New Delhi, June 24 (KNN) The lack of financial support for fellowships or scholarships and grants for conferences are leading to lesser students opting for PhD courses in computer science said a survey by Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology.

“PhD production in India in computer science has been an issue of concern over the last many years. In most discussions and reports, back-of-the envelope calculations are used to estimate this data-often stated as less than 50,” it said.

The premiere institutes like Indian Institute of  Institute Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Jadhavpur University, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkatta were part of the survey which are considered to produce quality PhDs.

Other institutes which were included in the survey are IIITs (Allahabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi), Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

“To collect information regarding the PhD production in the institutions, data on full time faculty members with and without PhD, number of PhDs awarded between August 1, 2011 and July 30, 2012 in CS/IT, gender of students, area of PhD, nature of employment after PhD were considered,” said the report. 

Nearly 39 departments of various institutes provided the information for the survey.

The survey pointed out that PhD production is likely to grow to about 225 per year in about five years from about 125 in 2011-12.

“The total number of faculty with  PhD in these institutions is 584 and average size of faculty with   PhD in a department is about 15. The areas of research prominent among the PhD students in India are theory and algorithims,” the report said.

Most of the PhD pass outs between  August 1, 2011 and July 30, 2012 opted for teaching jobs. (KNN)