Universities are facing an existential crisis and are being forced to rethink and redefine their role. They are constantly being asked to explain their utility. Universities are not only centers of knowledge but also catalysers of social mobility. In a hierarchical and divided society like India, universities are the only spaces where young men and women can find occasions, and the confidence, to break social barriers.
The Idea of a University is placed in a particular moment of history, where universities are struggling to come to terms with the demands of nationalism, being undermined for their nation building environment allowing different students to mix and grow together, ironically.
Can the utility of an educational institution be quantified completely? Is the academic community grumbling and protesting because this shift in the societal and cultural norms is demanding accountability from the universities for the money that taxpayers are spending on them?
The Idea of a University discusses these pertinent issues. In these essays teachers and academics from different spaces, in terms of both subject interest and location, discuss how a university works, the historical evolution of central and state universities, the current state of different higher academic institutions in the country and the many challenges to academic freedom in contemporary India. A timely book that is thought-provoking and seeks to engage teachers, students and laypeople.

Contents

Introduction

The barbarians Have Landed -- Alk Rai
Of Pain Waves, Plastic Surgery and Panchgavya
The Quest for Hegemony In The Natural Sciences -- Shobiit Mahajan
Who's Afraid of Academic Freedom ? The Illiberal Pulls of the Public University in India -- Debaditya Bhattacharya
The Logic of Academic Freedom -- Shiv Viswanathan
The Idea of Academic Freedom -- Niraja Gopal Jayal
Night-thoughts on Academics, Administration and the University -- Ram Ramaswamy
The University : Histories, Ideas, Crises -- Mary E John

Seeking a Universal Knowledge Space : The Idea of an Ideal University in Newman, Humboldt and Tagore -- Payel Chattopadhyay Mukherjee

Questioning Academic Freedom -- Pankaj Chandra

Neo-Liberalism and Academic Freedom : The Emergiing Scenario -- Saumen Chattopadhyay

Challenges Facing our Universities -- Mohammad Sajjad

Looking at Academic Freedom from a No Person's Land -- J Devika

Hard Words Break No Bones : Sedition, Free speech Academic Freedoms and Sovereignty in India -- Kalpana Kannabiran

Academic Freedom and Indian Universities -- Nandini Sundar

Academic Unfreedom -- Francesca Orsini
Internatinal Reflections on University
autonomy and Freedoms -- Quentin Thompson

Re-envisioning Academic Freedom : Reflections of an Early Career Professional -- Irfanullah Farooqi

Freedom as Intellectual Necessity -- Vinay K Kantha