The world can now come to India to teach — but only in the institutes of technology and management. The human resource development ministry’s long history of intervention with the IITs and IIMs has at last come up with a sensible and laudable development. The Centre has decided that foreign professors will be allowed to teach at these institutions of higher education, and this is a decision that seems to have been made not merely out of necessity but on considerations of merit. These are quality institutions, and academics committed to excellence all over the world, and not just those of Indian origin, are increasingly showing signs of wanting to come and teach at these places. The conditions set by the government are fair enough. First, when the qualifications are on a par, an Indian applicant will be given preference over a foreign one, and second, the pay scale for foreign teachers will also be the same as their Indian counterparts.

Such a move should further motivate the government to make sure that the institutes remain free to make corresponding changes in syllabus, administration, pedagogy and fiscal matters that would encourage people to come from other countries to teach here. To be liberal in this respect and protectionist in every other will not do. The question of autonomy is likely to arise in these matters, and Arjun Singh should be prepared to face the larger implications of this move. Finally, such an important change of attitude must not remain confined to the IITs and IIMs. All Indian universities and institutes of higher education must open themselves to the world. Mediocrity protects itself from the challenge of global standards by hindering precisely this kind of openness. Indian institutions can only benefit from the competition and diversity that inevitably will be the result of such a removal of barriers. Complacency, insecurity and parochialism are all inimical to intellectual development and excellence.