HIGHER EDUCATION : OBJECTIVES AND IMPROVEMENT
 

11.01 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in his convocation address to the University of Allahabad in 1947, thus summed up the basic objec- tives of the university and its role in national life: A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people. These great words highlight the basic truth that univer- sities have a crucial part to play in the life, welfare and strength of a nation. The universities can, however, fill this role only if they owe uncompromising loyalty to certain fundamental values of life. They are essentially a community of teachers and students where, in some way, all learn from one another or, at any rate, strive to do so. Their principal object is to deepen man's understanding of the uni- verse and of himself-in body, mind and spirit, to disseminate this understanding throughout society and to apply it in the service of mankind. They are the dwelling places of ideas and idealism, and expect high standards of conduct and integrity from all their members. Theirs is the pursuit of truth and excellence in all its diversity-a pursuit which needs, above all, courage and fearlessness. Great universities and timid people go ill together.

11.02 While the fundamental values to which the universities owe their allegiance are largely unrelated to time or circumstance, their functions change from time to time. In the rapidly changing contemporary world, universities are undergoing profound changes in their scope, functions and organization and are in a process of rapid evolution. Their tasks are no longer confined to the two traditional functions of teaching and advancement of knowledge. They are assuming new functions and the older ones are increasing in range, depth and complexity. In broad terms, the functions of the universities in the modern world may be said to be:

-to seek and cultivate new knowledge, to engage vigor- ously and fearlessly in the pursuit of truth, and to interpret old knowledge and beliefs in the light of new needs and discoveries;

- to provide the right kind of leadership in all walks of life, to identify gifted youth and help them develop their potential to

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the full by cultivating physical fitness, developing the powers of the mind and cultivating right interests, attitudes and moral and intellectual values;

- to provide society with competent men and women trained in agriculture, arts, medicine, science and technology and various other professions, who will also be cultivated individuals, imbued with a sense of social purpose;

- to strive to promote equality and social justice and to reduce social and cultural differences through diffusion of education; and

- to foster in the teachers and students, and through them in society generally, the attitudes and values needed for developing the good life in individu- als and society.

UNIVERSITIES IN INDIA

11.03 Historical Development. The ancient universities in India were leading centres of learning in the contemporary world and attracted scholars and students from other countries. So did some famous centres of Islamic learning in the mediaeval period. But unfortunately these traditions did not survive and the modern univer- sities were established, more than a hundred years ago, as exotic institutions created in imitation of the London University as it then was. The earliest of these were the Universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras--all founded in 1857-and the University of Allahabad, founded in 1887. They all began as purely examining bodies and con- tinued to be so till the opening of the present century when the Indian Universities Commission was appointed (1902) and the Indian Universities Act was passed ( 1904). As Lord Curzon observed: How different is India! Here the university has no corporate existence in the same (i.e., as in Oxford or Cambridge) sense of the term; it is not a collection of buildings, it is scarcely even a site. It is a body that controls courses of study and sets examination papers to the pupils of affiliated colleges. They are not part of it. They are frequently not in the same city, sometimes not in the same province. * 123 The Government Resolution on Educational Policy (1913) accepted the need for establishing more universities. It said: The day is probably far distant when India will be able to dispense altogether with the affiliating universities. But it is necessary to restrict the area over which the affiliating universities have control by securing, in the first instance, a separate university for each of the leading provinces in India and secondly to create new local teaching and residential universities within each of the provinces in harmony with the best

123* Lord Curzon in India, Vol. II, p.35.

