Outlook – July 28, 2019

FORESIGHT

UNIVERSITY

SPECIAL

64 OUTLOOK 29 July 2019

played the role of a university.

However, for the vast major­

ity, to find what resonates

with their inner drumbeat

is a quest on which they emb­

ark when a university stimu­

lates their minds with

various issues and happen­

ings of the real world. So a

university of the future must

draw up a curricular platform

where each individual is

drawn to engage with some­

thing or the other from the

real world. Such an engage­

ment makes a student search

within to find her personal

drumbeat. And that sets the

tone for the future. Are we as

a nation successfully able to

provide such a platform of

learning for our youth? The

answer is emphatically in the

negative as the most salient

feature of such a platform of

learning is that those who

pass through its portals must

find fulfillment in some tan­

gible manner.

How does one gauge the

situation in India? A few

years ago, the University of

Delhi invited a leading

multi national firm for a

campus placement exercise.

The firm had a few hundred

openings for graduates that

needed basic communica­

tion and analytical skills. The

uni versity advertised widely

and shortlisted 1,200 of the

best resumes and organised

blind interviews. The firm

picked up only three stu­

dents. And what about the

famed IITs? Here is a sample

from among many frank

opinions expressed by

students at a well­regarded

IIT: “The three­and­a­half

years are an academic void.

The little I learnt during the

course while mugging for

exams got erased as soon as

the exam was done.” The

story goes on and on.

The other important factor

we need to tackle is our easy

embrace of mediocrity in the

education sector. This is

readily recognised not just by

our inability to win a Nobel

prize, but also by the realisa­

tion that no Nobel laureate

from anywhere seems to be

even mildly inclined to spend

any meaningful time at any

Indian university.

Our quest for a design of

the future must also take

into account the staggeringly

large numbers of students.

For instance, this year more

than 35 lakh students have

graduated from high school

through the examinations

conducted by the Uttar

Pradesh, Bihar and CBSE

boards. The University of

Delhi, one of India’s largest,

admits about 55,000 each

year. One can only try and

imagine the picture for the

entire nation. Thus, for a uni­

versity of the future, a very

out­of the­box design is man­

dated. Through the use of

artificial intelligence and

meaningful and judicious

use of IT­based learning plat­

forms, much knowledge can

be imbibed by large groups

of students with enjoyable

experiences that are increas­

ingly more fulfilling than

most classroom experiences.

Of course, this also req­

uires the teacher to be an

enlightened mentor who

sees value in hands­on activ­

ity and team­based project

work that needs a trans­

disciplinary approach. The

university must realise that

knowledge comes in many

forms, that all human and

worldly activity has a knowl­

edge component, that

knowledge without action is

meaningless, and that skills

and knowledge are two sides

of the same coin. They must

grasp Gandhi’s dictum in the

context of education: “What

you do with your hands

enters your heart.”

The university shall have to

embrace technology crea­

tively and large­heartedly.

The young today can and do

adapt very easily. They must

be given freedom to innovate

and experiment, and learn­

ing must be student­led.

For research and

knowledge generation, such

a university must recognise

that more and more kno­

wledge seems to be coming

out of enterprises outside

formal systems, such as

ISRO, Tesla, Google andVir­

gin Galactic, and in an all­

encompassing manner,

through the web. The endea­

vours of individuals such as

Kabir, Guru Nanak, Gregor

Mendel, Craig Venter, Elon

Musk and many others must

also be pointers to where

much knowledge can come

from or where it is being put

to use for the future.

So the university of the

future shall have to ensure

that the young are in a

position to know what it

takes to create such enter­

prises and the basic skills

needed to be a part of such

enterprises. For the students

of the immediate and distant

future, their desire and need

to gain knowledge should be

met not so much through the

campus­based environment

as by technology­enabled

experiences, and a peer­led

and enjoyable learning mode.

The university shall just be

an enabler and enlightened

mentor that lets learners

proceed by themselves.

Students shall engage and

become aware of the power

of quantum computing, arti­

ficial intelligence, robotics

and big data, and these shall

have to be made second

nature to them. Technology

through AI and computers

shall be the learning platfo­

rms for the university of the

future, and a good university

shall also redesign enlight­

ened ways of according

credit and assessing. India

shall then truly prosper. O

Desire to gain knowledge should

be met not so much through the

campus-based environment as by

technology-enabled experiences.

TRIBHUVAN TIWARI