Notes on Education

  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt._Nanda_Devi.jpg This note comments on a new higher education initiative in India, Pradhan Mantri Research Fellowships, which will be administered at IITs and other excellent institutes of higher Education in India as reported in the daily newspaper Times of India today.   As a deep IITian this author is certain that students will not call it by that name or PMRF and make up their own friendlier nick name for it. May I propose one here, Namo Prakash Fellowships since this proposal appears to be result of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and his brilliant education minister the Right Honourable Shri Prakash Javedkar. At the route of success of nations through human history has been the existence of higher education institutions of excellence. Thus while it were the Buddhist Universities led by Nalanda in India during its golden age, it has been Universities of Oxford and Cambridge during the British ...

W hile socialist oriented countries provide free higher education to citizens that wish to pursue it, other countries have left it in private hands to various extents. In order to pay the cost of this education, students often take loans from various financial institutions in the hope that they shall be able to pay it back easily after they graduate with the help of a good job. It does not always turn out that way though. One can be unemployed or underemployed later depending on the state of the economy or the state of the person in future and repayment can become a huge stress compromising the very quality of life. In addition some of the loan givers may be predatory sharks that can harass much later. There are also many persons, including this author, that are in principle against taking a loan for any activity in life except dire life threatening or very short term emergencies (such as losing your wallet on a trip) unless the loan is a forgivable loan from a non-profit maki...

T he latest edition of my  book - How to create excellent Universities - is now published and available at Amazon.com. Check out the book at Amazon about the book. They have done a much better job of describing it than I can do here. The book is a necessary manual for any one involved in the creation of a new university. Without it they will miss out on all the important information that has been gathered by the author from universities all over the world and is not documented elsewhere.   The book begins with a history of universities and compares the two types of institutions where higher education leading to university degrees is offered. The remaining book is divided in six chapters that cover the need for universities, courses, infrastructure, layout, faculty and governance. All through the author takes pains to outline the factors that lead to excellence and those that lead to deviation from it.   It is essential study matter for those planning to creat...