Revisit Tagore to revive higher ed

What is the future of universities worldwide, and how can we revitalise them? This is a question I pondered while observing the fractured state of higher education globally.

In East Asia, in locations like Hong Kong, freedom of expression is on the wane, while in Latin America or Africa, universities are captured by populists and ideologues. Even in the West, like the UK, universities are struggling with their own “triangle of sadness” (to quote King’s College President Kshitij Kapur), to which, may I add, one is also witnessing a “triangle of viciousness” of bad behaviour tossed in as a response.

In the US, Ivy League universities are also confronting similar issues, adding to the global strain on higher education. This global squeeze on universities comes at a time when basic trust in relationships between professors and students seems to be breaking down in classrooms with the advent of virtual education. Fancy tools abound in higher education, including the metaverse, extended reality, AI, and new forms of technology-driven educational delivery, impacting assessments and increasing concerns about plagiarism, and hence necessitating
new models of assessments and examinations.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also forced a re-evaluation of the business models around expensive degrees (like two-year MBAs) as edutech
providers capture online distance learning.

As a professor, I share concerns about global higher education with parents and students, acknowledging the complexity of the situation, including the worrying erosion of democratic sensibilities globally, often endorsed by university leaders.

Short-term tactical responses, like revenue generation and grandiose manifestos of how universities should normatively operate and behave going forward, dominate discussions. Meanwhile, governments in the West continue to exploit international student immigration for political gain to quickly appease their domestic voters, which will reach a higher pitch with national elections scheduled in major economies around the world in 2024.

Speculations about university exits, mergers, and efficiency drives abound. It is also possible that universities will seek to expand their geographical reach (perhaps in the Middle East and Africa), either through overseas campuses or through local partners in those destinations. Meanwhile, reform-oriented initiatives like the Open University in the UK, the University of Austin in the US, Plaksha and Ashoka in India, or CKGSB/CEIBS in China are also emerging.

But to be honest, all these approaches are still avoiding looking long and hard at the mirror and calling a spade a spade. The fundamental need for reform in higher education is still unanswered. The universities are avoiding addressing serious issues such as restoring trust among students, families, communities, and society in general.

This is where we need reformers of the stature of Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela for universities globally. Where, indeed, is that university reformer? One looks around and wonders: Who can be authentic and honest, international and interdisciplinary, apolitical and evidence-driven, grounded and forward-looking, with no vested interests, and think about institutions selflessly? Also, someone who is willing to accept courageously, even while bleeding oneself, the skeletons in the cupboard while planting seeds for a better future of the university?

Sorry. I don’t have any solutions to propose here. I am just reflective of my societal responsibility as a professor this winter, witnessing all that is happening around me. That said, I still do take inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore, who in 1901 set up Santiniketan. In 1921, a ‘world university’ was established at Santiniketan, recognising the unity of humanity, or ‘Visva Bharati.’ The times then, as they are now, were tumultuous, after World War I ended and the influenza pandemic broke out in 1918.

Recently, in September 2023, UNESCO awarded Visva Bharati University the status of a World Heritage Site. It may have inadvertently reminded us of the motto with which Tagore started this university: Yatra Vishwam Bhavati Eka Needam, or where the world becomes a nest.

Tagore’s university is also, today, after 100+ years of its existence, not in great shape, just like its peers worldwide. But in his efforts, Tagore reminds us today how universities worldwide need to reflect and find reformers to restore higher education and its nature, re-nurturing trust and warmth, akin to a mother bird and its chicks—like Tagore’s vision of creating a global nest. Tagore’s efforts serve as a reminder that universities must restore and revitalise higher education and establish the bond between the learned and the learner, which seems to be in an exposed, lacerated state worldwide.

(The writer is a professor of economics of innovation and global health at the University of Sussex)