A Tale of Two Universities

The past few months have witnessed an impetus by the government to establish educational institutes of Excellence, from Kapil Sibals initiative for innovation centres to the establishment of new IITs and IIMs in different parts of the country. While the intention is highly commendable, the establishment of world class Universities is a huge challenge in today’s highly competitive academic environment. Care needs to be taken whilst appointing faculty, estimating infrastructure requirements for research and teaching, and putting processes in place to ensure smooth functioning and administration. The team entrusted with the task of setting up such institutions must comprise of extremely dynamic, accomplished individuals, more importantly though, they must be people of unquestionable integrity and academic excellence. Unfortunately, this seems to be the exception rather than the norm. Most of the new IITs are struggling to meet the demand for quality faculty, which inevitably means dilution of overall academic standards at the IITs. Infrastructure is patchy and insufficient, and research output is virtually non-existent. While some problems are genuinely difficult to overcome, the determining factor for the institute’s success seems to be the quality of the individuals chosen to oversee the institutions initial development.

To get a feel of just how much of an impact the initial development team has on the fate of a University, take the example of two relatively young institutes, the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Delhi and the recently established South Asian University. The former is being managed by Prof. Pankaj Jalote, a dynamic, affable young professor from IIT Delhi who has served as a faculty at the University of Maryland and is a scientist of international repute.  Prof. Jalote has taken great pains to ensure that IIIT Delhi develops into a world class institute and for that reason enjoys the confidence and respect of his faculty. He is young and full of new and innovative ideas and has incorporated these into the functioning of IIIT Delhi.  Faculty recruitment at IIIT Delhi is treated as a sacred duty, the entire faculty is involved in the recruitment process, along with a panel of experts. The results are there for everyone to see, already the institute boasts of an outstanding faculty with people from the best Universities in the world. Research is the primary determinant for recruitment, along with teaching ability. In both these spheres IIIT Delhi is steadily approaching world class standards. A lot of time and effort is spent in designing course curriculum, with consultation from experts all over the world. Courses are introduced slowly and after careful thought given to market value, teaching load, and faculty strength. Admissions for students are conducted via a carefully designed interview and entrance exam to ensure that the student is not only suitable but also has an inclination for the program.  IIIT Delhi is a wonderful example of how an able and dynamic leadership can result in the establishment of a quality institute even on a relatively meagre budget. The philosophy is simple, once you establish a good faculty nucleus it tends to ensure quality is maintained and the institute automatically grows from strength to strength.

In complete contrast to IIIT Delhi, South Asian University (SAU) is an institute lush with funds from all SAARC nations (budget of over 600 million dollars). SAU was established with the noble idea of establishing an international University that would help foster cooperation between SAARC nations. Unfortunately, the team chosen to lead the project was picked more on political considerations rather than academic merit. The project was entrusted with Prof. G. K. Chaddha, former vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University reportedly because of his close ties with the Prime Minister’s Office.  An economist by training, Prof. Chadha is hardly renowned academically, his claim to fame being that he once studied under Manmohan Singh at Punjab University, a relationship that lasted six months but one Prof. Chaddha has leveraged throughout his life to garner important positions. He earlier held the position of Vice Chancellor of JNU where he left behind a legacy of nepotism and favouritism. He is seventy three years old, is technologically challenged (can barely navigate the internet or email effectively), and is bereft of innovative and new ideas, yet the government entrusted him with the task of establishing a modern, world class university that would help propel SAARC nations into the 21^st century!

 A mere glance at the South Asian University charter shows that it is basically copied directly from JNU’s charter, some passages verbatim. Prof. Chadha has already succeeded in losing the confidence of his faculty, in miring the University in controversy, and in breeding nepotism during faculty appointments. The curriculum is poorly designed and entire departments are created overnight. This is hardly the kind of leadership a project like SAARC University deserves, and the University, barely two months old, already serves as a classic example of how not to start an institute of excellence.

In spite of the fact that both these institutes are in their infancy, it isn’t hard to project which one is heading to become an institution of excellence and which one is headed south (no pun intended). While it is heartening to know that the government is finally paying attention to the crying need for institutes of excellence in India, however before sanctioning money and resources to such institutions, more care must be taken to the formation of a competent team to supervise the initial development. Otherwise, we will end up with more institutions drowning in mediocrity and nepotism.