Surrogate research helps scholars deliver

​Hyderabad: Surrogacy in research work is spreading its tentacles to various departments of the universities in two Telugu States. According to sources, surrogacy research virtually covers the entire process from writing proposals, synopsis, mid-term submission and thesis work.

Students from various State universities prefer taking services of subject experts instead of actually working on the research projects.

Speaking to The Hans India, Vice-Chancellor of a State university from Andhra Pradesh said, "The risk of surrogacy is more in research programmes as there are no experiments involved.

Apart from a few students, who prefer to do their work, others get their work done by someone else referred as consultants. This is the main reason why many fumble and wear blank faces during viva sessions.”

Highlighting a similar scenario, a senior faculty member from the Social Sciences Department, Osmania University, pointed out that, "Students alone cannot be blamed for the situation. They (students) lack encouragement and proper guidance to do research in new and emerging areas and continue to engage in routine areas.”

Another Vice-Chancellor from a State University in Telangana found fault with the linking of Ph D with the jobs. He opined that this had resulted in bringing down the seriousness of pursuing research programmes to the level of degree courses. He said that it is resulting in falling standards in research courses.

"When we asked prospective research scholars to explain Ph D, the answers were shocking. For one it was ‘Post Hold Diploma' while for another, ‘Post Doctoral Diploma’. Such examples clearly indicate the standards of students opting and taking admission into research programmes," he added.

For the students of engineering and management colleges affiliated to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H) and OU, Ameerpet is the most favourite spot to source consultants to get their work done.

A faculty member from JNTU-H said that students are engaging research consultants for their B Tech, M Tech, as well as MBA project works. Some students are using a software which rehashes the contents in a document to get their work done.

Ironically, students engaged in research programmes in Telugu language too are taking help of these consultants.

Giving further details, a faculty member from Osmania University said, “Till 1979, there were nearly 120 students studying Telugu in different colleges. Of this, only 10 per cent of them had got admissions into M Phil and 10 per cent of those who completed M Phil went for Ph D.”

He reasoned that those who have completed MA in Telugu were eligible to work as lecturers in junior and degree colleges. So, only serious and those having interest alone used to take up research programmes, he added.

Dismissing funding as the main problem for quality research, officials said that OU had been giving Non-NET Fellowships. Similarly, the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University is implementing research grants to offer fellowships. These are beside the UGC’s Junior Research Fellowship (JRF). Yet, getting quality research output is becoming tough. The surrogacy consultancies are making things worse.