| Language | English |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 8172237588 |
| ISBN-13 | 9788172237585 |
| No of pages | 285 |
| Font Size | Medium |
| Book Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Published Date | 02 Jul 2008 |
About Author
Related Books
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 8172237588 |
| ISBN-13 | 9788172237585 |
| No of pages | 285 |
| Font Size | Medium |
| Book Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Published Date | 02 Jul 2008 |
Ira Pande started her career as a University lecturer and taught for about 16 years in the Panjab University in Chandigarh. After a short stint with the Indian Express she worked for some years as the Assistant Editor of Seminar.
Later, she was the Editor of a book review journal called Bilbao, from where she moved on to be Managing Editor at Dorling-Kindersley, a publishing house well-known for its illustrated knowledge books and travel guides before she became the Chief Editor of Roil Books, India’s best known publishing house for illustrated books.
Ira often writes article and book reviews for journals and newspapers. Her memoir of her mother, the famous Hindi writer Shivani, published by Penguin-India in 2005, was shortlisted in the best non-fiction category of the Crossword-Vodaphone award in 2006.
She has also translated Manohar Sham Joshi’s Hindi novella, T-ta Professor, which was awarded both the Crossword-Vodaphone award and the Sahitya Akademie award for the best translated work into English for 2010.
Her latest book, Shivani’s Aradhana: Women Without Men is a translation of her mother’s writings on women. Published by HarperCollins-India, it is a collection of interviews with jailed women, along with some portraits and short stories of women who lived life on their own terms.
Ira recently retired from the position of a Chief Editor of the Publications Division of the India International Centre, New Delhi.
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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 present boom in our economic life has been fueled largely by these centers 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 universities 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 guardian of tradition.
This wide ranging collection of essays addresses important questions that face us today: Do we need professional managers to run universities? Should caste-based reservation be replaced with bursaries for economically backward students, making merit rather than religion or caste the benchmark of admission?
How can we preserve the autonomy of our universities while setting in place appropriate standards of accountability for teachers and heads of educational institutions? Should foreign universities be allowed to enter into partnerships with Indian universities and colleges?
How can we de-politicize and revive our university campuses and prevent the flight of the best from our campuses? Some of India's most eminent educationists and thinkers come together for the first time to identify and resolve these and other problems. Their views, and vision, will go a long way in generating a public debate on the real issues that have destroyed our institutes of higher learning.