Bihar’s higher education system is at a moment of transformation and must focus on skills, employability, digital literacy, governance reform and stronger academic standards, said Syed Ata Hasnain, Governor, Bihar, in an exclusive interaction with BW Businessworld.
Hasnain, who has served in the Army for four decades and later worked with the National Disaster Management Authority, said his approach to Bihar’s higher education sector is shaped by leadership, administrative experience and a willingness to keep learning. Speaking on Bihar’s youth, university governance, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and industry collaboration, he said the state has enormous intellectual potential and a proud academic legacy, but its institutions must move faster to prepare students for a changing world.
Edited excerpts:
You have had a long and distinguished journey in public service and leadership. Looking back, what have been some of the defining moments that shaped your career and perspective?
Forty years in the armed forces, in the Army specifically. Six years in the National Disaster Management Authority and now in this appointment. One thing is very clear from my journey through responsibilities with the Government of India — leadership makes a huge change. India’s vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 reflects the importance of clear leadership, institutional focus and long-term national commitment.
As long as you have a clear focused vision, it is not difficult to actually change things. I am not one of those who would like to bring change for the sake of change. It is important to bring change with an intention of making sure that it has a deep impact on society for a positive cause.
I experienced my most turbulent period in leading the Army in Kashmir. There were many things that I had observed in my younger years, I had kept them in my mind, and when I reached a position of authority, I did not forget those. I made sure that I brought change with the vision of what I had thought while I was serving in lower ranks.
I hope the same kind of procedure we can follow here in Bihar too because, as I go along, I am on a learning curve. I find I never stop learning. I am not teaching, I am learning. Higher education is a new environment for me. But the deep administrative experience, the deep life experience I have, I think can come in very handy.
From serving the nation in various capacities to now holding constitutional office as Governor of Bihar, how has your journey evolved over the years, both professionally and personally?
When you set out your journey professionally as a government servant, all you are looking forward to is contributing to the nation, contributing to the departments in which you keep functioning, and learning lessons all the time.
I have personally been one of those who, at every stage in every appointment that I held, always ensured that I kept those issues in mind which I felt very strongly about. At different stages of public service, there were issues which could not be fully addressed due to institutional constraints. Higher responsibility provides an opportunity to revisit such learnings in a constructive manner.
When the nation has invested a certain degree of trust in you to shoulder a higher responsibility, I think it is incumbent on our part to make sure that you bring back and refresh the memories of the past, bring all that back into the fore and try and impart it in a different way.
I have had a diverse career — the military, disaster management, higher education as Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir, member of the Executive Council of the Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library, member of the Governing Council of the Indian Council of World Affairs and Distinguished Fellow with the Vivekananda International Foundation.
I consider myself very fortunate. The nation has given me much more back than what I have been able to contribute. And maybe this is another opportunity to make up that deficit.
As Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir, what reforms do you consider most necessary to strengthen governance, accountability and academic standards in Bihar?
This is an early part of my journey in the higher education department. But right at the beginning, it is very clear to me — a lot of work has happened here, but there is a lot of work still required to be carried out.
A lot of responsibility in the bureaucracy, in the security forces and the police today is being shouldered by people from Bihar who have gone out of Bihar, got educated and have made it into the civil services, the corporate world or the banking sector. Many talented young people from Bihar have excelled nationally after pursuing education both within and outside the state.
It is important for us to now make sure that people in Bihar who cannot afford to go outside Bihar also have a similar opportunity within Bihar, to acquire that same standard of education and compete in competitive examinations for civil services and other openings. The effort now must be to ensure that high-quality opportunities are increasingly available within Bihar itself.
We have got a couple of central universities in Bihar, the Chanakya Law University, the National Law University and Nalanda University. These are outstanding examples of centres of excellence. We can take a lot from them and impart the same to our state universities, which have a very large number of private and state colleges linked to them. The footprint of students is very, very high.
But then you are finding some very basic issues. Certain core academic processes, including academic calendars, examination timelines, result publication and timely availability of credentials, require sustained strengthening so that students can compete confidently at the national level.
Also, information technology cannot be considered a new domain at all. It needs to spread its wings into Bihar in a much bigger way. We have to align the new education policy with the systems of all our universities. We have to bring in the Samarth portal here, but the introduction of platforms such as Samarth will require capacity-building, training and dedicated technical support within universities so that these systems can be adopted smoothly.
Then of course there is the question of having competent vice-chancellors, selecting the right leadership not only in the universities but also among the colleges, ensuring that the system of transfers and postings is done with professionalism, sympathy and empathy. Strengthening academic leadership, administrative processes and institutional capacity will remain central to the reform agenda.
I am not disappointed by any of this. All this is expected. When a state is making an honest effort to improve itself, it will take its time. Bihar has achieved a lot in terms of law and order, infrastructure and healthcare. It will now pay attention to higher education, and I am sure the same achievements will be made here too.
Bihar has a large youth population with a median age of around 26 to 27. How can the higher education system convert this demographic strength into economic and social opportunity?
Bihar probably is the youngest state in India. The demographic dividend must be huge out here if we can make sure that the credibility of education is high and we make people employable.
Instead of just the academic part of education, it is important for the youth to also be skilled. It is only through introduction of skills that we can ensure that they have a greater chance in life and give back the demographic dividend to the state.
It is not important to just look at the normal conventional subjects — arts and science — and be happy with that. There is commerce today, there is economics and there is information technology. The entire information technology world is open at the moment. Bihar has significant scope to expand its digital ecosystem, and higher education institutions can play an important role in preparing young people for that opportunity.
