A few days ago, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, while speaking on the occasion of the announcement of the Infosys Prize 2022, lamented that India’s educational institutions are unable to break the barrier of the top 200 club of global universities. This has been an object of much discussion and yet I am tempted to put in my penny’s worth on the matter at hand.
It should be evident to all and sundry that Indian colleges and universities have, by and large, failed to take measures since the second decade after Independence that could have helped raise academic standards. On the contrary, most of our well-known and long-established universities have faced enormous decline over the past several decades. I can mention so many of them, but perhaps it shall be enough to illustrate with just one example.
Many of us are aware of the grand heights that institutions such as the University of Allahabad had scaled before and even for a couple of decades after Independence. What had allowed the once-venerated university to attain such eminence? Of course, there were many factors, but the most important of these was the fact that Allahabad University had been blessed with good academic leadership and had a fair degree of governmental support coupled with autonomy in its functioning.
One of the most illustrious of its academic leaders was the late Dr Amar Nath Jha. His tenure imparts many lessons for us. The first of these learnings is the fact that he was a man with a vision and this is what led to his appointment as vice-chancellor. The second lesson for us here relates to the duration of his tenure.
He served for 16 long years, which allowed him ample time to mould the university in a manner that befitted his vision. The third revelation stemming from his leadership is that he had a great deal of autonomy accorded to him and to the university. This is best illustrated by two incidents from his time.
When the distinguished physicist Meghnad Saha left Allahabad University to reside in Kolkata, Jha decided to replace him with someone just as distinguished and, consequently, he offered the job to Erwin Schrödinger, who was already a Nobel laureate at that time. Schrödinger accepted the offer but could not join since World War II broke out soon thereafter.
In a similar fashion, Jha offered a lecturer’s position to my late father UN Singh, a young mathematician whose doctoral dissertation had received unstinted praise from EC Titchmarsh of Oxford University. The point to be noted is that neither Schrödinger nor Singh had applied for the jobs that were offered them.
It is only when such distinguished leaders are made vice-chancellors and given stability, time and
a fair degree of autonomy that universities shall thrive. Unfortunately, the story of Indian universities began to falter within 20 years of Independence and has mostly stayed that way, barring a few exceptions. Perhaps the National Education Policy may bring about a change for the good.
Dinesh Singh
Former Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University; Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, University of Houston, US
Twitter: @DineshSinghEDU