Greetings! I am sharing an article, which was first published on LinkedIn on July 21, 2016. Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) is at the cusp of finalizing India’s educational policy. Have you read the draft document and shared your comments? The last date for submitting your ideas is July 31, 2016. (visit http://mhrd.gov.in/nep-new to access the document) Coined National Educational Policy (NEP), the last one was developed thirty years ago. Referred as NEP 8

Greetings from Silicon Valley! Two years ago, in June 2014, I started the journey of writing my first book “Building Golden India: How to unleash India's vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now.” Why did I commit two years working full-time to writing and then speaking about this book? I was inspired by the UC Berkeley and UC San Diego faculty members’ commitment to student learning, conducting research, and making an impact to the society and nation. In

Dear Prime Minister Modi, Greetings from Silicon Valley! Congratulations on launching Start-up India and initiating many similarly exciting and much needed initiatives such as Make In India, Skill India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat, and Jan Dhan Yojna. A strong economy is a foundation for a peaceful nation and Acche Din for all. I am writing this letter to you because I want to draw your attention to the defining challenge and opportunity for India and its people—a crisis in

Silicon Valley, 2015: As I was approaching the last stages of writing this book, I felt it was important to hear from my friends, family, and countrymen and -women about India’s new Golden Age. So I started a survey and made it available on my Facebook page. I also sent e-mails to over a thousand contacts and called some of them. I was pleasantly surprised by the responses, which came from India, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, Sw

Mumbai, 2014: “Check out the ‘broken window’ syndrome,” suggested Gopal. “It will explain why everything in India is in a crisis mode—land, air, water, education, you name it.” R. Gopalakrishnan—Gopal or RG to his friends—is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. An IIT Kharagpur alumnus, Gopalakrishnan is a director at Tata Sons, an author of several best sellers, and a member of the board of directors of many corporations and educational institutions. What is t

Palo Alto, California, January 21, 2014: Arogyaswami Paulraj, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, was awarded the prestigious Marconi Society Prize. It is considered to be the Nobel Prize in the field of information technology. According to the Marconi Society’s press release, “[Paulraj’s] idea for using multiple antennas at both the transmitting and receiving stations—which is at the heart of the current high-speed WiFi and 4G mobile systems—has revolutionized high-spee

Berkeley, California: Bob, a valedictorian at his high school in Philadelphia, was a highly sought-after student. He received scholarships from a number of Ivy League schools, but he found UC Berkeley and the west coast’s unique culture appealing. Like Bob, tens of thousands of talented students from California, the rest of the United States, and around the world are attracted to study at UC Berkeley every year. UC Berkeley was recently ranked #4 in the ARWU world rankings. I

Los Angeles, April 2014: Bill Chang, Mike Davis, Janaki Mitra, and Emily Vasquez, friends in their high school dance club, are seniors and discussing their college plans. Thanks to the California Master Plan and additional excellent choices of colleges and universities in the state, they are all planning to pursue undergraduate education at an institution that matches their aspirations, interests, and preferences. They are going to a community college, state university, Unive

New York City, 2014: Mayank Gupta, K. Venkat Raman, Lakshmi Reddy, Rajesh Sinha and Kusum Thomas are a few of the many Indians who have just arrived at the JFK International Airport. These five are headed to various universities to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies. Like them, close to 900,000 students from over 100 countries are enrolled in US colleges and universities. US universities are magnets that attract the best and the brightest students from around the world

Nalanda Vihara, between 629 and 645 CE: Xuánzàng, a renowned scholar from China, arrived in India. The objective of his historic visit was to learn about the Buddhist principles and doctrines, see India’s famous shrines, and gather sacred texts. He traveled extensively and spent several years at Nalanda University. Xuánzàng was one of many scholars who visited India from around the world, especially China, Indonesia, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Tibet, who were attracted b