Minorities on Campus: Discrimination, equality and politics of nationalism in Indian HE

The research network will examine minority students' lived experiences of discrimination and marginalisation on higher education campuses in India.

The India higher education (HE) sector has much to celebrate - 903 Universities, 39050 Colleges and 10011 Stand Alone Institutions; 36.6 million students and 12,84,755 teachers. However behind these successes are the campus experience of minorities that, despite some evidence of social mobility bought about by higher education, is also characterised by marginalisation and discrimination. Latest statistics from the All India Survey of Higher Education Report (AISHE) 2017-18 show all minority-religious groups are underrepresented in HE. HE can enhance the social and economic mobility of minority students and their communities, yet these very students are often marginalised within the university system. Over the last five years there has been an increase in violent activism on university campuses in India. While this violence is reported as being underpinned by changing politics of nationalism in India and right-wing activism, it also has strong undertones of the marginalization (and indeed victimization) of minority faith groups. Despite the significance of such violence in undermining both academic freedoms on campuses and democratic political processes, this is an area that remains under-researched. For this network 'minority students' broadly encompasses religious minorities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists) and ethnic minorities (Dalits and Tribes). The network will also explore how male and female students experience campus differently. Through its emphasis on equality and inclusion on campus and gendered identity, this research network directly addresses UN Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5 and 10 around Quality Education, Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities.

Against a backdrop of fast-changing, violent student activism and nationalist politics on campus, a multidisciplinary team of Indian and British academics will collaboratively investigate minority students' lived experiences of discrimination and equality on campus. It will examine what forms this discrimination might take and how different campus stakeholders (students, staff, managers) negotiate diversity on campus. The discussions that this network facilitates will focus on both structural (as related to the institutions and curricula of HE) and the social (linked to lived experiences) of discrimination. To enhance the welfare of minority students and the developmental potential of Higher Education (HE) as a tool for their social and economic mobility, we propose to critically engage with institutional culture, procedures, customs, practices, and social spaces - as these institutional expressions could be viewed as agencies of discrimination. Women, trans and sexual minorities will be part of our analysis as our exploration will be gendered. The network will use a post-colonial approach to create safe, knowledgeable and 'authentic' (virtual and real) spaces where difficult questions around political dissent, freedoms and constitutional rights on campus can be investigated. It will contribute to improving HE access, experiences and outcomes for minority students and the social and economic mobility of the communities these students come from.

The main beneficiary of this research network is the HE sector in India. Two workshops and a symposium will facilitate discussions. The network outputs will include: an edited book, a journal article and two digital virtual outputs - (1) a visual timeline that illustrates minority contributions to the Indian HE sector, which will be informed by an in-depth literature review conducted as part of the network activities and (2) a mapping of student activism that will be underpinned by a survey of print and digital reporting around student activities.

When students who are at university to lay the foundations for their careers are prepared to forfeit or at least compromise their career prospects by going to prison over their demands for rights, we as leaders of academia need to pay attention. This research network, at its very heart, is conceptualised as a response to students' activism for equality and rights. In doing so we address issues around sustained inequality and discrimination as experienced by minorities and women on Indian campuses.

The existing political scene in India is characterised by rapid economic and infrastructure development on the one hand, and on the other by the marginalisation of minority religious groups, 'lower' castes and women. Glaring social differences of inequality and discrimination is deeply disturbing in nature and but at the same time motivates people to strive hard to make a difference. In citizen-efforts aimed at making India more equal, the role of universities is paramount for they educate and train people who could be potential leaders of the country. Universities reflect the societies within which they are situated but arguably also have the potential to positively improve their contexts through the facilitation of social and economic development. But the questions remain
- Are universities achieving their potential to build cohesive educated societies?
- Is education realizing its fundamental developmental objective being a powerful tool for social and economic upward mobility of students on the one hand and also sensitizing them towards most compelling social issues of our times i.e. poverty, inequality, discrimination, and human rights?
- 70 years after the Indian constitution sought to build an equal Indian society (including though the use of positive discrimination) why do minorities and women continue to face unfair treatment and discrimination?

These are 'big' questions that cannot easily be resolved. They need sustained reflection, ethical practice and conscientious action. This research network provides the first step in for such a reflective, ethical and conscientious discourse. This research network will benefit research users both on and off campus by enabling topical but difficult discussions around the roles of universities, religious and gender marginalisation, problematic histories of knowledge production and inter religious relations on campus. Good management and infrastructural support will facilitate establishing relationships and networks across diverse stakeholders. Our workshops and symposium will use a postcolonial and positional standpoint to bring users/stakeholders together to discuss our shared responses to the questions that this network and indeed minority students on campus are asking of university leadership.

The beneficiaries of this research will include: The HE sector Indian and in other South Asian countries; academics in the UK and in India who are involved in the network events and publications will benefit from the intellectual exchanges and collaborations that this network facilitates; third sector organisations working in inter-faith relations will benefit from the discourses around dialogue, understanding and respect for the different other and the international academic community that is involved in the study of religion, ethnicity and gender on campus will benefit from the theoretical and methodological narratives that emerge from the network. Impact will be achieved through a range of outputs and tools as listed in the Pathways to Impact attachment