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modern opinion as to the right road to educational efficiency. As a result of this policy, six new universities came into existence be- tween 1913 and 1921. A teaching, unitary and largely residential university was established at Lucknow (1920). Recognition was also given to the efforts made by eminent Indians to break new ground in creating teaching universities. For instance, the Banaras Hindu University, founded by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, was incorporated in 1916 and the Aligarh Muslim University, founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, was incorporated in 1920. In the meanwhile, two princely States also established universities for their areas, Mysore in 1916 and Osmania in 1918, the latter making history by the adoption of Urdu as the medium of education. *124 After 1921, when education was trans- ferred to Indian control, the development of universities was much faster and during the next 26 years, nine more universities were established. After the attainment of independence, there has been a much more rapid expansion in the field of higher education. The number of universities has increased from 19 to 64. In addition, nine institutions have been deemed to be universities' under Section 3 of the UGC Act. The details about these will be found in the note at the end of this chapter. But even this expansion has not fulfilled the needs of the situation.

11.04 Special Responsibilities. The general objectives of university education given earlier apply equally to Indian universi- ties. They have, in addition, some special responsibilities in the present state of our social and educational development. First and foremost, they must learn to strive to serve as the 'conscience of the nation', as assessors of the national way of life, and this responsi- bility becomes all the greater in the absence of an enlightened public opinion. There are so many new pulls and forces (as well as old ones) operating in our national life-as, indeed, in the life of man as a whole-that its balance has become very precarious; and there is a danger of losing our hearings unless universities are able to play this role adequately by involving themselves deeply in the study and evaluation of the social process. Such involvement is vital since the universities are pre-eminently the forum for a critical assessment of society-sympathetic, objective, unafraid-whose partiality and motives cannot be suspected. So far, the Indian universities have not per- formed this function adequately. This may be due either to apathy or failure to recognize the importance of this role or to the traditional belief that scholarship and academic

124* The S.N.D.T. Indian Women's University was founded by Ma- harshi Annasahib Karve in 1916 and it used Marathi and Gujarati as the media of education. It was, however, incorporated much later in 1949.

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excellence thrive only in isolation from the clamour of the multitude. In some cases, an apprehension of the displeasure of the authorities or influential vested interests, which may not take kindly to their opinions and criticisms, may also have worked as a deterrent. To discharge this function properly, the university teachers should cultivate not only intellectual integrity, courage and scientific knowledge but also will public confidence. Unless they have the high ambition to make an impact on the quality of social thinking and endeavour, they will not be able to help in moulding a new society which will not merely cherish high values but actually provide oppor- tunities for living by them. For this purpose, it is necessary, as a first step, to develop the universities themselves into communities where such values are prized and practised.

11.05 From this point of view, the universities must learn to encourage individuality, variety and dissent, within a climate of tolerance. Dissent there is, even now, but usually of a superficial or sensational kind of which many manifestations can be seen in India and abroad. The general tendency, however, is to produce the 'organi- zation man' who is afraid to challenge the accepted pattern of social behaviour and social institutions at the intellectual level and who is too often anxious to worm himself into the good graces of the people who count: so that he may be able to 'get on' in life. A university should have no truck with this type of mind. Its business is not primarily to give society what it wants but what it weds and obviously they are not always identical. It is not a 'community service sta- tion', passively responding to popular demands and thereby endangering its intellectual integrity. Nor is it an ivory tower into which students and teachers can withdraw for a time for teaching or re- search, accepting no responsibility for the improvement of society. It has to maintain an ambivalent position, balancing itself carefully between commitment and detachment-commitment in action, detachment in thought. It must always be in a constant state of creative tension knowing where to interpret, where to criticise, where to pioneer and where to support traditional values. It can neither identify itself with the existing environment and institutions, nor yield uncritically to every kind of change, every passing pressure. This would be to surrender its basic integrity of outlook and judgment. It must ever stand ready to assimilate the new that is healthy and to eschew the old that is diseased. Such an attitude is challenging and can be unpleasant, for it needs courage to reject unduly complacent images of one's individual or national life and overcome the many emotional blocks in the mind. The university call play this role adequately if it has faith in the power of the mind and helps others to share this faith. It must encourage, not only in its students but

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also in the general public, so far as possible, free and disinterested thinking which can challenge vested interests and established ways. This is the only way which holds out some hope that man will be able to live wisely and intelligently.

