Education and Training in Modern Biotechnology in India

Abstract

Modern biotechnology made an explosive entry about three decades ago, taking advantage of elegant and ingenious new protocols that promised very precise and highly refined products in every sector of the industry. However, the claims and hype generated were highly disproportionate to ground realities. Two fundamental errors contributed to this situation: a) treating biotechnology as single subject, to be taught from the first degree level itself, when modern biotechnology is a collaborative effort between and among experts of a dozen cognate disciplines, and b) the explosion of teaching shops pretending to impart education, without properly trained faculty and appropriate and adequate laboratory and library facilities, with the acquiescence of university administration and the governments, which created a chasm between the poor manpower generated and sophisticated needs of the industry, with an enormous campus intake compounding the damage. This resulted in an anomalous situation peculiar to India. This chapter examines the problems and possible remedial measures, in order to deliver to the society in times to come, the full benefits of the myriad developments in modern biotechnology.