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A not so formal discussion with
Prof. S. Semnanian, Director of the Advanced Neuroscience School. (By Hazrat Ali, IBRO – APRC Advanced School Participant) At the Sunday’s dinner hosted by Shahed Beheshti University, Professor Semnanian was kind enough to share table with us. And we wanted to make this session fruitful. Prof. Semnanian was willing and very open in sharing his views and experience. We asked the professor, You have now a massive experience at hand. For us being just at the start of our career, what suggestion would you please share, particularly for the development of a country? The professor took a sigh and then said, Look, there are three types of universities if I put it so. Let us call it type A, B, C. Professors from type A stick to teaching only. They will try to convince you that teaching is the most important and the only important job for you in academia. They are not willing to welcome your research ideas. And as you may see, these are the people who have been in the teaching for the last several decades and it is never easy for them to welcome the transition and change towards a research activity. The type B people have already started doing research, and producing good publications at reputed journals and appreciable impact factor. However, I want to focus on the type C. The type C are the people who are doing research for solving real problems of the society. These problems can be related to indigenous solution to local health problems, energy solutions, traffic management, waste management, or anything you can think about. This is what we have to aim at. And this is what academia should focus on for development of the country. Remember, The transition from type A to type B is difficult but even more challenging is the transition to type C. The change is never going to happen overnight and one should not expect it happen quickly. This will take an entire generation before you fully enter into the new phase.
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Hazrat Ali
Hazrat Ali is Assistant Professor at Department of Electrical Engineering, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad Pakistan. Archives
October 2020
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