Universities at the Crossroads

Description

This book deals with the predicament of the universities today, the objectives with which they were set up, and the extent to which they have remained true to those objectives. While the focus is on contemporary India, the discussion is presented in a historical and comparative perspective. Universities throughout the world face similar challenges although they do not all respond to them in the same way. The university is viewed here as both a center of learning and a social institution. There has been a rapid growth in the number and size of universities since the middle of the twentieth century. The causes and consequences of this growth are examined in some detail. Universities have grown partly in response to the continuous expansion of knowledge and partly in order to become socially more inclusive. The challenge before them today is to become socially more inclusive without relaxing standards of teaching and research.