Future universities

At the Confederation of Indian Industry's annual meeting last week, Sam Pitroda, currently advisor to the prime minister on public information infrastructure and innovations, sounded no less than a soothsayer. On being questioned about the future of the brick-and-mortar universities, he said universities as people knew them today would be dead. "And you can quote me on this... though I'll not be around when that happens," Pitroda said, without commenting on whether this change was good or bad.