'Recent events show confusion over what a varsity should be'

Vice President Hamid Ansari today said recent events in the country have shown that there is much confusion about whata university should or should not be even as he stressed on the need to examine the institution's rolein society.
"Universities are seen as crucial national assets in addressing policy priorities, as sources of new knowledge and innovative thinking and as providers of skilled personnel," he said.
"However, recent events in our own countryhave shown that there is much confusion about what a university should or should not be.
"It is pertinent therefore to examine in some detailwhat the role of a university should be in our society in its present circumstance as well as its future trajectory," he said at valedictory function of the centenary celebrations of the University of Mysore.

Noting that the term 'university' originatesfrom the Latin word 'universitas' meaning 'a whole', he said universities, therefore, are meant to deal with the universality of knowledge and humanity in all its manifestations.
While listing out ways in which universities can contribute to foster fraternity, social and cultural vitality, and building an egalitarian society, Ansari said universities are also forums of free speech and debate.
"The long term viability and stability of a democratic polity is crucially dependent on the maintenance and development of the educational level of our population, and onthe individual's ability to form independent and enlightenedopinions," he said.

The Vice President said varsities can act as both weather vanesand safety valves of political dissent and direction. Suppression of such discourse only breeds mistrust and begets social malcontent, he added.