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Universities, Doctors and Society - Part III:

University Society interaction

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Vidya Jothi Prof. Arjuna Aluvihare, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University of Peradeniya delivered the Sujata Jayawardena Memorial oration, organised by the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo, last December.

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In many of the situations discussed below it is necessary to remember that students, staff, parents, ordinary people who have no direct connection with a university, society at large, the university as a body corporate, law enforcement authorities, politicians, and others have rights (which are sometimes enforceable). What is more important is that they all have obligations to each other- this is a more voluntary aspect and has to stem from their own codes of religion and ethics, and may have to take precedence over their rights. The outcome in action always has to be an ethical balance between rights and obligations.

Demonstrating student power

These paragraphs list and comment on university- society holistic interaction obligation breakdown or aspects of thereof- in a mixed manner deliberately to challenge a reader to think. Insular students and staff do not seem to protest to University Senates or society at large about insular approaches and courses that may be divorced from the real world, nor do they worry that there is scant recognition to and involvement of the national functioning professional sectors in University teaching and training (e.g., economists, lawyers, private and public sector business leaders). Exceptions are the involvement of non-university doctors, clothing and textile sectors to name some of the few.

Consequences of being jobless

A corollary of this is the relatively small number of courses in which something like an industrial placement or its equivalent is compulsory. A consequence is difficulty with jobs after graduation, and research that may not be useful to the country. Society is slow to help with an increase in state funding or private endowment and funding to improve the inadequate facilities and emolument and thus maximise quality output of the good teachers; the funding inadequacy may display a lack of confidence in state universities. Lack of funds aggravating poor quality output and this aggravating lack of confidence and funding are a vicious cycle. Fortunately there are exceptions showing that imaginative actions by University staff and the state and private sector can have positive effects (e.g. in the IT sections of Colombo, parts of Moratuwa and others).

The lack of private universities

The number of university places available in the country for youth (almost the worst in South Asia) and the huge tragic outflow of students (not all of whom find going abroad at all easy) for university education abroad represent a societal betrayal of the University system. The lack of private indigenous universities that is partly again the result of insularity and intransigence of university youth in the country, may be arising out of their lack of trust that society and the political system in particular will safeguard interest of poorer students. Youth worry that corruption and politicisation of selection processes will safeguard the rich and powerful with neglect of the less fortunate and further degradation of the state universities. In this atmosphere of distrust and lack of confidence between state universities and society, private offshore institutions have developed- some better than others. This situation is compounded when the social consciousness of state universities is not always manifest in constructive ways (a betrayal by university of society) increasing mistrust of university by society.

A particularly disgusting habit is ragging of freshers by seniors in Sri Lankan (and other) universities. This surely is a breakdown within the institutions of proper methods of ensuring acceptance of university student norms and encouraging interaction between students of all social strata. Many do not realise that this started in our universities in the 1950’s with the students from private and better known schools inflicting suffering on those from poorer and rural back grounds- the table are now turned: the practice remains abhorrent.

The aims include to demonstrate student power, equalise levels, reduce dependence on staff, get rid of a feeling of one type of law for rich and able - the existence of peaceful ways to achieve these aims was well illustrated in one year- 1975- when with a huge effort by students union and staff- there was no ragging at Peradeniya (stopped by students and staff).

If Universities (and the equivalent by whatever name) feel they are the apex bodies of education, scholarship, learning, and research, and perhaps there is a reluctant recognition from society that this is generally true, then they (universities) have to avoid being insular and have a higher level of responsibility than anyone else to look after, and must care for, the interests of society and ensure that their graduates do the same - thus earning the respect of society. Equally society has, as stated earlier, to nurture universities and to try not to corrupt their output.

Ethics and holistic thinking ability

In this paragraph reference is made to a series of university society interaction ‘breakdown’ situations. You have to decide not only whether the ‘accusations’ are correct but whether these are the results of ‘society’ corrupting the ‘good’ output of universities, or an intrinsic lack of ethics and holistic thinking ability in the graduates as they grow older, or whether the Universities either do not instil a holistic thinking process in graduates or if they teach ethics of a discipline they do not instil in graduates enough of a backbone to enable them (graduates) to stand up to corrupting pressures of ‘society’.

Amongst politicians there are many graduates and attorneys- they do some good work but there is ‘high handedness’, corruption, nepotisms and chicanery. In the Police there are many graduates but there are complaints of irregularity, partiality, subservience to political pressure, inattention (all amongst a lot of good work). There are many graduates in the Sri Lanka Administrative service- and they do good work but they may pliant and be subservient to political pressure.

The rich and powerful countries (G7) now have governing ranks riddled with graduates (unlike in the time of Genghis Khan, the Romans, ancient Sri Lankan kings) and the way in which they handle their affairs often does not provide an example to those who will in due course replace them (G20 minus G7). Powerful organisations- again graduate enclaves- also do good work but sometimes fail society (e.g. the World Bank, IMF, GMOA, large Media organisations, and others). In many of the G20 countries whose governments have many graduates, there are huge pockets of deprivation and systematic disadvantage (Indigenous peoples of Canada, Australia, India, USA, Brazil-to name a few; Health Care deprived in USA; the Media coverage of the recent Mumbai attacks and middle east attacks almost ignoring the deaths of the poor- examples of skewed news).

Brain drain situation

In the graduate dominated ‘Brain drain’ situations the economic South output tends to be blamed- but some responsibility has to attach to the richer countries who suck these people in, ignoring the fact that deprivation of their services in the donor country leads to substandard services as compared to what is considered a minimum acceptable standard in the richer country (e.g. as regards health system personnel). In the current USA and Wall Street led financial collapse situation there must be hundreds of Ivy League MBA’s (and similar in Iceland, Britain and elsewhere) whose education has failed them in avoiding this situation.

Financial scammers

Even financial scammers in the USA and Sri Lanka, if any, must be graduates of somewhere. Medical graduates are involved whenever prison camp inmates/ condemned prisoners are used for unethical medical experiments without willing consent- this happened during the Second World War and also more recently in certain jurisdictions in the matter of transplant services and research.

Finally for this paragraph one has to ask -does a university have to teach it’s researchers to consider a responsibility to society of consequences of Research / Scholarship/ Education? In Atomic physics Joseph Rotblat left the Los Alamos program in 1944 because of concern about the uses of atomic explosives and was branded a communist for many years- he and Pugwash got a Nobel Peace prize in 1996.

Research and Financial structures

There are similar considerations in Research on Gene technology, Poisons, Military hardware, Advertising technology and Psychology, Financial structures, In Vitro fertilisation, and many more fields.

‘The tension between scientific Power and Democratic Principles’ is the title of a lecture by Justice Weeramantry on this subject in April 2007 in Mount Lavinia! A schism between knowledge that is generated and the implications for society may be disastrous.

At this stage I quote Gandhi and ask the reader to substitute the words University, Doctor, Society alternately and variably for ‘Customer’, ‘he’, and ‘us’ in the quotation to see how it applies to the topic of this discourse.

(Concluded)

 

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