Universities should stop functioning as degree-selling supermarkets: Let’s have a look at, what is in store for India:

Higher education is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by rapid technological advances, changing workforce expectations, and the growing need for lifelong learning In this thought-provoking column, Prof S S Mantha explores how universities must evolve from centers of knowledge dissemination into dynamic ecosystem that fosters innovation interdisciplinary learning, employability, and human development, while ensuring that ethics, inclusion, and learner-centric remain at the core of education reform.
Source: ET, July 19, 2026

1. A college degree in India may be worth less than a JCB licence. That is the blunt verdict from Saurabh Mukherjea, Founder and CIO of Marcellus Investment Managers, , who in a podcast, argued that students who stop studying after Class 12 are often better off financially than those who go on to graduate. He is not the only one making statement about degree problem in India. Recently, India’s Chief Economic Adviser, V Anantha Nageswaran, also made a strikingly similar point on a separate platform, telling young Indians to look past degrees and competitive exams and pick up trade skills instead.

2. Mukherjea said that Indian education runs on memory, not thinking

3. The rot, he said, starts long before college. “Even your schooling years are not spent thinking. Even the schooling system focuses on ratto and regurgitate.
Source: ET June 9, 2026