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December 2015
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The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) hosts foreign students, scholars and university officials on a ten-day fellowship that is intended to build relationships with universities in India, and promote internationalization of programmes and issues. Professor Sankat’s specific focus was on The UWI drawing closer to Indian universities with regard to food and agriculture, medical sciences, educational training and research in some specific areas. Accompanied by his daughter Suresha, a medical sciences student, the Campus Principal traveled in November to Manipal University, the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru and the CFTRI-Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru. The last stop on the visit was the Brahma Kumaris headquarters at Mount Abu in Rajasthan, an organization that is well known for the promotion of Raj Yoga meditation in some 115 countries throughout the world, including Trinidad and Tobago. Among the best operational take-aways for Principal Sankat was seeing how the universities centralized their systems to harmonize its outputs throughout the very large landmass that is India. When pressed for specifics on this, the Principal said, “I saw first hand, that if a university focuses on needs of people it can make an impact – by engaging with farmers in the execution of research to grow crops using less water, further mechanization of processes, researching and finding ways to add value to primary crop production and the provision of high quality seeds.” In this spirit of agricultural innovation Principal Sankat delivered an address that described the state of agriculture in the Caribbean. He detailed opportunities and challenges and sought to draw parallels with that part of India’s tropical climate that also is pressed to be more sustainable – within the context of a changing global climate. Of course he made a call for greater collaboration between universities in light of shared points of culture, food and agricultural technologies, challenges and futuristic goals. Sankat said that the nexus for realizing the benefits to both countries is in post-graduate exchanges and in creating entrepreneurial partnerships. The vision for rebuilding and rekindling The UWI output through community outreach was also fueled by a model for using rice production in the development of bio-diesel. At the University of Agricultural Sciences there is an integrated research programme that is focused on farmer engagement for the propagation, exploration and commercialization of biofuel. Sankat said that he was impressed by the non-compartmentalized way that researchers and academics engaged farmers in problem-solving and collaboration. At the CFTRI-Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru, this same esprit de corps was felt as both groups focused on the science and technology of managing the post harvest and processing of pigeon peas. At the Brahma Kumaris headquarters at Mount Abu, Sankat was touched by how that institution brought a “values education” to the university system in India and around the world. Seeing and understanding their work magnified the gaps in The UWI system that should go beyond building societies to building better citizens – that in turn will naturally give rise to strong societies. With ethics and values seldom being transmitted at home or at a religious institution now, Sankat said that there are institutional lessons to take from the Brahma Kumaris values of service and self in preparation for good work and happier societies. Sankat felt it was auspicious that his visit coincidentally ended on Diwali Day there in India, where the festival of lights seem to be directly celebrating his optimism and the progressive models this trip provided.
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The foundation of the best practices model is to understand, adapt and integrate locally, what works globally. With this ethos Campus Principal Professor Clement Sankat embarked on a visit to India under the ICCR’s Distinguished Visitor’s Programme 2015-16 and returned with new clearer visions for best practices for The UWI. 