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A2_SWOC analysis of the University
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establishing goals to be high, with the ultimate goal to become an
internationally recognized university.
Weakness
Lack of Public Support for Research
As a deemed university, VIT relies primarily on its own resources to support
academic and applied research. Lack of 12B status is a disadvantage in getting
support from funding agencies of the government. Although the faculty
members of VIT compete for resources through grant proposals to various
funding organizations, limitations in public funding process has a major
impact on our research output. Resolving this weakness will help VIT make
significant contributions to science and technology
Lack of Supply of Qualified Faculty
As every major institution in India is facing, VIT is also facing the issue of
shortage of doctoral degree holders in critical areas of engineering. In areas
ranging from information technology to electronics engineering, and from
mechanical to manufacturing engineering, we compete nationally for one of
the most scare resources in the country, namely, the highly competent and well
qualified faculty with a strong interest in applied research. Due to this
difficulty, VIT has been meeting part of its needs by hiring outstanding
master’s degree holders and then supporting them to complete their doctoral
degrees. It normally requires four to five years of time and salary as
investment per faculty. Our current efforts to have 100% faculty with Ph.D in
all schools will be achieved by 2018.
A related issue for all national universities in India is the retention of
outstanding faculty. Since the job market for qualified engineering faculty
with Ph.D. is very good, VIT along with other national institutions is offering
incentives and support mechanisms to retain the best faculty. These include
faculty development arrangements in partner universities in foreign countries,
spending time in industry to undertake applied research and providing extra
salary for holding a doctoral degree.
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Limitation in Industry Sponsored Research
Indian industry lags behind its peers in the developed countries in terms of
sponsoring research or providing financial support. Majority of the companies
in industry do product related projects rather than formal research.
Consequently, their opportunity to fund research is limited. Although industry
has started looking at research, the process will take time to mature. It is a
weakness in the system that VIT has to overcome.