I've had to remove this post - not because I regret writing it, but because Varun has pointed out something I might have unwittingly spawned, which is as hilarious as it is dangerous. That's as much comment as I am willing to make. :-) If you've beaten me there, then you know already - its a proverbial can of worms.
So if that is traced back, it comes straight here. Dissolution of the fountainhead under the present scenario would be most prudent!
But I don't want to leave anyone with a sense of futility in the exercise. I did manage to read through all the comments and I am happy to see that people are not all dead. I have for some time held the opinion that students were largely blind to the situation and just wanted that "degree" the quickest way possible. I am elated to find among you today - exceptions!
Vimal : You were possibly right about my openness. Possibly not in the way you thought, but I might be giving you lesser credit than you deserve for your foresight.
Rachit, Karan, Radha, Shruti, Anurag, Raghav, Mind Salad : Respeck r'gh' bac'
Pratik, Aseem : Yes, cheers to that.
Sidharth, Chandu, Aseem, Bandan : Thanks!
Goonjan, Chirawa, Vishal, Bandan, Mind Salad, sahilishere : Sorry to disappoint you mates, but I had been myopic in thinking that I would be the only one involved in saying all this out aloud. But you know the rest...
RendzeV : Let's hope so mate, let's hope so...
Ashish, Abhi : Yes you guys! I know he is not a Bengali - I was making fun of myself - of an old Bengali trait actually. While we are on the topic, BITS has this trait as well. Everyone who has ever become anything has been a BITSian at one point in time - its like a Law, man. Last I heard from them, Mahatma Gandhi and Behzad Razavi were strongly suspected to be BITSians...
Ashish : I am thrilled you make the point about faculty improvement and research infrastructure. Sometimes I think you guys don't even notice. Very Happy I am!
Abhi : Good to hear you are tension free - but there are miles to go before we sleep...
Gamma, Radha : ROTFL
Student, Pritish : Shabash! Yes I completely agree with you. Extracurriculars should be done at all cost - but let's keep our primary focus on the curricular. At the risk of invoking everybody's wrath :-D, let me suggest that BITS should start failing people and making attendance compulsory. I would have hated that yes when I was in your place - but it would probably have made me a better engineer than I am today.
Pratik : Don't worry - it'll be gradual. Kumar-da is a successful industrialist remember? ;-)
AVeraGe : Love your nick. Yes! Free expression is my forte! ;-)
Mind Salad : Love your nick too. Is that English for dimaag ka bhartaa? ;-)
Addy : tohfa kabool kiya!
Rover : Nobody's called me assface in a long time. ROTFLMAO at that and the rest of your post contents. Say Hi when you are down in Pilani next...
Mayank, Mehak : Yeah, Kumar-da sure has his head screwed on right.
Nakul : The news would have reached you sooner or later. From someone else if not me... :-)
Varun : Cheers mate! Been a long time. Thanks for your words. And thanks for the tip-off - I was thinking it was spam or something.
Akshay : Yes, faculty upgradation is a must and a problem BITS needs to deal with as a priority. And yes Nattu's a nice guy.
Amrit Pal : Hey, I'm sorry I made you feel that way, man. I've probably been in BITS way longer than I should have and tend to get acerbic at times. Don't hold that too hard. Anyway, if its of any consolation Raman is considered by BITS to be one its best administrators - and rather grudgingly I might give him that - though I'd rather you didn't take the superlative in an absolute sense. Hope that makes you smile a bit! :-)
Mehak : Does that mean you didn't have much respect for me in the first place? :-)
So all good. Keep your chin up everyone and do your part wherever and whenever you can. I wanted to do my part so badly that I came back to teach here. :-)
Now, I'm outta here. You never saw me.
51 comments:
Whoa that was like the summer sandstorms of Pilani!
Complete Overhaul of the machinery.
But please be careful to post things so openly .
Respect for you grows!
All of us are so excited about the changes.
Since, I heard about this I have been rejoicing :)
Good Stuff Sir !
Whoa! Thats brilliant... Everyone seriously felt that some strong steps should be taken if Vision 2020 is to be reached.
I m absolutely delighted to hear that Kumar Mangalam Birla has taken things into his own hand... and taken some brilliant first steps.
And to you Anurup da... brilliant post... looking forward to reading more of such un-diplomatic posts!! One word for you -- Respect!!!
Amazing article!
Wow..!! wings of change..!
Kumar Mangalam is not a bengali... he belongs to Marwari-Bengali category..
Anyway that's not the point. Good for BITS.. they really need to step up research infra and get some qualified faculty..
Hope BITS retain it's MIT of India status.
Oh My! I am Blown too.. with this news and with this post..
Really appreciable..
and cheers to the changing scenario !
