After a decade in corporate world...starting from shop-floors to top management, now I completed a decade in academics. As I have been holding academic leadership position in Indian private higher education...this presentation helps in telling my story...how and where I see the challenges, and what needs to be done about it.

1. DISCUSSION ON PRIORITIES…
GOVERNMENT, GOVERNANCE …
AND
…UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE
…WHY LEADERSHIP MATTERS.
Prof. Ranjit Goswami
Pro-VC

2. <1> GOVERNMENT &
GOVERNANCE…THE
CHALLENGES

3. Intellectually fashionable to
be a critic of any government
Safer as well…

4. But, Governance isn’t easy…
Not the job of an armchair academician,
researcher, or ‘university professor’… usually.
1st job: Listen & try to understand

5. World’s best known historian says why…
• Howard Zinn… (0:12 -0:40)
• ‘Governments lie all the time…If they told people the truth, they wouldn’t
last very long.’
• I F Stone, to young students: ‘Just remember two words: Governments
lie.’
• My dilemma/Academic/Corporate dilemma… ‘don’t be evil’

6. Nature of
governance…survival part
And what do people really want???
Finding few days back – trusting govt vis-à-vis market forces.

7. My own little odd (stupid)
experiences…
Qualifier statement on the ‘baggage’ I
bring in…

9. Baggage part…Messy home but stupid idealism…
restlessness to serve ‘nation’

10. Back to why ‘Govts lie’?
And extending Zinn, in your eyes – do ‘we’
too?
Credibility matters…mutual trust.

11. Unproven…accuracy matters (‘Academic
honesty’)
Tom Peters, ‘In search of
excellence’, refers to it: ‘Put
people (faculty members) first…’

12. Sort of Matrix (Morpheus-Neo)
Red-pill/Blue-pill moment of
realization
‘& and I show you how deep the rabbit
hole goes’

13. Or Indian Tota 25:57-29:32
Key message: Lying ‘works’ better, easier
But not recommending for academicians 
In the context of governance too…

15. Purposefully left blank…
<2>

16. <2> Extending to university
governance…
What do faculty members/staffs and students really want?
Consumer behavior

17. Untold stories on challenges
of university governance
And an indecisive mind…not with
students/you/HR/Registrar here…

18. The story of Kissan…
The story of India…or ‘Bharat’…
And my internal conscience…if anything left
Gandhi’s ‘Talisman’…as often referred by PA

19. Vision:
To serve the society by being a
global University of higher
learning in pursuit of academic
excellence, innovation and
nurturing entrepreneurship.
Source: Sharda University website

20. Cross-cultural Environment:
University encourages cross-cultural
groups and team building inside and
outside the classrooms. The students,
faculty members and staff work together in
a cohesive learning environment to
achieve the vision and mission of the
University.
Source: Sharda University website

21. Makes perfect sense
By Vision, or even by market economics…
He is not asking for subsidized ones…
So, why indecisiveness? Housekeeping old worker…?
Appearances can be deceptive!
CULTURE…

22. Understanding this ‘culture’ animal
better…

23. Drucker again…

24. And my own experiences…
At Sharda University…

25. The ‘baggage’ I bring in…
‘Carl Fox: What you see is a guy who never
measured a man's success by the size of his
WALLET!’
But it also helps me to know things
better…from the grassroots levels(1:36-
1:37)

26. Source:
Washington Post
Video
Running a similar experiment at Sharda? Or in our society
in general?
Joshua Bell Plays in Subway

27. Kissan to regulations &
market forces…
And perceptions/actors beyond market
forces…
Culture/our mindset

28. Market forces may be
brutal…
But not stupid, as
regulations/culture/mindsets often
are…particularly on finance/economic side

31. Purposefully left blank…
<3>

32. <3> Market Forces, Regulations
& Private Higher Education…
Discussions with Hon’ble Chancellor on Market
Forces
‘Big Picture’…encompassing all

33. The basic finance and
economics fail…
Until and unless, we are among the top & command a premium

38. Products/services come at
different prices…
The perception premium matters…
More in aspirational HE
& Regulating fees…by Govt?

39. Paradigm shift for me
Within months of my shifting from elite, govt institute (Rs.
15 lakhs+ in 2016, with opportunity costs – Rs. 25 lakhs+)
to private HE
Choosing 200 students from 40000 quality applications…

40. Basic maths…@
• Premium/elite/class model
• With Rs. 10 lakhs tuition
fees/annum, roughly a faculty
salary is recovered by one single
student.
• With 60 students, and 30 weeks
and 15 lectures*/week, each class
generates nearly Rs. 133,332/-.
• So, a no brainer…whatever
overheads…
• So, with 2 lectures/week* and cost
of Rs. 10K/hour (translated)…viable
(15%).
• Mass model
• With Rs. 2 lakhs/annum, need five
students to recover an average
faculty salary.
• Have supporting staff, overheads,
library, FDPs, Capex…
• (Salary bill should not be > 30% of
revenue, thumbrule)
• So, running a batch with anything
less than 17 students (5) at Rs. 2
lakhs/fee – we are losing money.
• Not hinting we shouldn’t…only
where required/makes sense.
@Not in the context of Sharda University as I don’t have data…general
observation/experience. *Each lectures of 2-hours

41. ‘Rising tide’ as observed from
1980s-2008 in PHE… @
Receding now…Where is the bottom?
‘Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.’
Warren Buffett.
@ “A rising tide lifts all boats“ –
referred by me back on Jan 3rd.

