Chennai: Collaboration with space agencies of different countries for planetary explorations and India-US student exchange programme will be the highlights of the next Indian Science Congress (ISC) in 2011, officials said on Monday.

The 98th edition of ISC will be held by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) at the SRM University in Kattankulathur on January 3-7, 2011. The science congress will deliberate on the focal theme "Quality Education and Excellence in Scientific Research in Indian Universities."

"The Space Summit will see participation from space agencies of other countries like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, Japan Space Exploration Agency, Europe apart from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)," P. Sathyanarayanan, Vice Chancellor of SRM University and chairman of the ISC organising committee, told reporters here.

According to ISCA general secretary Ashok K. Saxena, a student exchange programme is also planned with the San Diego-based American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"Nearly 40 percent of the children in San Diego are of Indian origin. The student exchange programme will give them an opportunity to visit India. This will be the first time such a programme is being thought of as a part of science congress," Saxena added.

Citing the next ISC's core theme, ISCA president elect K.C. Pandey said, "The quality of science teaching has gone down tremendously in the country and in particular in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh."

Compounding that, the students are disinterested in studying science and are lured by other courses like management and software engineering.

"We are not going to get good scientists in the years to come and it should be of great concern for the policy makers," Pandey said.

He said there will be a session in science congress focused on making science teaching interesting to the students and strongly rejected the idea of forcing science subjects on students at the college level.

The four-day premier science event, to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, is expected to cost SRM University about Rs.12 crore.

Around 7,000 people are expected to participate in the science congress, including overseas scientists and couple of Nobel laureates.

According to officials, normally one-third of the cost will be met from contributions from the domestic scientific organisations and the balance from sponsors. IANS