Research Based Curriculum to Improve the Teaching-Learning Experience of Undergraduate Students

Technical education system in India has undergone a transformation in the last several years. The focus is more on students to make them readily employable and face the competition. Research and teaching are the two important aspects of any higher education system, which complement each other and improve the quality of education. Research is an important component of the teachinglearning process, as its helps in disseminating current knowledge to the students and keeps them updated in their discipline. Thus teaching-research nexus has assumed lot of importance. Involvement of undergraduate students (UG) in research in technical Institutions is a recent phenomenon. It has been a regular feature in Institutions of National importance namely the IITs and NITs, but in private Institutions and Universities it is not happening regularly. There is a need to involve UG students in research, in order to stimulate them towards innovation. A country like India with a huge student population can really make wonders by making this happen and the students can be easily motivated and trained. This requires a ‘research-based curriculum’. In this regard, this paper tries to present a perspective on teaching-research nexus and evolve a broad framework for a research-based curriculum, with regard to authors’ Institution, which is an autonomous Institution, with lot of flexibility with regard to curriculum. This curriculum can help UG students to get a feel of research, when they are young and motivate them to take up research as a future career and also help them in their placements.