45. Summing up…
• During 2000-2008, total MBA enrollment in US B-Schools grew by
roughly 10%.
• Full time MBA enrollment in top 20 B-Schools fell from 59.5%* to
55.4% (all put together, from 27,006 to 29939, a growth of 10.8%. FT
also grew, but slower).
• Full time MBA enrollment in next 16 fell from 53.8% to 38.3%*. (Total
from 10,276 to 12,125, growth of 18%). But full time fell by 16%,
compensated by part-time & executive MBAs).
*Category of enrollment among two categories of B-Schools.

46. ‘Receding tide’ visible from
earlier than 2008…in US
Lead-lag period from US to India justifiable. Worst in few (Engg/MBA), not so
bad in HSS in India.
And top 36 B-Schools in US means – all probably in top 100 globally ranked
universities/B-Schools

47. In India, Market is huge
But only a few to succeed…as quality
premium and quality perception have
come up.

48. Brutal market forces…+ (Stupid)
Regulations… + Culture +
Mindset
Survival of the fittest…
Survival of the quality players…
Like riots/civil wars/financial crisis – when norms of civilized
world/economics break-down.
Uber/Ola driver vs engg jobs…soon for univ faculty members?

49. Purposefully left blank…
<4>

50. <4> Where does Sharda fit
in?
Given the Government (Regulation), Market Forces & Cyclical Tides

51. For Sharda, is it a threat, or
an opportunity?
If we are quality player, an opportunity…
But what does ‘quality’ mean here?
Perceptions matter

52. Government, regulations,
market forces…
‘Know thyself’…knowing Sharda University little better…
SWOT, Chintan-Manthan…
Organizational growth theory…Culture

53. ‘Quality’ perception is a
complex animal
Driven more by market forces than
regulation/NIRF ranks.
In spite of misuse/abuse by market players in
freewheeling capitalism…’ponytail’

54. “Outcome”…Result
Oriented/Value-added vs non-
value-added
Input vs output models
Paradigm shift…the eco-system…’Big Picture’

55. Stages of growth models…organizational
theories…in our lives too…OBE
Inward
looking Outward
looking
Caroline &
Swatnam
(2004)
with
Nolan-
Gibson
(1974)
Paradigm Shift

56. Shifting the definition
from ‘quality’ to ‘doing
it right’. But what’s
‘right’?
You decide what right
is.
My conversations with
many of you…

57. “Dealer” word…or
“Marketer”
Teaching vs Learning
Mentoring focus of Hon’ble Chancellor.
Loving/caring vs being loved/being cared
Khayal…too late?
My son/SPs helped
me understand that
better.

58. With due regards to Aamir’s
doing research before doing
a movie. It most an age-old
proverb.
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in
Kindergarten (1988), stayed on The New
York Times bestseller lists for nearly two
years

59. Tenets of TPS…at the cost of repetition…

60. Surely not UGC standards…
• In terms of faculty qualifications…
• Or infrastructure…physical, hard ones…
• Or its research publications list…
• Or student:faculty ratio…
• At best, those are taken for granted…necessary but not sufficient
• They don’t make you a ‘market-success’ under brute market-forces

61. And short term survival…to
long term market leadership
The internal seesaw of optimism vs pessimism…like market
volatility.
PHE Market, as such & now in India, is bad
(Words of wisdom from Pro-Chancellor)

62. Back to quality…lies & truth
(Churchill)…or myths @
Admission office to graduation degree…
Observations from respected seniors…
Not a static definition…UGC
“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--
but the myth--persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” John F Kennedy

63. Olympics for all, BMW for all, or national/district
level sports/acting/music for all…with quality?
Harvard for all, IIT/IIM for all – good socialism…but
realism? Quality HE for all? Not an elitist
snob…but?

64. So, rather than trying to see an
internal minimum standard of
one-size-fit-all quality norm…
Ensuring each student improve in his own customized level…of
knowledge, skills, thinking…to a market standard.
Heterogeneous class vs homogeneous…basics and fundamentals

65. What, out of these two, is worse decision?
• A student is smart, intelligent, input quality is great…can easily pass
and have potential for EX/10/10 grade. But not working hard…and
by ignoring studies…easily passes exams with 6/7 CGPA.
• Another student, who seems to be trying hard, but was not ‘college-
ready’ but got admission…and thereby obviously fails – following
one-size-fits-all pass/grading.

66. And where we
agree…reverence goes up
But there are strong disagreements in POVs
as well, healthy sign.
Collegial system should own it.

67. Purposefully left blank…
<5>

68. <5> Priorities & Focus?
Given the Government (Regulation), Market Forces &
Cyclical Tides…where does Sharda University fit in.
For that quality premium…

69. The classroom teaching-
learning process
The single focus…
And supporting policies…(misaligned eco-
system/missing pieces?).
Teaching at a Univ. level isn’t easy.

