Ours was the country that once housed a world renowned university like Nalanda. What then changed, so much that today India’s universities are pointlessly struggling to make a mark for themselves in the list of rankings? Forget about the International ones, even the national ranking shows couple of old and prestigious universities being pushed to later by couple of new comers.
Experts say it is the in house culture of these universities, that when changed will surely help them to make a difference. How?
Recently, like a decade or three ago it was not even possible for a young lecturer to offer their inputs and set of lectures in a globally recognised Indian university, without being intervened by either the administration or their own peers. Imagine the difference that can be made if the scenario is back-pedaled.
The second factor is, if the teacher imparting education and knowledge has autonomy over her sources, without being pressurized to change the assessment of a candidate’s performance.
“The autonomy of a teacher is both a value in itself and designed to contribute to the larger goal of excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge.” (Pulapre Balakrishnan, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana).
Only the basic realization of the fact that feeding a repressive culture will not only thwart the future of Indian universities, but also reprimand it’s place in the world of knowledge, can indeed bring a revolutionary change in the culture and future of these universities. The only question here is that are we ready to embrace this change, and if ‘Yes’, then who will take the first step?