Patna is a civilisational city. Any major institution would love to link its name with a name like Patna. There is immense scope to project Bihar’s culture, knowledge traditions and productivity more strongly outside the state, and much of this can be done through education. If the same young people are educated enough to talk about this, go outside, be brand ambassadors of the same industries that we are looking at out here, a lot more can be achieved.
Lok Bhawan is open to advice. Anyone and everyone who has something to offer to Bihar will be welcome here.
What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in attracting industries, investment and employment opportunities in Bihar?
The gap between academic learning and employability is one of the biggest concerns which faces higher education in Bihar today. Degrees alone are no longer sufficient unless accompanied by practical skills.
Also communication ability — it is a world of social media today, it is a world of marketing, it is a world of marketability. Unless you have communication skills developed sufficiently in different languages, you do not go very far forward in your careers. You have to have digital literacy, technological capability and, above all, adaptability to succeed in Bihar and beyond.
The curricula today must be revised much more frequently. We must not rely purely upon conventional academia — be happy studying political science, history or English literature. That is good old conventional education, it adds to your faculties of thinking. But if you have to be much more employable, you have to go into different skills.
Internship opportunities will also have to increase tremendously. At the National Disaster Management Authority, we were flooded with demands from young people who were undergraduates wanting to work as interns during the summer break — six to eight weeks. They felt sitting in an office, looking at the practical aspects, adds much more to their experience and academic capability than many days of lecturing in classrooms.
One of the best examples of this is an American concept called the White House Scholar. People with special talent are identified and selected by the American government and attached in very large numbers to different departments working inside the White House. Someone with base-level experience is suddenly working at the highest level with the President of the United States. Can you imagine three or four years of working like this? What kind of a transformation of the mind would take place?
I would love to have a couple of interns working here with me in Lok Bhawan on higher education itself — six to eight people who understand what is happening, then go back and share what they have learned at the colleges where they are taught. It is this two-way traffic of education which is very important.
How do you assess the implementation of NEP 2020 in Bihar? Is it helping the education sector?
NEP offers Bihar a very major opportunity to modernise its higher education system. The implementation has begun and is progressing, though more remains to be done. Many institutions are still transitioning from older academic systems to newer academic and administrative structures.
The greatest opportunity lies in multidisciplinary education, skill integration, digital learning and flexible academic pathways. These are the hallmarks of the National Education Policy 2020, which are being progressively taken forward. Bihar’s large youth population can benefit enormously if universities can align this education with employability and with innovation.
The NEP also gives us an opportunity to reform the governance of these universities, improve quality standards and make institutions more student-centric. University governance bodies such as the Senate and Syndicate have an important role in academic development. At the same time, it is necessary to review whether existing provisions and practices are adequately aligned with academic merit, constructive participation and institutional reform. Any change, of course, will have to be examined in accordance with the statutory framework.
What role can public-private partnerships and industry collaboration play in improving infrastructure and placements in state institutions?
These partnerships can play a significant role in strengthening higher education, especially in areas such as infrastructure, technology, provision of equipment, skill development and employability. You do not have to depend on government to provide every bit of the resources which will go into creating this infrastructure.
Industrial collaboration can help universities understand the changing workforce requirements. If you have investment in the state and you have industrial parks, then obviously you have to provide the manpower with the right skills. The objective should be to build high-quality manpower within Bihar itself so that local youth can participate directly in the state’s growth story.
Companies can also contribute towards internships, faculty interaction, laboratory support because laboratories are getting older by the day and you need new technological equipment all the time, and placement opportunities.
Expansion of education must be accompanied by employability, skills and practical exposure. Otherwise, a gap may emerge between degrees obtained and opportunities available. Partnerships must be outcome-oriented, aligned with academic values rather than remaining just symbolic arrangements.
Bihar requires a much stronger engagement between academia, industry and government. These sometimes function in silos. What we need to do very consciously is try and bring all three together — and that is one thing which Lok Bhawan can work on tremendously as we go along.
Public perception and institutional reputation are important in attracting investment, partnerships and academic collaboration. Bihar has several strengths which need to be projected more effectively. A lot has happened in Bihar — a tremendous improvement in the law and order situation, good infrastructure, airports coming up, tourism being developed in the Nalanda corridor.
Madhubani, Bhagalpur silk, one of the finest museums in the country right here in Patna — all this perhaps has been undersold.
When public perception and institutional reputation improve, they help attract capital. Once capital starts coming in, the interlinking between universities, colleges, government and investors comes together as an ecosystem. It has happened wonderfully in some states in India. I am sure it will happen in Bihar in the near future because there seems to be a very strong will to achieve that.
What message would you like to share with students, especially women, young professionals and those who wish to build their future in Bihar?
Bihar possesses enormous intellectual potential and a very, very proud academic legacy. Historically, nothing can beat Bihar. Think of Chanakya — the name comes from here. Think of Aryabhatta — the name comes from here. Aspects of learning have all emerged right from here.
The system may presently face some shortcomings administratively, but this is a great opportunity. It is a moment of transformation and a moment of opportunity. Students must therefore focus not only on obtaining degrees but also on acquiring skills — communication ability, because without communication, you may have the knowledge of the world but no one in the world will ever come to know what your knowledge is — and the capability to adapt yourself to a changing environment.
I would also urge the students to contribute positively to the rebuilding of Bihar’s educational culture, to create that environment, to have interdisciplinary skills, to make sure that culture is established. The future of the state’s universities will depend as much on the aspirations of the students as it will on the institutional reform that all of us are attempting to seek.
I know that we have the backing of the government at all times, and I am confident that sustained efforts will lead to visible transformation in Bihar’s higher education sector, where in the coming years people will increasingly cite Bihar as an example of educational reform and renewed institutional confidence. |
