More young blood among IIT, IIM faculty

BENGALURU: Prateek Raj, 30, is an assistant professor at IIM-Bangalore. After a PhD from University College, London, he teaches PGP and PhD students, many of whom are elder to him.

Prateek is among a growing tribe of young faculty on the campuses of India’s premier institutes of IITs and IIMs. An influx of young blood is slowly erasing the image of professors being serious and grey-haired.
The case is true in newly established institutes.For instance, the average age of faculty members in IIT-Palakkad is 33.8 years. Of the 78 faculty members, 21 are below the age of 35 years.
In IIT-Dharwad, the average age is 33.9 years. As many as 31 of the 41 faculty are below the age of 35 years. IIM-Tiruchirappalli has seven faculty members below the age of 35 and six above the age of 50.
Young teachers have better connect with students: Experts
Prateek said the age gap between him and students of PG courses is very less. “This helps us in free conversations. I had to teach an executive programme for mid-level managers. I started off saying I’m here to facilitate your own understanding of the subject. We learn from each other,” he said.
Older premier institutes, too, are seeing an influx of young blood. For instance, in-IIT-Delhi, 60%-70% of faculty are in their mid-30s. “We recruit 60 new faculty a year and have an age limit of 35 years. Recruitment has multiplied as student strength has gone up. We want youngsters to bring in energy and drive innovation. They have a better connect with students and can give research agenda the push. There are several new-age courses that require people with exposure to these areas,” said IIT-Delhi director V Ramgopal Rao.
“This trend was bound to happen when knowledge becomes the industry driver. Several youngsters now dive into academics after studies. They go abroad for a doctorate and come back to premier institutes, thanks to the prestige and good packages. In a recent recruitment drive, we were surprised to see applicants in late 20s being eligible for entry-level posts,” said Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM-Kozhikode. In IIMBangalore, 10 faculty members are under 35. G Raghuram, IIM-B director, said: “Older faculty retire, younger faculty join. Sometimes, we get faculty midcareer too. We need more faculty in the next few years to cater to expansion. This would bring in more young blood.”
Asked why he preferred academia to industry, assistant professor Vipul Mathur, 33, youngest faculty member of IIM-Calcutta, said: “In academics, you are in the business of ideas; in research, you create ideas; in teaching, you transfer these ideas; and in consultancy, you apply them.”. He added: “Young or old, students are curious.”