An alternative knowledge vision on taking universities into rural India

Universities should be community-centred, problem-solving engines that drive economic development and prevent cultural drainage
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Each year, several Indian students leave their small-town homes to pursue higher education in major Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Pune, as most universities and colleges are located in urban areas. About 32% of Indian colleges are located in just 6% of the nation’s districts, with over a thousand colleges in Bangalore Urban alone, according to the AISHE Report 2021-22. As a result, a few concentrated urban centres have come to represent the future of higher education in India and has become so embedded in our cultural fabric.

However, this trend lacks any logical planning or necessity. A university’s calibre does not necessarily depend on where it is located. In fact, for the longest time, small towns in this country were home to some of the most revered educational institutions including Nalanda and Takshashila. Even modern universities of today like Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Caltech, Stanford, Yale, Leiden, Warwick, Heidelberg, Duke, and Dartmouth have flourished outside of urban cities.

For far too long, Indian universities have been viewed as urban centres of knowledge that are cut off from the country’s mainland. The tremendous sociocultural, ecological, and intellectual wealth found in India’s smaller districts has been disregarded by this model. If we were to embed universities in these districts, where real action and change are happening, we could unlock a transformative potential that currently remains untapped.

Why it works

Here are four compelling reasons why this alternative vision is not just desirable but necessary for India’s future:

First, it allows for knowledge creation in local realities. The purpose of any university is to produce knowledge that benefits society. A university becomes a key part of a district community when it is situated within this ecosystem. This allows our academic institutions to come in direct contact with the difficulties and challenges faced by the local communities at a grassroots level, whether it is the scarcity of water in Rajasthan or the rise in tourism in Uttarakhand. By being in close proximity with district communities, universities can problem-solve creatively and collaboratively. It also allows our country’s brightest minds to collaborate with the local communities and embrace indigenous knowledge and wisdom, thus expanding the horizons of global understanding.

Second, it will help retain local talent. Most students move to bigger cities each year to pursue higher education, which is depleting the intellectual capital from our rural and semi-urban communities. This also causes students to become disconnected from their cultural roots, causing cultural deterioration and a feeling of estrangement from their own communities.In the context of faculty, universities in metropolises have overshadowed and stunted the rise and recognition of local intellectuals. Decentralising universities would help reverse these trends.