Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Dr Pathik Pathak has taken his love for innovation to a whole new level. He’s one of those people who loves learning new stuff because it’s fun. After graduating from the University of Warwick, Pathik joined the University of Southampton and at that point he was oblivious to the fact that he’d make social entrepreneurship an attractive prospect for students. He began understanding the science behind innovation and gradually moved to the Social Impact Lab and has been unstoppable since then.
Currently, he leads the international work on social entrepreneurship at the University of Southampton. He was recently inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts after being awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman in 2015 for his outstanding contributions to education. However, unlike several other visionaries, he thinks that students must possess a particular set of skills that help them not only in academics but also in their lives; he will find you, and he will school you. Excerpts from the interview:
What draws you to new forms of inventions and how did the journey begin?
I’ve been interested in social entrepreneurship and innovation for quite some time. After getting my doctorate, I went on a world tour, and my first stop was India because that’s where my family is. The innovation was just about starting in little pockets here and there, during which time I met some of these social entrepreneurs in Mumbai and Bangalore, who helped me understand what it is to divert from mainstream innovation.
Is this something you always wanted to do?
I’ve always loved higher education, and the idea of it being in a space where people take some risks while taking learning to a higher level. For the longest time, universities were seen just as a space for learning, but now they are a space to experiment. I’m drawn to this new kind of education, which is about learning content but also trying new things like social entrepreneurship.
How has the prospect of higher education changed over the years? Do you think education has become a business rather than a necessity?
I graduated with money in my pocket. Not only did we not have to pay
tuition fees but we were also given a student grant by the Government. Now, students graduate in the UK with around 40,000 pounds of debt. That’s a big change! I pursued higher education because it was free and fun. I think, students now are seeing their University experience as an investment. To be honest, we created a system where students now have to pay a lot of money for education. The real problem is that we’re losing the fun in learning.
What is the Spark India Social Enterprise Camp?
We had a collaboration in 2014, which included group internships. We worked with social enterprises like Awaaz de and Aakar innovation where we created business challenges. Our students understood the concept of Social Entrepreneurship in India and they co-created a crowd funding campaign which became the most successful crowd funding campaign in Indian history.
How does the Social Impact Lab encourage students to think outside the box?
The social impact lab is an international lab based in University of Southampton, where we create programmes for our students such as Spark India. We promote a skill-based approach to social entrepreneurship. We want to promote social leaders and are not concerned about developing social ventures.
Reach Out: https://pathikpathak.com/