(hoped it came when we had just entered BITS).. but fine.. change is good :)
Awesome... I had some personal tension in my mind but after reading this post, i am so so happy... its really good... i just wish i can be part of that unique institution once more.
n yeah... Kumaramangalam Birla is not Bengali... He is Maheshwari.... Yoyo.. but irrespective of that fact, its good to see changes happening in BITS which we in our college life thought would never happen...
sir,
my respect for you keeps growing!
i would like 2 stress another point here...tho mite be irrelevant...
projecting BITS as India's MIT requires a gr8 deal frm d students as well....
They shud remembr they r in a technical institutn nt a cultural one...so shud devote more time 2 technical relatd thngs rather than other cultural events/preparatns....
Major overhaul needed in the "Placements Division" .. The sooner the change, the better...
Awesome Post Bhaiya!! The respect for you grows even more!!
and yeah I agree.. the placement division needs someone really competent now. and i also wonder who will replae GSu now :(
I strongly agree with student.....strongly
was thinking more on this..
if there is something gud going to happen then shudnt it be done in phases.. as in if all of a sudden we get all the non-profs as administrators, wont it show up the inexperience of those people in handling BITS admin...
so if this is phased out, i guess dat'll keep the system stable and also lead to something gud..
Respect!
Really excited about the changes. Respect for the post man
Awesome...
Post freely
respect..i second u sir..
awesome post man !!!
true BITSian spirit \m/
Great to see ppl expressing finally.. nice post.
Bitsian style bow down to u \m/
Hey assface, we aren't exactly thrilled that Raman's here. Unfortunately he won't get canned at least till I pass out. Still, here's hoping the future batches at Goa have someone better at the helm.
Good post otherwise
Awesome!!
" Professors are meant to teach and do research only." ... finally someone who matters realized this...hope this does gets implemented.
Now, that makes it imperative for me to pay a visit to the campus.
(I wonder, who blew the trumpet on all of them !) :)
Appreciate, you making this public.
@Anurup: Man! I wish this happened a few years back! I remember the long waits to handle the red tape in BITS! And yes, professors are not meant to do administration! Thank god 'Kumar da' is on to that! :) Keep us posted! Power to G-Su and GR! It was long due and greatly deserved!
@RealNewsFromBITS: Man! that was the toughest blog entry to read - EVER!! Crap! Gave up midway! And one of the most disastrous attempts at a Fake-IPL-Player-style blog post! (And yes, there are quite a few that have been floating around ever since!) But well, its a free world!
I love the tone of your writing!!! .. .And I'm very much looking forward to some positive changes in the BITS paradigm in the coming years.Much needed!!
Respect! Appreciate u calling a spade a spade :)
Chancellor sir, Kumarmangalam Birla's apt interest in BITS through his thought leadership shall hopefully go a long way in realising Mision 2012 Vision 2020!
Loved it for its direct approach. Waiting for the new changes and hoping that they really do help!
Sir,
My respect for u has bounced up tremendously.
And,The best part of all dis is--
"He is going to place his own men in accounts, Engineering Services Division, Hardware - this is unconfirmed as of yet. However it is confirmed that he has said, " Professors are meant to teach and do research only." My, my what a refreshing change of attitude!"
Awesome stuff Sir! :)
Read your previous entry as well.
Yes, I agree with you that making attendance compulsory is needed and I feel it would have done a lot better in making us real engineers.
The prime focus is shifted.
I remember having a long discussion with you on a flight back to Calcutta about how things are so incompetent at BITS.
Glad to see the change and your post!
Wish I was a student there now and not passing out.
Hi Sir,
Kindly remove the "Complete News .. "
comment from your blog's comment list. The post is really sick and i dont think you wud be pleased to advertise the same indirectly !!!
It's probably time things changed for the better at BITS. However I have a couple of points to make:
1. Revamping the administration is not enough to elevate brand BITS. We need more quality teachers (I endorse a comment someone made about this) and professors who do actual research. Research is unknown in bits, lack of labs/facilities makes the matter worse. There has to be development on that front too.
2. Another serious flaw is about projecting BITS as the MIT of India. Atleast, as thing stand, BITS does not come even close (although I wish to see BITS enjoy that reputation in the future). Although cultural activities are good, we should not project it as if it's the USP of BITS. We should start organizing peer-reviewed international conferences and do some solid research that is publishable in some of the most reputed journals like Nature, etc. Student exchange programs should be revived (or started? am not sure) with existing schools we have an MOU with. PS stations should also include more academic institutions around the world.
@Divya : Hey I remember the conversation on the plane. Thanks for dropping by.
@Vaibhav : Done as you said!
@Arvind : I am all with you. In fact, if you ask me, I think that BITS would have been better off revamping the teaching and research here than trying to establish more branches - but then, nobody asks me! ;-)
Also yes, teaching is an art form, and we need more "artistes". It is imperative that someone has the ability to pass down knowledge apart from acquiring it.
@Arvind : That's a smashing new line of thought - having academic institutions around the world as PS stations...
@Arvind - Nice comment.Totally agree with you. MIT haha..
