Education with a Purpose

During interactions with faculty colleagues and scientists at HCU, IISER and NCL Pune as well as other institutions where I have given lectures and attended conferences, I often hear the record playing, ‘it’s very difficult to get students to attend seminars; they are not interested in research; we were far more motivated in our times, etc.’ This chain of events which repeats sometimes once a week, and more often at other times has prompted me to think – is the lack of interest among students due to inherent poor quality or a disconnect with the research they are doing? While the former factor may be a topic in itself to write about, I will stick to the second point here.