Dilip Thakore interviewed Dr. V.S. Rao, interim vice chancellor of the top-ranked Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani till mid-July and president-designate of NIIT University (estb. 2009), over email and the telephone. Excerpts.

After a long innings at BITS-Pilani, which has built a huge reputation as India’s #1 private engineering university, you are taking charge at the newly-promoted NIIT University (NU). What is at the top of your agenda in this new assignment?

NIIT University’s four core founding principles of industry-linked, technology-based, research-driven and seamless learning have built a solid foundation for this university of the future. My mission is to establish NIIT University as an institution of excellence which will redefine higher education in India. At the top of my agenda is fostering a research mind-set, and partnering with industry leaders, especially in sunrise industries, to develop study programmes aligned with the skill-sets required by the new knowledge economy.

Despite NIIT Ltd’s excellent record in skilling an estimated 35 million IT industry professionals over the past three decades, NIIT University isn’t ranked among the Top 50 in the latest EducationWorld India Private University Rankings 2016. Where would you rank NIIT University?

NIIT University has made a conscious decision to disregard rankings for the first ten years of operations. We believe institution-building is a long process and we need to focus on building a strong foundation on which we can build a higher education institution of global repute.

Having said that, we have made significant strides in offering industry-linked education by entering into strategic alliances with leading corporates including ICICI, ESRI, IBM, WNS, PwC and Federal Bank. The university has also become a hot bed for budding entrepreneurs with over a dozen start-ups active on our campus. Moreover, we have engineered perhaps the greenest, eco-friendly university campus countrywide which has received several national awards.

A common criticism of India’s university graduates is that they are not employable because their learning is too theoretical/textbookish. Given NIIT University’s parentage, it has the potential to produce industry-ready graduates. What’s your comment?

The current education system is defined by a wide chasm between industry and academia. Very little of what is learnt in colleges and universities can be put into practice in corporates and businesses. In most education institutions, the curriculum is theoretical and students aren’t taught to apply theory in industry settings.

Therefore right from the start, one of the core principles of NIIT University is to offer industry-linked education. To this end, we have constituted an industry advisory board (IAB) which will help us build a strong, engaged and active relationship with Indian industry.

Quality of faculty is widely perceived as the Achilles heel of India’s higher education institutions. How impressed are you with the faculty of NIIT University?

It’s undeniable that Indian higher education is suffering a severe shortage of adequately qualified faculty. This is reflected in the general lack of enthusiasm and passion for teaching/learning and research within the faculty as well as student communities.

Regrettably, teachers in Indian academia are mistakenly regarded as the manufacturing community and students as consumers.

On the contrary, they should be partners in learning.

NIIT University has a highly qualified faculty, 75 percent of them with Ph Ds, hired after a stringent recruitment process. NU also has a team of founding professors — very senior and highly accomplished professionals in their respective fields of specialisation — who guide faculty and students.

In sharp contrast to several Chinese varsities, none of India’s 800 universities is ranked among the Top 100 of the London-based rating agencies QS and THE. What’s the explanation?

I agree our higher education system has many flaws. But it’s also important to remember that India is the single largest provider of global talent with one of four graduates worldwide produced by our higher education system. We also need to understand that these rankings are based on global criteria which are too narrow for developing countries. Our universities are low-ranked because our priority has been skilling, whereas Chinese universities are more rankings-focused.

How long do you think it will take to bridge the education gap between the developed OECD countries and India?

India has made significant strides in transforming the higher education system over the past two decades. Access to low-cost, high-quality university education to students from all strata of society is a reality in contemporary India. Further, technology is being used effectively towards resolving the longstanding tension between excellence and equity in education.

To bridge the quality gap, we need disruptive innovation in industry-academia interaction and research and development practices. This is already happening in NU and by 2019, it will become a model university of the future.