Research is highly essential and this can improve only by creating research groups in various areas. Through that students can understand research and start publishing in papers/journals or atleast get a real feel for research. Peer review also will advance through this.
Teaching ineffectively for the sake of completing the course is not going to help the cause.Even the quality of projects/assignments/tools-used/labs could be worked on in various courses/areas. I strongly feel that formation of research groups is a very effective solution to all this. With time as need for students in research improves it can pressurize the building of better labs and this would help in creating a sustainable model for improvement.But for this better faculty and teachers needs to recruited atleast for providing direction to the students willing to do so.
Also students given flexibility to chose something which is completely unrelated and no where near to their branch of study is fine. But then choosing something like that because the system does not offer enough support to get into the area is bad. Many students end up in this situation.
Exchange programme could work more effectively through tie up with better universities. Also dont know how long ppl would be happy with the existing foreign PS stations. Not even 2% of the batch goes there every semester. Also very few of the stations are research oriented. Summer interns also become a huge problem without collaboration with good univs. If one gets an intern by rigorous mailing also he does not get an aid! All this problem is taken care through collaborations.
@Anurup- Totally agree to what you had told about the expansion plans!
Hey,
Nice past...corporate governance playing its part !! But the worst part is that they are trying to make BITS better... only when all the campuses develop !
They seem to be a bit myopic in their vision while being decisive .
Reminds me of Ghalib:
Baazicha-e-atfaal hai duniyaa mere aage....
Hota hai shab-e-roz tamaasha mere aage..!!!
what i feel is that, if most of us are not making good enggs out of here, the huge chunk of blame goes to those people who can inspire us to become better ones.
if people who are here to impart knowledge, themselves are at lack of it, how can we expect them to inspire us to be technically sound?
but whom do we tell? there's this ID sys of feedback but i have never felt or heard of anything getting better on that part.. most of the people dont give a feedback because of the FEAR. fear of getting screwed up, and why not? this has happened in my 2nd year when we gave feedback for a course, the IC screwed up every1 through grading for giving negative feedbacks..
now who to blame for this.. every1 took li8 after this incident and have never ever bothered to give feedback for ne1..
अपना काम निकालो.. दुनिया जाए जहन्नुम में..
every1(includes me sadly) is in a hurry to get a degree here.. and in the process forgetting to get even a percent chunk of knowledge..
will this attitude change is what i wud like to see..
unfortunately .. i happen to be one of those who read your blog after sunday 3 am ..
will have to follow you from now on ..
and its a joke to compare BITS with MIT !!
we are not even close .. it is this sort of bullshit that gives students the illusion that bits is a great institution ..
it probably was .. but its fading away now ( atleast Pilani is )
that's my two cents worth ..
@Pratik, yes you are right. We need a change of faculty. Give it some time. The feedback system is a bit of an eyewash. Maybe you guys can try talking to A.K.Sarkar about it.
The question is are enough people concerned about it to talk to Dean ID? Signature campaigns are an excellent way of trying stuff though.
@Dandapinda, the things I wrote don't interest most people. And I don't write very regularly either.
BITS will become better if you want it o. If enough of you wnat it to...
Hopefully things will get better ..
however .. with the new campuses coming up .. its is going to be a herculean task to attract good faculty to an isolated place like Pilani.
I dont know if sm1 will go and meet the deans after hearing stuffs and worst experiences with most of them..
As in, if you tell me to go and suggest smthn to sm1 in BITS, i'll rather prefer to sit back and see the proceedings..
sir we need the degree first and then the change bt after getting the degree its too late i suppose..sadly..
i have personally met very few people whom i wud like to go and suggest smthn..true and not gud though !
regarding signature campaigns, i feel that no one wants his/her name anywhere.. we discuss everything in our wing/club/etc bt when it comes to the point of actually going out and doing the stuff every1 backs out.. that must be your experience also..being a BITSian yourself :)
@Amey : Please take it to the other website if you want to get sensational...
@Pratik : Well I guess you have done the analysis yourself and you know the duality. :-)
Nothing good for BITS Pilani campus..
"Research is highly essential"
But why well establish GENOMICS research group has been asked to move Hyderabad campus...What about this research area in PILANI Campus.
I strongly agree with the comment that formation of research groups, building of better labs will help in creating a sustainable model for improvement and for this better faculty and teachers needs to recruited for providing direction to the students.
But I do not understand why the Research Group Of Bioscience, The Genomics lab is asked to move to Hyderabad campus.....
As Mayank said: " Professors are meant to teach and do research only." ...But those who are teaching and doing research and putting there efforts for BITS are thrown out..
Research is unknown in bits, lack of labs/facilities makes them even more worse. In Revamping the KM made it more worse by kicking quality teachers and professors who do actual research.
I do not understand.
Making changes for the overall good makes sense to me, but why was Nattu removed? I mean, he did so much good work for the BITS brand! I thought when shuffling happens, the best people are always retained - even if put in a different role. This doesn't make any sense to me. Is there more to it that what meets the eye?
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