Delivering the presidential address, Indian Science Congress President K C Pandey said there was very little research in the increasing number of universities where even the regularity of routine mundane class room teaching has been abandoned.
"In the last six decades or so there has been tremendous expansion of the knowledge base but most universities have not even made efforts to keep up with it," he said at the function attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
Pandey said the situation is highlighted by the fact that India was fast losing its competitive edge in research to other countries, which till recently were far behind.
"Specifically, India's share of world's scientific and technological research is steadily declining," he said.
Citing the rich tradition of theoreticians like M N Saha, S N Bose, he lamented the "step-motherly" treatment meted out to theoretical research as compared to experimental studies.
"The support of a theoretical project proposal is at best limited to two research associates/senior research fellow/junior research fellow; this is hardly enough to build up a group, let alone have excellence," Pandey said.
He favoured removal of this ceiling on theoretical research to pave way for quality as the criterion for the quantum of support. Pandey, a former vice chancellor of the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, pitched for setting up Special Education Zones on the lines of Special Economic Zones dedicated to the development of higher professional educational institutions, R&D centres, state of the art laboratories with all the supportive infrastructure.
He also favoured inviting reputed foreign universities to establish campuses in the country either alone or in collaboration with Indian or another foreign university. Pandey said with more than 450 universities, over 18,000 colleges and a large number of national and regional institutes, not a single university found even a mention in the recent international ranking of top 200 universities.
He also wanted special salaries and adequate research budgets for star researchers and professors as followed in the US, UK and China.
Speaking after Pandey, Sibal said the Centre was planning to introduce a code of conduct for central universities to bring about transparency and autonomy with accountability through self-regulation.
Sibal said the ministry recognises that universities have their own culture, nuances and sensitivities and they also need to be cautious while offering their facilities for commercial use.
"But we now need to make a beginning. We plan to introduce a code of conduct initially to be adopted by the central universities, and later perhaps by state universities and others, to facilitate flexibility and autonomy in the university system," he said.
"It envisages a set of standards of accountable behaviour, both at the individual and institutional level that can foster competence and excellence in the university system with the minimum of internal and/or external interference," the HRD minister said.