JNS: Recognizing the importance of research in developing an in-depth knowledge and facilitating specialised learning for Higher Educational Institutes, Dhanbad’s premier technical cradle, IIT (ISM), has prioritised Research & Development activities, resulting in an exponential increase in the number of PhDs produced by the institute.
The latest data of research of IIT (ISM) indicate a rise of 83.90 % in the number of PhDs produced by the institute in the Calendar year 2022 over the PhDs produced during the previous calendar year of 2021 as the institute awarded 434 PhD degrees in 2022 against the figure of 236 PhDs in the previous year of 2021.
The number of PhDs in 2020 was only 184 while in the calendar year 2019, IIT (ISM) produced 107 PhDs. The significant rise in the number of PhDs over the last few years is due to the increased focus of IIT (ISM) on research and development activities across the different departments and disciplines including those emerging areas.
Not only calendar year data but the financial year data of PhDs in IIT (ISM) also indicate a significant rise in research during recent years.
The number of PhDs has increased to 355 during the financial year 2022-23 till date over the number of PhDs of 250 of the previous financial year of 2021-22. The number of PhD Produced by IIT (ISM) in the financial year 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19 were 222, 113 and 148 respectively.
A similar rise in data of PhDs for the academic year (1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023) is also likely as the institute has produced 269 PhDs from July 1, 2022 with six more months to go in the academic year while it has produced 292 PhDs in the academic year 2020-21.
Notably, PhD education is gaining importance in different countries across the globe as PhD graduates reflect cumulative human capital to contribute significantly to a country’s growth. The person holding a PhD degree is considered an independent researcher with independent knowledge of the chosen field of study and a professional with a diverse set of transferable abilities. Thus PhD can contribute to understanding and influencing social change.
Interestingly, less than 2% population of the world has doctorate degrees as per the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report. Slovenia has the highest percentage of the population with doctorate degrees at a rate of 5% which is followed by Switzerland with 3% of its population having a PhD degree. Similarly, 1.2% of US Population has PhD degrees while India which produces 24000 PhD stands 4th against the US which produces the highest number of 68000 PhDs.
