includes index and biblioraphy

There is no doubt that despite being among the issues most passionately debated in this country, there is an alarming decline in the quality of education and research offered by our universities. Equally, there can be no doubt that the boom in our economic life has been fuelled largely by these centres of higher education. Our universities, medical institutions, IITs and IIMs have shown themselves to be invaluable; thankfully, those who created our system of higher education in the years after Independence, were prescient enough to see that knowledge gives a nation the kind of power that mere gold and oil cannot. But have the models adopted more than a century ago stood the test of time or do the dark corridors of our universitites need the benefit of a new kind of light? In these globalized times, running a university throws up challenges that cannot be ignored or wished away, a world class university must be both at the cutting edge of change and also a guardina of tradition. This wide ranging collection of essays address important questions that face us today: do we need professionals?