The Missing Institution: Why the World Needs to Learn About India
In the contemporary architecture of global higher education, certain institutions have come to embody not just academic excellence, but geopolitical imagination. The Yenching Academy at Peking University, the College of Europe in Bruges, and the Hertie School in Berlin exemplify how universities can function as epistemic bridges between nations and the world.
These institutions do more than teach—they shape international discourse, influence diplomacy, and train future leaders to think with depth about the regions they represent.
India—home to one of the world’s oldest and most continuous civilisations, and now the world’s most populous democracy—has no such flagship institution.
This is not merely an institutional gap. It is a profound strategic omission in global education.
The Absence of an India-Centric Academic Anchor
Despite its rising economic stature and central role in multilateral diplomacy, India remains underrepresented in global academic frameworks. While individual courses, centres, and scholars engage with India across disciplines, there is no singular, interdisciplinary, globally prestigious institution dedicated to the comprehensive study of India—its civilisational traditions, contemporary transformations, and global influence.
India is too often treated as an area of interest rather than a source of ideas; as a case study rather than a theoretical vantage point. This asymmetry persists in global universities, where India is frequently addressed through the lens of postcolonialism, development, or geopolitics—without adequate attention to its intellectual, ethical, and cultural contributions.
Why India Studies Matters—Now More Than Ever
1. Geopolitical and Strategic Significance
India is now central to discourses on climate governance, digital infrastructure, regional security, and South-South cooperation. Understanding India’s institutional logic, policy frameworks, and socio-political diversity is essential for diplomats, investors, scholars, and civil society actors across the world.
2. Civilisational Continuity and Intellectual Depth
India offers one of the world’s richest archives of intellectual traditions—from ancient jurisprudence and linguistic theory to modern ethical philosophy and constitutionalism. Yet these traditions remain insufficiently integrated into the canon of global education.
3. Pluralism as Practice
India’s federal structure, multilingual polity, and diverse religious and cultural landscape provide critical insights into how complex societies navigate coexistence and democratic negotiation.
4. Rethinking Global Knowledge Production
To engage with India on its own terms is to participate in epistemic pluralism—a recognition that knowledge systems outside the Western canon offer valid, rigorous, and often more contextually relevant insights into today’s global challenges.
The Hind School: A Prototype for a New Academic Paradigm
Founded in 2025, The Hind School positions itself as the first institution dedicated exclusively to the field of Applied India Studies. In contrast to static, classroom-bound models, The Hind School proposes a mobile, immersive, and interdisciplinary framework for studying India—across cities, disciplines, and lived contexts.
Its flagship program, the Postgraduate Fellowship in Applied India Studies (PGP-AIS), combines:
A multi-city academic journey, engaging with India through Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, and beyond
An Oxford-style tutorial model, focused on weekly essays, seminars, and close faculty mentorship
Regular field immersions, where students engage with policy institutions, cultural ecosystems, and local practitioners
A cohort drawn from across India and abroad, fostering transnational academic dialogue rooted in India
The Hind School treats India not as a backdrop, but as a methodological anchor—where every city becomes a text, every immersion a classroom, and every conversation a site of critical reflection.
The Global Academy Needs an India-Focused Centre
The time is ripe to build an institution that parallels the ambition and design of the Yenching Academy or the College of Europe, but grounded in India’s civilisational context and contemporary realities.
Such an institution must:
Serve as an intellectual home for the systematic, interdisciplinary study of India
Advance India-informed perspectives in economics, governance, ethics, and cultural thought
Train a new generation of India-literate global professionals
Foster international research collaborations grounded in Indian epistemologies
Contribute to India’s soft power by exporting ideas, not just services
Conclusion: From Fragmentation to Institutional Sovereignty
The global narrative on India remains fragmented. What is needed is not simply more content on India, but the institutional capacity to interpret, curate, and lead conversations about India on the world stage.
The Hind School is a first step—but the long-term vision must be bolder: a world-class institution that repositions India not as a subject to be studied, but as a source of civilisational knowledge and global insight.
“In a world searching for ethical leadership, resilient pluralism, and civilisational continuity, India is not a puzzle to solve—it is a presence to engage with. But that engagement requires new institutional imagination.”
— The Hind School Vision Document, 2025
About the Author:
This article was written for The Hind, a think tank and cultural lab of The Hind School, dedicated to advancing India-centred inquiry across disciplines.