70. Beyond marketing, brand…applies to
learning, teaching, education, skill,
knowledge…or even love/care…
‘the’

71. Final Outcome:
Employability/Later year success
stories
Lead-lag indicators
To mathematical ones
Y = mx + c
To…

72. Understanding the
relationship…variables…regression of otherwise
• Outcome – dependent variable.
• Independent variables (multicollienarity?):
• What we teach (syllabus/curricula)
• How we teach (rote learning/application/critical
thinking/skills/knowledge)
• How we evaluate (Rote/application/critical)
And where
does input
quality
affect such a
model/admi
ssion part

73. Y (Outcome) = f (what we teach,
how we teach, how we evaluate)
+ error/noise
However…should it also be
What we teach = f(input quality from admission)
How we teach = f(input quality from admission)
How we evaluate = f(input quality from admission) –
correlation in weakening order.
Our admission team has been kinder…less missing
pieces in eco-system too

74. What we control…and
beyond our control
Market forces part…
What we teach, how we teach, how we evaluate: These are the
variables where as a university, we have full autonomy.
Not aligned, even now
But quality of students coming through admission: Beyond our
control, decided by market.

75. Joke in IITs…in our times
IITs are storehouse of
knowledge…students enter here with
knowledge, leave the knowledge here and
graduate.
Controversial (or insightful) comment
from Jairam Ramesh (00:23-00:30).
No bad students (like no bad mothers).

76. Admission
quality must be
factored in
what we teach,
how we teach
& in our
Evaluation
Teaching and Learning:
Outcome

77. Outcome
What We Teach How We Teach How We Evaluate
Teaching and Learning
Students
Quality
/ Admission
Input
Market
Forces
/ Admission
Policy
Finishing
school…internal
struggle of this
transition…skills…
at IIFT/IIT/IIM/PG
level?

78. Series of FDPs/Workshops
Planned during summer break…
To address it…

79. On quality, one size does not
fit all
So, where do we draw the line? –
Nursing/Medical side
And our internal observations of CGPA to
placement/GATE/GPAT/NET/Civil Services… or
HE performances…

80. Life’s story…great
learning…catastrophic outcome
Quality of healthcare professionals in
India…like ‘licensed to kill’…not all but
most
When I hear your stories…we understand.

81. Series of unuseful
Ultrasonographic tests…
Benign cystic
mesothelioma…pseudomyoxoma
peritineii…pulmonary embolism
But catastrophic
outcome…like
Greek
tragedies…Odyssey
(Or Illiad?)

82. There
were
readers’
responses
too…from
doctors to
patients

85. Last few slides…just to highlight I
understand why quality matters.
In everything we do.
With supporting eco-system.
And what Hon’ble Chancellor means by
‘Research Skills’

86. But not to compromise on
attendance…
Or classroom discipline…

87. An imaginary ‘Sharda’
standard…or individual-faculty-
at-Sharda standard
To the ‘customized’ standard

88. The message to the students…through you…
• Focus on the learning…not on the exams or evaluation or degree.
• If you attend my classes 80%+, & pay attention…you should pass.
• If you don’t follow what I teach, please ask questions. Else I will…
• That will help me to teach you better.
• I am teaching not to cover a syllabus, but to make you learn what’s
important.
• Get your basics & fundamentals right.
• Then you can learn by yourself.
• If you don’t ask questions, I may randomly select a few and see you
understanding or not. You will get marks for that.
• Listen carefully every word, participate, speak…and have confidence in
yourself.

89. Purposefully left blank…
<6>

90. <6> Closing Comments
When do we start?
With what stability?

91. As an ‘Officiating’ VC?
I hope to understand the macro-and-micro
issues…the eco-system…
And what may be going through your minds…
By putting myself in your positions…
Chomsky on reform, to academic reform here

92. ‘And watch — so as soon as you
hear the word reform, you kind
of reach for your wallet and see
who’s lifting it.’ – Noam Chomsky
You may be thinking what ‘nonsense’ now…and what about stability of it?
How long would it last? Another round of meaningless, stupid change?
My own selfish motive…from a faculty member to administrator…to multiplier effect

93. Something similar goes in my
mind too…
A metaphor…(0-0:10)
Purely illustrative… not subscribing to certain
gender sensitive comments here.

95. Not asking for change for
change’s sake, or ‘reform’
But to own it…in the collegial environment…with
your own conviction
Each faculty member’s own understanding,
department level, HoDs, Deans…with tough
internal scrutiny, & be realistic.

96. More is not better than good,
better is better than good.
Do less, but do better.
Excesses in syllabus, non-relevant courses (advice
from senior VCs).
So, please think, understand, have clarity in your
own mind first.

97. ‘Change comes about when
millions of people (hundreds of
faculty members at Sharda) do
little things, which at certain
points in history come together,
and then something good and
something important happens.’
Ending with Howard Zinn

98. Thank you very much for your
time…

99. Paucity of time…and time to
evade your tough questions 
Q&A preferably from the last part… on our
priorities…on OBE.