In superficial debates India is often looked down for not giving due respect to its talent pool and losing big time to Western nations, especially in the sphere of Academic excellence and giving Indian students the very best of pool of Professors. However, the naysayers who use the same brush to deny progress achieved in the last decade, has received a befitting response, nullyfying the prejudice, from an UK-based Professor, Anant Sudarshan. In no categorical terms, Professor Sudarshan noted that Indian universities are paying more salaries to lure best of the talent pool in the Academic sphere. He also emphasised that he lost talented people to ‘Indian Government Universities’ who paid more to secure the services of the best for India’s future generations.
Notably, Anant Sudarshan is currently the Associate Professor of Economics, University of Warwick. In a post on X, Sudarshan called the salaries in UK academia “an absolute joke,” noting that even candidates eligible for the UK’s High Potential Individual (HPI) visa turned down offers due to better pay from Indian institutions.
He explained that although UK salaries are generally higher than those in India, certain contractual roles in Indian universities now outpace UK offers in absolute monetary terms. He also pointed out how this trend was making the UK less attractive, especially for the best academic talent. “To be clear, there is no comparison in absolute terms on average, and for most people, UK salaries are still higher.
But on the margins, for the best people, the UK is becoming stunningly unattractive, especially in academia,” Sudarshan wrote.
He also clarified questions on salaries, pointing out that even though the UGC pay scales in India are lower, individual project staff on short-term contracts are sometimes paid more than their UK counterparts. He also pointed out that many UK contract teachers earn around £30,000 annually, which is approximately₹7.5 lakh in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
His post triggered a storm on social media with outpouring of both criticism and support for his post. Some users wrote racist comments asking him to “go back” to India or to hire UK citizens. In return, he made his stance clear, noting that it is not about national origin but about the broad-based lack of pay; he also pointed out that UK citizens are also shortchanged in academia.
While some supported Sudarshan’s observations about declining salaries in academia, others criticised his remarks, questioning why foreign talent should be prioritised over domestic hires.
Despite the criticism, the voices of Sudarshan strike chords with those who think the future of academia depends on fair remuneration and equality.
His comments also bring forth the steps taken by the Indian colleges that compete in terms of winning over the global brain drain. The capacity to compete absolutely on terms of money reveals the ever-rising desire of a few Indian colleges toward excellence and investment in education. The trend serves as a testimony of rising academic standards in India and prospects of the nation becoming a hub for global higher education. While the trend hasn’t flipped completedly, the progress on this front is an undeniable achievement of the incumbent Modi government.