If you believe, as I do, that the growth and development of national economies is dependent on the quality of their universities, India’s prospects of attaining the goals of Viksit Bharat and $30 trillion economy by 2047, the centenary year of our independence, are dim. Because the track record of India’s 1,168 modern universities — some of which were established 150 years ago — in developing great thinkers, especially great inventors, scientists and engineers, is poor. Indeed it’s difficult to recall any game-changer invention, product, service or disruptive technology emerging from the shady bowers of Indian academia. During the past quinquennium, 22-28 million students and over 2 million faculty have been attending classes, workshops and seminars every year in the country’s 47,000 undergrad colleges and 1,168 universities. But all their mountain of labour has failed to produce any earth-shattering product or technology. Consequently the multitude problems that plagued newly independent India 75 years ago — poverty, illiteracy, pervasive homelessness, widespread hunger — still await resolution. 

Indeed not only are these problems still immiserising the citizens of free, independent India, several new ills have mushroomed to compound national misery. Among them: steady deterioration of the country’s 53 cities with population of one million or more; collapsing law, order and justice systems; incremental riverine and air pollution; rising unemployment, and persistent inflation among other thousand unnatural shocks that citizens are heir to. Therefore, one wonders what the 28 million students and faculty are busy with on a daily basis.

The logical conclusion is not much. They are whiling away the hours/ In their ivory towers/ Till they are covered up with flowers/In the back of a black limousine, to cite a memorable ditty.

But this dark cloud has a thin, silver lining. Unlike the leadership and faculty of Central and state government-promoted universities whose teaching and research tends to be unconnected with vulgar commerce and industry, a new genre of higher education institution (HEI) Promoters, Vice Chancellors and Deans of rapidy multiplying private universities without such compunctions, has emerged within the moribund Indian academy. These new genre academics seem determined to bridge the academy-industry chasm by applying and translating knowledge and research into innovative products, services and game-changing technologies to speed up India’s hitherto languid national development effort. These new reformist educators who offer the best chance of the nation attaining its Viksit Bharat and $30 trillion economy goals by 2047 are profiled in this issue. Fingers crossed that their fine words translate into action.

Meanwhile in EducationWorld we are also venturing beyond call of duty to raise teaching-learning standards in education. Check out our report on the inaugural EW-Access USA Global Education Leadership Summit for Indian school leaders convened in Hillsdale College, USA. 

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