In 2013, during the inaugural session of Glocal University in Western Uttar Pradesh, its founding Vice Chancellor and one of the country’s top development economists, Amirullah Khan, made a thought-provoking observation:
“The main concern of our educational set-up is focused on employment—how to make us employable—while the main focus of Western elite institutions like Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Chicago, MIT is to cultivate wisdom and intelligentsia.”
This is strikingly true. As a society, we rarely appreciate an educational journey that does not guarantee jobs. The higher the job position, the higher the adjectives we attach to our so-called educational 'standards.'
Khan further emphasized that Western societies prioritise strengthening school education by directing more focus and investment towards it, while in India, we reverse the process. We over-invest in higher education without laying a strong school foundation.
His remarks were made in response to a question I posed, “Why do none of our universities (JNU, Delhi University, AMU, BHU, etc.) figure in the top ten—or even top twenty—of global university rankings?”
Over time, reflecting deeply on this, I found the answer. It lies in the structural flaws of our higher education sector. Too often, our research is neither original nor authentic; plagiarism and even outright copy-paste methods dominate. I have often remarked, even in a lighter vein, that this reality carries weight.
My conviction grew stronger upon hearing the words of an eminent intellectual and economist, who also served globally as Senior Economic Advisor with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The reality is painful. Most of our PhDs are contractual in nature. These are copied, outsourced, or even purchased in the 'market of ideas.' As institution-builders, we rarely encourage the search for original thought that could enrich society with fresh perspectives. It may sound like a joke, but is nonetheless shockingly true, that our theses are written by truck drivers (metaphorically, without demeaning them) and compiled at photocopy shops. With such non-seriousness, how can we expect intellectual originality?
Almost every major social, political, cultural, and scientific idea - from democracy, justice, and power to relativity and quantum theory - originated in the West through original research. Meanwhile, we mimic, copy, and replicate. They created ideas, won Nobel Prizes, and built intellectual property rights; we collected degrees, certificates, and jobs.
Even in culture, the pattern is visible. First, they gave us food, and we consumed it with pride under authorised brands like McDonald’s with its tagline: 'I’m loving it.' Then they gave us fashion, and we wore it with slogans like 'Just do it' (Nike). Yet, when they gave us ideas, we did nothing but copy them, claiming PhDs with little or no genuine contribution to social transformation.
The difference lies in originality. A wealth of data shows how doctoral theses from Cambridge, Oxford, Chicago, and MIT have pioneered new fields of knowledge, from existentialism to post-structuralism. The profiles of Nobel Laureates consistently reveal a link between their doctoral research and their later groundbreaking contributions.
In contrast, our satisfaction comes from celebrating mediocrity. We celebrated when JNU stood at rank 197 in 2014, even as none of our best institutions, those we admire the most, made it to the top tiers of global rankings.
This flaw in Indian higher education will not disappear without a radical change in mindset, both at the societal and personal levels. We must finally disassociate higher education from the narrow lens of employability. Our research must instead be rooted in what John Nash once reminded about: “The search for an original idea.”
Only then can Indian universities become true centers of wisdom, rather than factories of degrees.
(Mohd Arif Mir (Figar) is a Patwari, Revenue Department J&K .The views expressed here are personal and have nothing to do with the author’s official position. He can be reached out at: mohammadarifmir7@gmail.com)
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