Outlook – July 28, 2019

FORESIGHT

UNIVERSITY

SPECIAL

62 OUTLOOK 29 July 2019

a result, not only has the

world been rid of smallpox,

but the concept of vaccina­

tion has also led to the erad­

ication of polio and many

other dreaded diseases.

Given their energy and

idealism, the youth in any

society tend to be easily ins­

pired and motivated by the

thought of engaging with

social needs. What is gener­

ally needed is to give them

the right training and tools—

and that is the job of any uni­

versity, not just a university

of the future. Thus, by its

very raison d’etre, a univer­

sity is not really a university

unless it is eng aged with the

future. So, to my mind, all

universities have no choice

but to be universities of the

future. It is, therefore, useful

to try and identify the chal­

lenges and goals looming

over the horizon, and use

them as a collective touch­

stone and compass when

dealing with the idea of a

university of the future.

Such a listing will necessar­

ily include artificial intelli­

gence, robotics, big data,

climate change, environ­

mental degradation, disease

prevention, public transpor­

tation, nat ional security,

engendering the well­being

of the rural population, slum

redeve lopment and so on.

It now becomes almost

self­evident that any uni­

versity of the future must

have a curriculum that ins­

pires and engages the minds

of the young. It is only then

that they will endeavour to

create ideas and be truly

inn ovative. This really trans­

lates into enabling the young

to find their calling in life.

Another way of putting it is

to say that we are, each one

of us, born with an inner

drumbeat, and we begin to

get truly educated when we

start disco vering our inner

drumbeat or antardhwani,

and start marching in the

real world in harmony with

that drumbeat. A young

mind identifies its drumbeat

by engaging with the various

drumbeats that emanate

from the different needs and

challenges of society.

For many young folk,

finding one’s drumbeat may

not really involve a formal

university system, as in

many ways the world at

large is a university in itself.

The sooner a university of

the future recognises this,

the better it will be. Take the

example of Mahatma

Gandhi, whose inner drum­

beat required him to march

in harmony with the truth.

He was fortunate to have

found this antardhwani

through engaging with a

play on the life of the

legendary king Harish­

chandra at tender age. He

embarked on his quest for

truth right then, and that set

the tone for the Gandhi of

the future. Nineteenth­

century English scientist

Michael Faraday too found

his inner drumbeat through

a non­ formal setup, when he

was apprenticed to a book­

binder at a young age.

Srinivas Ramanujan found

his calling in life—mathe­

matics—while still a school­

boy. Bhagat Singh too found

his drumbeat as a teenager

when he saw the need of

freeing the nation from the

yoke of foreign rule.

So for many truly great ind­

ividuals, the world at large

For many young folk, finding one’s

inner drumbeat may not involve

a formal university system as the

world at large is a university too.

VIJAY PANDEY