Straight Talk: 3 Key Concerns in the Implementation of GIAN

India and the US recently signed off on the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), which aims to connect centrally recognized Indian Universities with American scholars and institutions. While a cause for great optimism in most quarters, it also evokes concerns. In this article, Dr. Pushkar explores three major drags in the Indian educational infrastructure which can check the spread of knowledge.

Straight Talk: Can Institutions of Eminence overcome the challenges that lie ahead?

Among other things, they will need to hire and retain quality, research-oriented faculty, and to transform the stifling academic culture that prevails at even top universities in India today.

Brain Gain in India's Higher Education

What can transform the brain deposit into brain gain? Opportunity. Dr. Pushkar examines the current home scenario for Indian scholars abroad, with its lures and its lacunae.

Straight Talk: Put Merit First (Not Home Grown Degrees or Ethnicities)

A look at the malaise of ‘academic inbreeding’ born of the cliquish culture of Indian universities, and the need to put merit first.

Straight Talk: Faculty Shortages are a Huge Obstacle to India's Higher Ed Plans

More than half the positions for professor at central universities are vacant, at a time when more and more Indians are attending college. How are we going to find more faculty for them?

Straight Talk: Why are there no women at the IITs?

The IITs and other STEM field institutions are showing an excessive gender imbalance. Dr. Pushkar examines this structural inequality in Indian and international academia and urges corrections.

Straight Talk: Indian government must limit research to select institutions

PM Narendra Modi recently said that research should be pushed to state universities. Here Dr. Pushkar argues against such a move.

Straight Talk: The American Nightmare - Laws, Campuses and Guns

The US is a preferred destination for international students. However, the recent spate of campus violence has cast a long shadow over its academic institutions. What is the historic and legal foundation for USA’s gun laws and what are their long term repercussions? Take a look with Dr. Pushkar.

Straight Talk: The needless war on 4-year undergraduate programmes

Pushkar discusses the issues underlying the debate over India's four-year undergraduate program.

Straight Talk: What good is a PhD from an Indian university?

Across the world, a PhD is synonymous with the summit of academic excellence. But is it also true for India? An in depth look at the reality of an Indian PhD.