Reimagining Indian Universities: Internationalization as the Pathway to the Future

Abstract

Radical transformations brought on by globalizations drivehigher education institutions to redefine their identity, vision, and functions. These transformations are not unique to higher education institutions at present: throughout history, universities have continued to evolve, as they have responded to their environments. If we are to draw accurate outlines of these transformations, we must first achieve some clarity about the many competing forces and undercurrents of the present day globalized world that impact contemporary societies.  India is a very important case in point. It stands at a crucial crossroad—an expanding higher education demographic co-hort, policy-driven re-casting of the country as “knowledge economy,” and a compelling drive to forge links with global knowledge network and labour market necessitate that the Indian policy makers and higher education leaders collaborate and view globalization as an imperative. The author argues that, in order to contribute to socio-politico-economic institutions and processes in the future, institutions in India, as with institutions in other developing countries, need to bring internationalization to its shores. Universities of the future must view internationalization as a national and institutional policy imperative, not a matter of discretion.