In the immediate term, we might fret over the fact that the US is restricting visa access for Indian students.
Dec 13, 2024 11:56 IST First published on: Dec 13, 2024 at 09:15 IST
Whenever a maverick enters an office of significance, it gives rise to general anxiety all around. Continuity is the cornerstone of reliability in public policy framing; an opinionated boss can unsettle these still waters. The impending US Presidency under Trump has already stirred the waters, especially in the larger domain of policies related to immigration, naturalisation, student visa issuance, and so on. He is seen as protectionist. He does not particularly like foreigners. And he wants to throw out all those who are staying in the country illegally.
In the immediate term, we might fret over the fact that the US is restricting visa access for Indian students. But there is so much more at stake. The bigger picture is even more troubling, for entirely different reasons.
That Indians do well overseas is an accepted truism. A corollary to this is the presence of Indians worldwide in the field of higher education, as both students and teachers. A further extension of the co-relationship is the middle-class Indian (and not just Indian) fetish for foreign degrees and thereafter, a prosperous and settled NRI tag.
The Indian middle class’s anxiety over any possible change in the US’s student intake policy on account of Trump taking office is somewhat understandable. The important question to ask, however, is: What would be the long-term impact of restricted access to American universities for foreign students, including those from India? America as a country and American universities in particular have been deeply enriched by people not born in that country. In a sense, one could argue that America is great because its universities are great. With the advent of the knowledge economy, those who produce knowledge necessarily stay ahead of those who consume knowledge. Without the cutting-edge intellect of international students, not to mention the super bright STEM out-performers from India, American universities, over time, are likely to lose the edge under a protectionist regime.
The 21st century began with the hope of a new world order in which societies began to move towards a more equitable international ecosystem. The last 10 years, however, have witnessed backtracking on the progress achieved earlier. This is dismaying. For long now, we have heard the West tell us, through bodies like GATT, WTO, World Bank, and so on, that free trade was the way forward for all countries to profit and prosper. Once the West began to experience the adverse effects of “free trade” when confronted with more efficient economies of scale mobilised by developing nations, it began to backtrack. The West has always been self-assured vis-a-vis a rapid expansion of lifestyle and comfort in the face of unchallenged domination in world trade. This self-assurance dissipated somewhat as they began to feel the pinch after countries like China and even India, to a lesser extent, along with other BRICS countries, began to challenge their access to the high street of world commerce.
Trump’s protectionist policies, including the restriction of student visas, immigration opportunities, permission to work in the US and disallowing citizenship through natural rights are all part of a piece — the only way to win the fight is to not allow the opponent into the ring.
Here in India we too have some tough questions to answer. Why are our higher education institutions not the first choice of millions of students? Why are we losing students to foreign universities? The projected outgo on account of students travelling overseas to secure higher education is $70 billion by 2025. Why this exponential increase?
As reported in this newspaper, students travelling to the US have dropped in numbers. But that’s because they have chosen to study elsewhere, the UK, Australia and Canada. Just wishing for these students to stay and study in India is not enough. We need to have the courage to ask what is the comparable level of higher education they can hope to get in India. Thanks to NEP, most students in the university system in India are hamstrung, yoked to a system that is fast spiralling into chaos. American universities are great, but without our students, they won’t be for long.
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First, there will be a drop in quality; worryingly, the brightest of students who go on to become faculty will not be teaching in those universities. This is what will happen in the long term. India might, on the other hand, retain the brightest of students, but it won’t have the appropriate higher education ecosystem to nurture their excellence. Whatever it did have — and it did at one time, since so many exceptional talents have emerged from that system — these individuals, who have excelled in various fields across the globe, will progressively be devalued by NEP’s formula for diluted disciples and mindless meanderings into unproductive and nonspecific knowledge domains.
Nations act in their own interest and that is understandable. But the world of knowledge and its expansion is not a zero-sum game. Throughout history, ideas have travelled to enrich history. Historians and chroniclers travelled the world and told stories while learning new ones. They spread knowledge and culinary and cultural practices.
Ironically, the world was more one then than it is now.
The writer teaches at Ramjas college, University of Delhi
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