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PAIR initiative aligns with National Education Policy 2020 and is designed to transform research and innovation in Indian Universities through hub and spoke model.
About PAIR
- Hubs: For the 1st phase hub will include nstitutions with high NIRF ranking that will guide emerging institutions (spokes) in research activities, provide access to harness their resources and expertise.
- Spoke: Central and State Public Universities and select NITs and IIITs (to be extended subsequently).
About Research Ecosystem in India’s HEI
According to 2024 EY Report:
- Improved research quantity: India is world’s third-largest higher education system (only behind U.S. and China), and ranks 4th in research papers published from 2017 to 2022.
- Quality research remains a concern: As compared to peers, India lags behind in citations per document and H index or or Hirsch index (designed to measure research quality over time).
Key issues in India’s Research Ecosystem
- Research translation: Research work is merely on paper and does not translate into meaningful action
- Funding sources: Global universities get large funding from private organizations in addition to their government, whereas in India, funding is largely driven government.
- Research budgets: India’s R&D expenditure is only around 0.65% of GDP (4.8% in South Korea, 3.4% in US).
- Lack of incentives to publishing quality research work and burden of administrative work on faculties.
ANRF (established by the ANRF 2023 Act) in addition to other initiatives like SERB-SURE, IMPRINT, Atal Innovation Mission, etc. are expected to improve the quality of research ecosystem in India.
