{"id":1228,"date":"2011-09-09T06:25:22","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T06:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2011\/09\/09\/professor-j-manrakhan-7\/"},"modified":"2019-12-23T23:01:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T19:01:08","slug":"professor-j-manrakhan-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/professor-j-manrakhan-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Around The R\u00e9duit Campus Research Week\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Professor J. Manrakhan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The opening ceremony of the University of Mauritius Research Week by Dr the Honourable R. Jeetah, Minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology took place at the Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium, R\u00e9duit on the 5th<\/sup> September 2011. For a detailed programme consult http:\/\/campus.uom.ac.mu\/research wk 2011. Over the past four decades or thereabouts, there has been in sustained existence, a thin stream of research excellence at the R\u00e9duit campus, spanning all faculties, despite many a difficulty or shortcoming, as the University of Mauritius strove towards, and then beyond, its critical mass of research \u201ccapital\u201d. More recently, those research endeavours came to be highlighted through the device of a research week along specific themes: \u201cResearch and Innovation Challenges\u201d (2007); \u201cSustainable Development and Innovation\u201d (2008); \u201cSustainable Green, Intelligent and Innovative Island\u201d (2009-2010).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Dr A Carpoonen, specialist in Kreol Studies, pointed out in his welcoming address, the format for 2011 has been altered towards providing more flexibility so that each faculty has come to enjoy a whole day on its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pr K. Morgan, the Vice Chancellor made a solemn appeal for all those involved in research work to enjoy the latter. And so that everyone can really enjoy at least the week in question, he also announced a Rs1 Million grant for each Faculty to fund research projects after a peer-review process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pr S. Jugessur, Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the University Council, while expressing satisfaction at the evolution of the research endeavours at the R\u00e9duit campus, also sounded a note or two of concern \u2013 notably, about the necessity to ensure proper application of research results as well as the necessity to cover more research areas, such as Forestry.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his Opening Address, the Minister commented, and commended, the various steps in the onward march of the University of Mauritius towards a confident future in research and other activities, highlighting a few of those papers which had caught his attention in the light of his own experience on campus and elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the positives around Research Week 2011, the following should be mentioned.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The stream of research excellence has now broadened and deepened enough to warrant real confidence for the future.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. There are now areas which span interest throughout the campus: climate change, unauthorised modelling, food and health \u2013 research may soon transcend Faculty boundaries.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Whatever else may be happening at the R\u00e9duit Campus or elsewhere, \u201cachieving gender equality at work\u201d \u2013 the last research paper (Faculty of Law and Management) appears to have been actually attained in the papers and the moderation of Research Week 2011.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Towards an \u201cInternational Research University\u201d, may be?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    For students of the University Institution, that expression itself may be full of contractions, nonetheless it may be pedantic to quarrel about that. The outstanding example of such a University would be that known by its world famous acronym MIT, much admired, often emulated but, as yet unequalled (except, perhaps, in the USA itself?)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Mauritius is very far from there.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    The National University of Singapore (NUS), around 25 years ago, was quite content to admit that its research efforts (as distinct from its teaching) were not the major influence explaining the socio-economic development of that country. And the investment in the NUS has been far, far greater than in the R\u00e9duit Campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Moreover in the mid 1990s, when the R\u00e9duit Campus became equipped with its \u201cNew Academic Complex\u201d which vastly increased its physical accommodation and even more important, enabled a massive increase in flexibility of its academic activities, the University of Reunion had more than 4 times the physical capacity of the R\u00e9duit Campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As Christina Rosetti has reminded us, the road ahead is uphill, all the way. Never mind, another great lady, Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister, averred at the Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium on the occasion of her Honorary Doctorate, that scholarship is one area where the small can compete with the large. So why not? The future would be tough but \u201cdo-able\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Time to streamline, cultivate and fructify further one of R\u00e9duit\u2019s greatest assets, which never appear in the balance sheet, namely its links to other Universities, research and otherwise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Relating to Innovations \u2013 A Postscript<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    May I suggest a postscript to the above-mentioned (Mauritius Times<\/em>, 1 Sep 11, p3), inspired by an article in The Economist<\/em> entitled \u2018Think Different\u2019 (6 Aug 11, p 53). There innovation is perceived as \u2018today\u2019s equivalent of the Holy Grail\u2019. Reference is also made to Harvard\u2019s Clay Christensen and his \u2018The Innovator\u2019s Dilemma\u2019 (1997) which highlighted the concept of \u2018disruptive innovation\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

    A new study of his, co-authored with Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen, and scheduled for publication soon, is aptly entitled \u2018The Innovator\u2019s DNA\u2019. The Economist\u2019<\/em>s article concludes that the latter is not only \u2018rare\u2019, but also \u2018impossible to clone\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

    How very true \u2013 at least for the present.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    * Published in print edition on 9 September 2011<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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