The role of research in an institution is significant for its sustainability and development. It is imperative to have knowledge driven growth based on innovation. The quality work directly translates to teaching and learning in the classroom, and thereby benefiting the society as a whole. The promotion of research in a populous country like India will help the nation surely to arise as a knowledge reservoir in the international arena.

Indian education system faces a number of constraints and challenges as quality research is one among them. Barring a very few prestigious institutes, most of the others lag behind in achieving their planned objectives and display dismal picture in terms of quality and quantity research. Not many institutes have mandatory research goals for individual faculty. Most of these institutions do not have adequate systems or infrastructure.

Lack of encouraging academic environment, ill-equipped libraries, inadequate infrastructure, lack of research labs and equipments, lack of funds, faculty crunch, etc are some of the major factors contributing to the dismal picture of research in the academic institutions. It is very well accepted that it has contributed enormously to find solutions faced by industries. There are many instances in the past when it turned to academics for finding solutions to vital issues. The need for sharing knowledge between research institutions and industry has become increasingly evident in recent past. The emerging importance of inter-disciplinary fields has given rise to institutional collaborations that allow knowledge to be pooled together. Often it is the industry which is the beneficiary of several research efforts.

This provides basic inputs that can be used for planning and policy decision making. Knowledge generated through this constitutes the basis for sustainable development. Many of the research activities undertaken are used to support the government and influence public policy. Market research facilitates companies to make projections and formulate strategies for their business success and growth. Needless to say that academic research is an integral part of global development.

At this juncture, as our nation is spearheading for innovation and skill development, the academic research forum has a significant role to support the potentials and endeavors of the country.

In view of the fact that India possesses globally acclaimed brain-power, the need of the hour is to create an encouraging environment in all centers. All this leads us to have the right policy which is missing as of now-to be able to develop an appropriate research mechanism for finding solutions to multifarious issues facing our society.

The writer is director, Fore School of Management, New Delhi.