The CSLC Lecturers Forum for Research in Humanities

This forum consists of the degree college lecturers, and initially the Kuvempu University lecturers are targeted.

The problems:

  1. There is a considerable degeneration of teaching and learning. Most of the lecturers do not update their knowledge mainly due to the lack of motivation and resources to take initiatives.
  2. There is a general lack of interest in research. The UGC has incentives for the teachers who do PhD and post doctoral researches. But the Ph.D.s  are done mechanically without the acquisition of the research skills and critical reasoning. Because of the lack of proper guidance and training, the researchers are loosing their interest in research. Since the research questions have become uninteresting and irrelevant for the society and for the researchers, there is a general disinterestedness about such researches. 
  3. The existing UGC refresher Courses have not succeeded in enhancing the skills of the teachers because these courses have become rituals and only a means to acquire the promotion.
  4. The social science lecturers generally lack a scientific understanding of the current issues; therefore they are not in a position of entering into the current debates on social issues and impress upon the policy makers and the public.

Objectives: The forum meets at regular intervals, once for a day in a month. The lecturers are introduced to 

  1. Training in reading skills: how to understand the concepts and arguments of the authors.
  2. Training in research skills: how to identify the research questions and conduct research on such topics.
  3. Assist in preparing project proposal and project writing.
  4. Group discussions to learn how to identify the current issues of interest and address it and impress upon the public about the social scientific approaches about them.
  5. To discuss about how to make the teaching informative and interesting.

Membership:

Those teachers who are interested in research are invited to become members. The members will be assessed on the basis of their involvement and performance in the regular meets. Those who do not follow up the exercises and training will be allowed to discontinue their membership. It is aimed to tap all the potential teachers of the degree colleges.