The department of computer science and engineering, Rajarajeswari College of Engineering (RCE), organised a two-day National Conference on Frontiers of Computer Science and Technology (FCST’12).

The conference, held at RCE campus, emerged a forum to share research solutions and identify directions for future research and development in the field of computer science and technology. “The conference aimed to bring out innovative ideas along with discussions on various fields of computer science and provided a platform to share ideas and views with experts,” said AC Shanmugam, chairman, Rajarajeswari group of institutions.

Addressing the conference, Prof TC Shivashankara Murthy, vice-chancellor, Mangalore University, emphasised the need for enhancing research. “Between 2005 and 2010, India published only 16 research papers in world’s three top science journals compared with US which compiled 480, China with 76 papers, South Korea with 46 and Brazil with 24,” he said.

There is a dearth of quality teachers who encourage and prepare their students to think and research by application of knowledge. About 53% posts in engineering colleges for teachers are vacant and 48% of teachers in engineering colleges do not hold PhDs, he said.

Prof KR Venugopal, principal, University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), said Indians lack confidence. “When it comes to science and technology, we are the best. We have a talented workforce but lack confidence and this is an area we need to work on,” he said.