Challenges & Opportunities for IIT Bombay amidst Ongoing Collapse of IIT System, of other Eminent Higher Education Institutions in India and the Bigger Picture of Civilizational Collapse

To 
Prof Subhasis Chaudhari
The Director
IIT Bombay

From: Chandra Vikash
IIT Kharagpur (B.Tech 1993) I IIM Calcutta (MBA 1997)
Convenor – Gaia Earth Sansad I Founder-Mentor – MaaS Movement Co.
Delhi National Capital Region

Date: Tuesday 27 February 2024

Subject: Challenges & Opportunities for IIT Bombay amidst Ongoing Collapse of IIT System, of other Eminent Higher Education Institutions in India and the Bigger Picture of Civilizational Collapse

Dear Prof Chaudhari,

It was nice to meet you briefly y’day amidst your extremely busy schedule, as you shared. This incidentally is symptomatic of the ongoing collapse of IIT Bombay, just as for every other higher education institution which has been forced into mindless, unplanned expansion in past decade. 

“Without question, the Indian Institutes of Technology, or the IITs, are the crown jewels of Indian higher education. They are world-renowned for the quality of their graduates and for their academic programs in a range of fields in technology and engineering — and in the past decade, in research and innovation through research parks as well. They are among the few Indian higher education institutions that do reasonably well in the global rankings. However, for the past decade or so, and according to current plans, the IIT “system” has expanded beyond its capacity to maintain its high standards and is in danger of sinking into mediocrity. The recent decision of the University Grants Commission to permit select IITs under the ‘Institutions of Eminence’ category to set up campuses abroad could further weaken these already stretched institutions. It is time to rethink the changing role and mandate of IITs in order to ensure that quality and focus are maintained — and by prioritising the needs of India, but with a 21st century twist.” 

The IITs are overcommitted, in crisis The IIT system is in serious trouble at the same time that some of the IITs are building campuses abroad as part of India’s soft power efforts November 04, 2023

Too many IITs, unrealistic expectations It is time to rethink the changing role and the mandate of the IITs in order to ensure that quality and focus continue

I had a chance meeting y’day and again today morning with the author of the above report from July 2021, Prof Philip Altbach (Research Professor and Distinguished Fellow, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, US) who is here on the IIT Bombay campus with Prof NV Varghese on the deeper simplicity underlying this global crises.

Market pressures coupled with unbridled greed, apathy and selfishness have turned the Higher Education System globally including IIT Bombay from being Head of the Global System to its Tail. 

These institutions, despite the checks and balances, have unambiguously become a debauched marketplace to justify vested interests, lies and hoaxes through peer-reviewed research on one hand and a glorified Employment Exchange to effectively subjugate ‘free’ sovereign nation-states back into being subjects and slaves of neoliberal colonialism what amounts to an Economic, Informational and Psychological Warfare. This has been described by Hon. EAM Dr S Jaishankar as ‘Weaponisation of Everything’ in a lecture at IIM Calcutta on 2nd November 2022. They have thus become anti-national forces, trojan horses and traitors in the national contexts.

Agenda Note

Challenges faced by IIT System & Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation based on a Master Solution Framework for ‘Super Wicked Problems’

Challenges:

Expansion Strain: The increase from 5 to 23 IITs raises concerns about maintaining quality standards. Especially, newer IITs in smaller towns struggle with infrastructure and academic excellence.

Faculty Shortages: For example, IIT Dhanbad has filled only 301 out of 781 approved faculty positions, indicating a widespread issue across the institutions.

Infrastructure Challenges: Newer IITs lack world-class facilities, affecting their ability to provide top-tier education and research.

Isolation from Local Communities: IITs, primarily academic-focused, have limited engagement with their local regions, missing out on community collaboration.

Struggle to Attract Global Talent: While IITs are selective and prestigious, attracting international students and faculty remains a challenge. This is crucial for global recognition and collaboration.

Balancing National and Global Roles: As IITs expand globally, there’s a challenge in balancing their foundational role of serving the national interest with the new global outlook, particularly in setting up campuses abroad. 

Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation based on a Master Solution Framework for ‘Super Wicked Problems’

Interdisciplinary collaboration on a master solution framework called LACE-Gaia Model (Localised Abundance & Circular Economy in a global framework of Gaia global federation of community-states)  solves a variety of super wicked problems such as degeneration of higher education system due to unregulated market pressures which is inextricably linked to a variety of other ‘super wicked’ problems of land degradation, climate change, water pollution and depletion, air pollution, farming crisis. Many of these problems have local challenges that should ideally be resolved locally.

