– Sankalp Shukla | Founder, Development Leaders’ Alliance

India’s universities must evolve from institutions that confer qualifications into spaces that also cultivate informed citizenship, public purpose and participation in development.

India today stands at an important intersection of demography, aspiration and national transformation. We have one of the world’s largest populations of young people, a rapidly changing economy and the national ambition of becoming a developed country by 2047. In this context, the question before us is no longer merely how many young Indians enter universities. The question is: what kind of citizens, professionals and leaders emerge from them?

For too long, higher education has been viewed as a pathway from the classroom to employment. Academic excellence and employability will remain fundamental. However, the aspirations of young India demand a broader conception of education. A university must prepare students not only to earn a livelihood but also to understand society, institutions and the larger national purpose to which their capabilities can contribute.

This thinking is already reflected in India’s education policy. The National Education Policy 2020 envisages higher education as holistic and multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on critical thinking, innovation, community engagement and public purpose. The next step must be to translate this philosophy into a stronger culture of participation.

Our campuses should become living laboratories of India’s development.

An engineering student should have opportunities to engage with challenges related to water management, mobility or digital infrastructure. A management student should understand how public systems operate at scale. Students of economics, political science and law should have access to practitioners working on real policy questions. Young innovators should interact not only with investors but also with administrators and communities whose problems they hope to solve.

Such exposure does not politicise education. It can deepen democratic citizenship by replacing distant opinions with informed understanding.

An encouraging illustration can be seen in the Government of India’s recent exercise on examination reform. On July 26, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the constitution of a high-powered task force under the leadership of Nandan Nilekani to examine examination reforms. The task force is considering reforms relating to the conduct, security, design and governance of public examinations, including those conducted by the National Testing Agency.

More significant than the constitution of the task force itself is the decision to open the exercise to wider participation. In August 2026, the task force invited suggestions from students and candidates, parents, teachers, academic institutions, industry representatives, technology professionals, civil society organisations and other stakeholders. The consultation covers issues ranging from institutional systems and examination security to accessibility, inclusion and student well-being.

There is a larger lesson here. Young people should not remain merely beneficiaries of public policy. Wherever appropriate, they should be given structured opportunities to become informed contributors to it.

India’s universities can institutionalise this approach through public policy forums, development laboratories, field immersion programmes and regular interactions with policymakers, administrators, entrepreneurs, researchers and social sector practitioners. Students should be encouraged to study a district, understand a public programme, identify an implementation challenge and propose a solution. The outcome could be a policy brief, a technology prototype, a social enterprise, a district-level intervention or simply a more informed citizen.

This is also where independent think tanks and youth-focused policy platforms have an important role to play.

As the founder of the Development Leaders’ Alliance, I have come to believe that the gap we need to bridge is not between young Indians and ambition. That ambition is already visible everywhere. The gap lies between aspiration and access to meaningful platforms for participation.

Think tanks, therefore, cannot remain institutions that only organise conferences or publish reports. They can serve as bridges between universities and governments, between research and implementation, and between young minds and experienced practitioners. A student in Prayagraj, Raipur, Guwahati or Coimbatore should have the opportunity to participate in meaningful development conversations without first having to reach Delhi.

The long-term significance of such participation is considerable. When young citizens understand how policies are conceived, why implementation is complex and how institutions operate, public discourse itself becomes more mature. We move from commentary to comprehension and, ultimately, from comprehension to contribution.

This matters enormously for the journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047. The India of 2047 will be led by individuals who are students today. Our future civil servants, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, policymakers, researchers and community leaders are sitting in universities.

If we expose them only to curricula, examinations and placements, we will produce degree-holders. If we expose them also to India’s development challenges, institutions and possibilities, we can produce nation-builders.

The real measure of higher education cannot be the degree alone. It must also be the capacity education creates to think independently, understand deeply, participate responsibly and contribute meaningfully.

The task before us is to ensure that India’s demographic dividend becomes a development dividend.

For that, our universities must not simply prepare young Indians for their first jobs. They must prepare them for their role in India’s future.

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