e University’s Features and Purpose:

The word university can have diferent connotations in diferent contexts. In some countries, it includes all levels of college, while in some places it means only post-graduate school. This paper will treat the word with a broad defnition that includes all forms and categories of higher learning institutions.

Universities have existed for centuries in various forms and have had a massive infuence in spreading ideas and developing societies and nations. Henry Newman calls the university, “a Stadium Générale’ or “School of Universal Learning.”7 It is a place where a human community gathers in learning. Universities were established with a civic mission of contributing to society by scholarship and research. However, this civic mission of the university has been challenged by a more utilitarian mindset wherein the purpose of higher education has become a way to “acquire new knowledge to prepare one for the workforce.”8 This challenge has posed a constant predicament about the purpose and function of higher education in the twenty-frst century.9 The situation in India and the world is more or less similar when it comes to higher education. Much of the focus is on producing graduates who are trained to get jobs. Roy Y. Chan notes that today’s labor demand requires highly skilled personnel, and to meet this need, universities redefne their curriculum and pedagogy so that students acquire the desired skills and competency for the global economy.10 While succumbing to this need by the universities can be justifed to some extent, the danger is that because of this outlook many universities and students engage in academics with highly selfsh ambitio`ns and fail to contribute to the community at large.

7 John Moses, “On the University,” in Theology the University and the Modern World, edited by Pail A. B. Clarke and Andrew Linzey (London: Lester Crook Academic Publishing, 1988), 70.

8 Roy Y. Chan, “Understanding the Purpose of Higher Education: An Analysis of the Economic and Social Benefts for Completing a College Degree,” JEPPA, 6, No. 5 (2016): 2.

9 Ibid.

Almost two centuries ago, Henry Tappan, the renowned President of the University of Michigan, rightly identifed a signifcant purpose of the university: Of all mere human institutions there are none so important and mighty in their infuence as universities; because when rightly constituted, they are made up of the most enlightened, and the choicest spirits of our race; they embrace the means of all human culture, and they act directly upon the fresh and upspringing manhood [sic] of a nation. To them must be traced science, literature, and art; the furniture of religious faith; the lights of industry; the moving forces of civilization; and the brotherly unity of humanity.11 Tappan’s quote explicates one of the prominent features of universities. It does not exist just for the production of scholars or intellectuals, but primarily to contribute to the well-being of the society. Scholars like John Dewey and Cardinal Newman also viewed higher education as a place that stimulates nationbuilding and socialization, and something that extends beyond individual and economic realms to the social and societal dimensions.12 A careful reading of the history of the university in India also reveals this notion that the universities were founded with the purpose of contributing to the advancement of society and nation-building. The following section will provide a brief overview of the history of the university in India.

10 Ibid.

11 Jerry Pillay, “Historical Theology at Public Universities Matter,” in HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, 73, No. 1 (September 2017): 1.

12 Chan, 6.

It is not feasible to cover the history of the university in India in detail due to the paucity of space. Hence, this will be a brief general overview of how the concept of the university evolved from Ancient India to its current form.

Universities did not start in India in the recent centuries. Indian historians and scholars claim that the concept of higher education can be traced as early as the Vedic period, generally dated as 1500 to 800 BCE in ancient India.13 A. J. Coleman also suggests that higher education existed in many parts of India as early as the 6th century.14 There were primarily two types of centers of higher education during the period; the great monasteries, in which the scholars of diferent religions lived and studied together; and the ashramas, which were religious in nature and from which the gurukul system of education developed.15 This system of education was characterized by love, fellowship and education was seen as a life process.16 This led to the holistic development of the students, who integrated their learnings to life and society as a whole. While the higher education of those times most likely did not resemble the universities that exist today, it is apparent that the concept of higher education is something that has existed for a long time.

13 Suresh Chandra Ghosh, The History of Higher Education in Ancient India (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2001), 12.

14 A.J. Coleman, The Task of the Christian in the University (New York: Association Press, 1947), 25.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

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In ancient India, two broad movements of higher education existed, the Brahminical and Buddhist systems.17 The Brahminical system was monopolized by the so-called higher Brahmin caste, and it relegated women to the background.18 But the Buddhist education system in contrast was open to all people, regardless of caste background, but was restricted for slaves, army-deserters, the disabled, and the sick.19 The Buddhist system was in many ways secular and can be probably compared to contemporary universities. A few signifcant universities in Ancient India include Nalanda, Vikramshila, Takshshila, and Vallabhai. Nalanda University was known for its Buddhist studies and attracted students from China, Nepal, Tibet, and Korea.20 While the majority of the teaching dealt with Buddhism, the university also included Brahminical subjects.21 Ancient India had a strong tradition of higher education with a religious nature. Higher education, however, had a focus on transmitting knowledge to society (mainly the upper castes in the case of the Brahminical schools).

