided by BT2020 have been deleted on purpose.
c)
2) Industry contacts:
a)
b)
c)
D)
3) Policy level contacts:
a)
b)
c)
4) Bio media contacts:
a)
b)