New Delhi: As conversations around unemployment in India have grown, so have headlines like this: ‘Graduates, Post-Graduates Among Candidates in Race to Become Helpers in Railways‘. This is just one example of a slew of news stories about how people with higher education degrees – even PhDs – are applying for relatively unskilled work because a government job still comes with a certain amount of benefits and stability, and there just aren’t enough other good jobs out there.
A recent article Chemistry World examined the value of a chemistry PhD in India, and found that for a lot of people, it doesn’t quite get them were they want to go. Permanent, well-paying academic jobs are hard to come by, and private university or firm jobs do offer the same incentives. Each opening at a public university now sees about 250 eligible candidates.
According to the author, this has meant that a number of chemistry PhDs from India spend years moving from one post-doctoral fellowship to the other.
Why are qualified professionals finding it so hard to find a job? “‘Unfortunately, we are not witnessing any major expansion among Indian firms and multi-national corporations, be it pharma, chemicals or personal care. No disruptive trend in India has emerged that could drive the job market, like contract research organisations or drug discovery units,” Shyam Suryanarayan of CDrive, a specialist recruitment firm, told Chemistry World.
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In addition, it doesn’t look like things are getting better anytime soon. “For example, IIT Madras alone will be producing several hundred [chemistry] PhDs by 2024. The number will be massive when one takes into account all the IISERs, IITs and central universities. But there are no jobs at such institutions,” Thalappil Pradeep, a professor of chemistry at IIT Madras, told the publication.
As expected, this means young PhD scholars often look abroad for the right opportunities. To prevent this ‘brain drain’, the Department of Science and Technology launched the ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ or INSPIRE programme, which provides fellowships for research. But like The Wire has reported before, INSPIRE hasn’t been achieving its goals:
The recipients search for a host research institute or university department to conduct their research in. The term “assured opportunity” has led to expectations that they would eventually be absorbed by the institute or department. But about 35% of the initial batches of INSPIRE faculty fellows now find themselves at the end of the road, with neither a job in hand nor any encouraging prospects.
The Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship encourages students to enrol in PhD programmes, by providing monetary support during the degree, it does not talk about employment once you finish. And that fellowship too has left students feeling underwhelmed (and underpaid).
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Some people argue that the recruitment process at universities is flawed – which is why positions remain vacant even when qualified candidates are available. Abhishek Dey, from the Kolkata-based Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences, told Chemistry World that a central agency, with experts and scientists, should be set up and tasked with hiring for all positions.
One claim the author makes is that “Currently, Indian policymakers are trying to change how PhDs are viewed, repositioning them as evidence of a skillset to solve complex problems rather than a passport to an academic job.” However, he doesn’t quite substantiate what he means by that – and his claim has triggered a conversation on Twitter.
It seems especially funny that the article mentions policy level changes. Not that everything has to be announced on Twitter, but I feel like there would have been some announcement if there were major decisions in the pipeline.
— Shruti Muralidhar (@polybiotique) May 12, 2019
Scientists and post-doctoral fellows commenting on the article have said that if the government has such plans, they are yet to make them public. Funding for higher education remains a problem, and key issues that are leading to this job crisis remain unaddressed. And if that continues, so will the dilemma for many researchers – in chemistry and other subjects – who want to put their training to good use.