The Bigger Picture

However, as the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shared a week back at the Munich Security Conference, in a global atmosphere of aggressive competition, miscalculations and impunity of nation-states and the intertwined state of supply chains, trade and finance architecture,  they need a global framework for the local implementation to be robust and resilient. I share an overview here on this link here: 

This needs interdisciplinary design and policy collaboration as well as support from higher levels of authority within IIT Bombay for its interdisciplinary nature, complexity and size. After a fruitful meeting with the Centre for Policy Studies this morning, we have requested a meeting with the IITB Director in this regard. 

The challenges are great and at once daunting to many. Philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin puts it in a nutshell here.
“a global paradox inherent to humanity. Prodigious technological and scientific progress in all areas is the cause of the worst regressions of our century. It enabled the scientific organization of the Auschwitz extermination camp; it made possible the design and manufacture of the most destructive weapons, including the first atomic bomb; it makes wars increasingly deadly; driven by the thirst for profit, it has created the planetary ecological crisis.

Though difficult to conceive, we must realize that the progress of knowledge, through the multiplication and mutual separation of disciplines, has caused a regression of thought, which in fact has become blind. Linked to a dominance of calculation in an increasingly technocratic world, the progress of knowledge is unable to conceive the complexity of reality, especially human realities. This leads to a return of dogmatisms and fanaticisms, as well as a crisis of morality with the unleashing of hatreds and idolatries.”

The Curious Case of Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies at IIT Bombay – Microcosm is Macrocosm

I was drawn to explore how IIT Bombay, as one of India’s premier higher education institutions and hub for interdisciplinary studies by the CPS mission and founding ideas here:
“To encourage a sustained dialogue between academia and other policy stakeholders in order to promote evidence informed and inclusive policy making and analysis; and create capacity for policy studies in the country.”

“IIT Bombay has a strong tradition of interdisciplinary research—an approach at the heart of Policy Studies. Along with its core strength in traditional science and engineering disciplines, IIT Bombay has a fully integrated Humanities and Social Science Department, a business school (SJMSOM), and a number of interdisciplinary centres such as one for design (IDC), and one for the study of technology alternatives for rural areas (CTARA). The Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies aims to collaborate with and contribute to these various disciplines, borrowing their strengths and offering policy expertise.”

I was especially inspired by this note from Prof Shishir Jha at CPS here:

Given such uncertainties surrounding the policy space, the Centre for Policy Studies at IIT Bombay has begun its journey in real earnest. With five post doctoral fellows, thirty doctoral students and eleven masters students on board in the last three years; and with several new faculty eager to join us, there is a palpable sense of dynamism and joie de vivre coursing through it. The Centre is keen to collaborate with institutions and organizations that are fellow travellers on this journey of curious engagement with a rapidly changing world. There is much to learn from our mutual perspectives and experiences that shape the direction of our collective and eventful lives.

—
Best Regards,
Chandra Vikash
Convenor 
GAIA Earth Sansad
w: chandravikash.wordpress.com  
e: gaiasansad@gmail.com

Date: Tue, Feb 27, 2024

Subject: Extraordinary Emergency Meeting at 4pm on Tue 27 Feb ’24 at IIT Bombay Director Office: Challenges & Opportunities for IIT Bombay (contd)

To: Director IIT Bombay <director@iitb.ac.in>, <secy.dhe@nic.in>, <nv.vargh@gmail.com>, <director@iitkgp.ac.in>, <director@iitm.ac.in>, <director@iitk.ac.in>, <director@admin.iitd.ac.in>, <pro@iitb.ac.in>, Office Dean Academic <dean.ap.office@iitb.ac.in>, <dean.ap@iitb.ac>, <altbach@bc.edu>

Cc: Shishir K. Jha <skjha@iitb.ac.in>, Soumen Chakrabarti <soumen@cse.iitb.ac.in>, Anirudha Joshi <head.idc@iitb.ac.in>, <truptimishra@iitb.ac.in>, Supratik Chakraborty <supratik@cse.iitb.ac.in>, <sbagnihotri@iitb.ac.in>, Prof. B.K. Chakravarthy <chakku@iitb.ac.in>, N C Narayanan <ncn@iitb.ac.in>, sharmamachineries@gmail.com <sharmamachineries@gmail.com>