Higher education in medieval India (ninth to early eighteenth century) is another major phase of the history of education in India. Despite diverse religions and cultures, education centers played a vital role in the process of integration and coexistence of various peoples.22 Madrasas (Islamic Colleges) surfaced as the key centers of education which peacefully coexisted with the earlier traditions of education, and subjects like agriculture, accountancy, astrology, astronomy, history, geography, mathematics, and Islamic law were included.23 Muzafar Alam points out that medieval intellectuals learned to live together despite religious and cultural diversities and played an important part in ensuring peace and unity among diferent social groups.24 This demonstrates that despite great diversity, higher education played a signifcant role in society especially by creating a harmonious social environment in the medieval period.

17 Ghosh, The History of Higher Education in Ancient India, 12–13.

18 D. M. Jha, “Higher education in Ancient India,” in Higher Education in India: Retrospect and Prospect, edited by M. Raza (New Delhi: Association of Indian Universities, 1991), 1.

19 Ibid., 2–3.

20 Ibid., 5.

21 Ibid.

22 Muzafar Alam, “Higher Education in Medieval India,” in Higher Education in India: Retrospect and Prospect (New Delhi: Association of Indian Universities, 1991), 10.

The British in the colonial period brought in their own form of education and university system, and it is generally acknowledged that the current educational system is highly infuenced by them. However, they did not impose their system on the country for a long time and only started doing so when they needed English-speaking, Western educated workers who could act as the link with the general population.25 This introduction of Western education was generally aimed at creating a professional class who could fulfll the needs of the colonialists, and education was available mostly for higher caste people.

Kuvalayamala attacks British imperialism, which she says was fundamentally Christian. She makes the accusation that they used their education system to control the country.26 She continues by stating that the education system was used to condition the modern-day Indians, and it has negatively

23 Suresh Chandra Ghosh, The History of Education in Medieval India: 1192 A.D. –1757 A.D. (Delhi: Originals, 2001), 22.

24 Alam, 21.

25 Aparna Basu, “Higher Education in Colonial India,”in Higher Education in India: Retrospect and Prospect, Edited by M. Raza (New Delhi: Association of Indian Universities, 1991), 22.

26https://medium.com/@Kuvalayamala/christian-missionaries-hijacked-anddenationalised-indias-education-system

176 | Jijo Rajan impacted the country because it has resulted in them drifting away from the “underlying values of the dharma of the Indic civilization and alienation from the collective consciousness of the nation.”27

While Kuvalayamala might be partly true it is an undeniable fact that it is the Christianity she attacks that made education so widely available to the so-called “lowcaste” and the marginalized of the Indian society, and this has irrefutably contributed a lot to the development of India as a nation. Missionaries played an important role in making education accessible for common people during the period and there was a signifcant improvement in the level of education in the country. Christian missionaries established quality educational institutions. One great example is the Senate of Serampore College which was granted the status of university in the country in 1829, was established by Christian missionaries; Joshua Marshman, William Carey, and William Ward, also known as the Serampore Trio. R. L. Rawat, in his book History of Indian Education, rightly states that India will be forever indebted to the missionaries for their contribution to the education system in India.28 Rudolph C. Heredia afrms the contribution of Christian missionaries and suggests that it was they who introduced the western education system, and what began in colonial times has shown lasting remarkable impact.29 Nevertheless, modernization and Westernization of the university system also led to a lot of changes. One primary impact was the product of the Enlightenment, the divide of

27 https://medium.com/@Kuvalayamala/christian-missionaries-hijacked-anddenationalised-indias-education-system

28 https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacstranscripts-and-maps/christian-impact-india-history sacred and secular in education. While Indian education always integrated the two, the new system brought in the era of rationalization, wherein religion and spirituality were severed of from science and academics, primarily by the colonial education system.

29 Rudolf C. Heredia, “Interrogating Christian Education-Excellence and Relevance in Independent India,” in Songs of Silence: Christians in Nation Building, edited by S. Arokiasamy and J. Chathanatt (Delhi: Media House, 2000), 139.

Post- independence university education was still shaped in the colonial pattern. Under the leadership of leaders like Nehru, Sardar Patel, Radhakrishnan many reforms took place. Nonetheless, the process of globalization and liberalization commercialized most of the contemporary universities into factories that produce professionals seeking comfortable job placements. Today, the marketization of higher education is promoted by the nexus between universities and the market’s demand for professional service providers, making knowledge a product subjected to market powers. Hence, students have become consumers of knowledge, and teachers and universities have become service providers, all with the aim of proftmaking.30 The noble notions of service to society in pursuing higher education in universities are lost in the process. As Heredia notes, universities are alienating themselves from social realities and needs.31 Higher education has unfortunately divorced itself from all its religious infuences, including civic and moral responsibilities it brings. Education got divided into secular and sacred. Eventually, even Christian students put their faith and academics in separate boxes and failed to realize the fact that God is present and active in their felds of education as well.

30 Navpreet Kaur, “Privatization and Commercialization of Higher Education,” in International Journal of Academic Research and Development, 3, No. s1 (2018): 456. 31 Heredia, 148.

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