Metrics to minds — restoring purpose to universities
The article argues that India's reliance on standardized national examinations for higher education is undermining academic judgment and institutional autonomy. It suggests that universities should regain the power to conduct their own admissions to better assess student aptitude.
Why it matters
It highlights a critical debate regarding the quality and fairness of India's massive higher education testing system.
Metrics to minds — restoring purpose to universities left ‘If we want universities that form minds rather than calculate scores, we must restore our trust in the academic judgement of those who work within them’ Getty Images/iStockphoto Getty Images/iStockphoto https://th-i.thgim.com/public/opinion/op-ed/f24jcm/article71593602.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/iStock-2227352303.jpg riskms Young woman writes on a paper at the table, focus on her face Standardised examinations are undermining academic judgement, intellectual diversity and institutional autonomy in India’s higher education system There was a time when a national examination served a clear and limited purpose in India: to find a few thousand officers, soldiers and engineers, and to do it fairly across a vast subcontinent. That restraint is gone. We have taken the logic of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and stretched it across every discipline, every college and every career. A device designed for the few now governs the many.
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