Reimagining institutions

The new restrictions on US student visas, and the uncertainty around them, are likely to cause tremendous anxiety among current and prospective international students. Happening right at the time when students apply for visas and prepare for the beginning of a new journey in their lives, the new policies are taking a toll on the students and their families.

One hopes that those around the impacted students would react with a sense of empathy, understanding and support, and not through sermons on why these policies are good for everyone, and will end the so-called 'brain drain'.

Too often, wrapped in the conversation of students who choose to study abroad is a sentiment that people leave because they are fundamentally unpatriotic or greedy.

My own experience meeting students who come abroad for undergraduate or graduate education, as I have discussed in these pages before, is quite different.

The patriotism question is one that does not merit any discussion anyway. No one has a barometer to measure patriotism, and recent history of the country has given us plenty of information about the deeds of those who claim to be the high priests of patriotism.

Students come to universities abroad because of a simple calculus - it offers something that institutions close to them do not. In many cases, it is the educational environment and the learning opportunity in areas that the students are deeply passionate about, in others it is the set of skills that offer prospects of a robust career, and in some it is the opportunity to escape economic and social injustice.

We know from the history of the Soviet satellite states that keeping people from leaving for better opportunities (economic or educational) does not quite work out in the long term. While the barriers to leave were high until the fall of the Berlin wall, but as the wall came down (as all walls tend to do), people from the satellite states left in droves. That trend continues some three decades later.

There is, however, another way to think about this question. It is possible (perhaps likely) that some students will take another look at local institutions. Perhaps it is an opportunity for those institutions to take a look at themselves.

There is no question that lack of financial resources impact the ability of our institutions to attract students, but that is not the complete story. We know that for many of our public institutions, there are serious governance issues at play as well (recent issues around appointment of VCs in multiple provinces is just one example).

So is the question of honest inquiry - the most precious value of any academic institution. Regardless of how well resourced an institution may be, we all know that honest questions about a whole range of topics remain prohibited. The inability to question, debate or be uncomfortable undermines the very mission of a university.

Institutions in the US are far from perfect. The events of the recent past have shown that there is actually a bigger gap, than previously appreciated, between stated goals and actual practice at these institutions.

Yet, for a whole host of reasons, these institutions continue to attract international students from around the world. For some it is a chance at a better life, and for many, it is the opportunity to delve in subjects that they absolutely love but are considered 'useless' by the society at large - which is everything in humanities and nearly everything in social or physical sciences that is not the most recent fad or is likely to land a lucrative job.

Academic institutions are built over a long time. The process is often painfully slow - yet there are moments in the history of institutions when its leaders take stock of the world around them, and act deliberately to reimagine a different institution. An institution that reflects deeply on its past, and charts a different path for its future than the one that it was on. For our institutions, this may be one such moment.