11.06 Another special responsibility of the Indian universi- ties is to develop programmes of adult education in a big way and, to that end, evolve a wide spread network of part-time and correspondence courses. The universities have to provide these courses in all their faculties, not only as extra-mural preparation for their examinations, but also as programmes of in-service education of professional workers in all walks of life. General adult education programmes are also needed to create a unity of outlook and faith between the masses and the intelligentsia. An extension programme would include provision for training the intermediate leadership groups which, in the circum- stances of today, may not be in a position to enter the university but on whose understanding of, and identification with, national problems, the future of the country largely depends. Above all, it will require that universities function as agencies for a deep and careful study of local, regional and national problems, to which Government, public and private organizations and industry, may turn for advice and guidance.

11.07 Yet another responsibility of the Indian universities in the present context is to strive to assist the schools in their attempts at qualitative self-improvement. For this purpose, universi- ties should conduct experimental schools, run advanced courses for teachers in various school subjects, assume greater responsibility for the training of teachers at all levels, organize summer institutes for their in-service education, assist in the search for and development of talent, and develop new curricula, textbooks and teaching materi- als. These programmes of extension and school improvement have been discussed in detail elsewhere. *125

11.08 Perhaps the most onerous responsibility which the Indian universities now have is to shake off the heavy load of their early tradition which gives a dominant place to examinations, to improve Standards all-round and by a symbiotic development of teaching and research, to create at least a few centres which would be compara- ble to those of their type in any other part of the world. This alone would help to bring back the 'Centre of gravity' of Indian academic life within the country itself. We can do no better than to quote Sir Eric Ashby on this subject:

Looking at Indian Universities a century after their foundation, one cannot but help feel that they have failed to adapt themselves sufficiently to the vast and unique opportunities which surround them;

125* Chapters VIII to X and XVII.

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they seem to have lost enthusiasm and initiative under the crushing problems which have beset them. Despite three major commissions, they have not been able to extricate themselves from their own brief history. With a few notable exceptions they remain examining bodies and their students naturally regard success in examinations as the sole end of an undergraduate career. As universities multiply in number, their academic standards-relative to those elsewhere-do not improve. And something even more serious than this happens: the universities remain alien implantations, not integrated into the New India as the writers of the Radhakrishnan Report (in its brilliant second chapter) hoped they might be. This is one reason why, to the observer from outside, the Indian intellectual remains a culturally displaced person, nostalgically treasuring his threads of communication with England. Notwithstanding the fact that the leadership of modem India is in the hands of statesmen more intellectual than perhaps are to be found in any other nation, there is in India (as Edward Shils recently wrote) 'no intellectual community'. This is due in part to the lack of a hierarchy of cultural institutions in the country: and this in turn is related to the fact that the universities have responded too weakly to the challenge of Asiatic culture.

This failure of the university to meet the challenge of Indian society has many complex causes, but among the causes are undoubtedly the decisions made between 1835 and 1854. To exclude from university studies for half a century the whole of oriental learning and religion and to purvey to Hindus and Moslems a history and philosophy whose roots lie exclusively in the Mediterranean and in Christianity; to communicate the examinable skeleton of European civilization without ensuring that the values and standards which give flesh to these bones are communicated too; to set up the external paraphernalia of a university without the warmth and fellowship of academic society: these are the handicaps against which Indian universities are still struggling and which prevent the university from becoming the Centre and focus of India's intellectual life. *126

11.09 The responsibilities we have discussed so far are those which are specially related to higher education and they should be read together with the general objectives of education stated earlier *127 to which all stages of education must contribute in sonic meas- ure. For instance, the Indian universities must foster national consciousness. They should ensure that every student who passes out of an Indian university takes with him some understanding of India's cultural heritage, its past achievements and triumphs in the field of art, philosophy,

126* The Bulletin of International Association of Universities, November, 1962.

127* Chapter I.

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science and so on. He should, in other words, know what he is heir to. This could, perhaps, best be done at the first degree stage where such a study could form a part of a programme of liberal education. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that all university students in America have to take a course in western civilization'. *128