Adopt Your University !

A solution for higher-education crisis in India


Given terrible neglect of education sector in India, there is a serious concern about no viable education, and therefore competent jobs, for millions of deserving Indians, especially those who are dying to pay any fees for it.

The problem is, that we have heaped the entire responsibility of educating the populace on to a mythical entity called 'government'. In India it amounts to a large number of babus, arranged in a rigit vertical/horizontal structure. None of this structure was created for India's sake, but for usefulness of a certain Elizabeth. One of the best ways out to reform the university system is to again involve the local community in running the university.

Here is a solution, whereby a university is adopted by a local community, making the process very interactive, transparent, and responsible. I call this "Adopt Your University" campaign. In the current post I will outline the idea, details will be provided in the near future.

The basic idea: To adopt a university, and create a fund from the local community, council, city by `trading its shares', whereby common man buys those shares individually or through societies. The university is run from one-time fund and other running local funds. Then, local population will remain involved in deciding the content and direction of university programs.

Short background:

Apparently, Cambridge and Oxford universities were run by local townships through local funds. London came in the picture only in 19th century. Nalanda was sustained by Magadha kings, for the benefit of their population. Why can't present Indian universities be run like those, where local population sustains a university for their purpose and thereby gets more involved in its affairs. No one will look to government for funding, university will sustain itself by 'selling' its expertise and providing services to the community directly. It will justify its existence and underscore its relevance.

Goals:

1. University remains open to the public directly, through a Public Relation Office. Comments, complaints, request for advice and proposals are immediately attended to.
   
   

   University provides many services to the local community, such as:
   

   
   
   • Studies water harvesting strategies, rain-forecast based planning of crops, and tree plantation between farms and around.
   
   
   • Studies strategies in other farming practices about seeds, organic farming, bio-fertilisers, crop deceases, etc.
   
   
   • Studies local human/animal deceases, or pandemics (bird-flu or) and provides expertise to the community immediately.
   
   
   • Preserves knowledge about local history, ethnology, archeology, geology, zoology, botany is preserved and research conducted.
   
   
   • Promotes technology development for local community, such as agricultural tools (e.g., making of jaggery with improvisations in traditional methods) or industry solutions (e.g., cast iron technology and small, inexpensive improvements).
   
   
   • Promotes research in the local communities, to enable them to solve their own problems in innovative fashion. Any resultant local solutions could be marketed/patented (like GNU patent scheme) for the benefit of the community.
   
   
   • Promotes and preserves local arts and culture, through focussed efforts in those disciplines.
   
   
   
   
   
2. The university will be locally grounded, with local population and its needs. It is based on mutual need, for people can pay for information they need, and university personnel can earn a good living in turn.
   
   
   
   
   • Local human/animal deceases, or pandemics (bird-flu or) are studied and expertise provided to the community immediately.
   
   
   • Knowledge about local history, archeology, geology, zoology, botany is preserved and researched.
   
   
   • Promotes technology development for local community, such as agricultural tools (e.g., making of jaggery with improvisations in traditional methods) or industry solutions (e.g., cast iron technology and small, inexpensive improvements).
   
   
   
   • Promotes research in the local community, to enable them to solve their own problems in innovative fashion. Any resultant solutions could be marketed/patented (like GNU patent scheme) for the benefit of the community. This is modelled on the so-called "Barefoot College".
   
   
   
   • Promotes and preserves local arts and culture, through focussed efforts in those disciplines.
   
   
   
   
   
3. University will promote science and technology in the region.
   
   

   It will provide training and research foci for college and school teachers and students. It will also serve as knowledge center, where national and international experts can converge to interact with local scientists and engineers.




4. Although local issues get more prominence, they do not overshadow other research/training. Other disciplines, such as mathematics, psychology or business management will be pursued as well, however, with similar local bend.
   
   

   For example, the university could be involved in teacher's workshops, training other persons (laboratory technicians) from schools, who will avail this facility on payment of fees. Latest research in child/adolescent psychology and its links with education could be pursued, which will improve the grass-root education. Although this deserves an entire new thread on its own. Those who are interested should read Atanu Dey's posts on the topic of education.