Private universities shouldn’t aid undeserving rich: Prof John C Meakin

KOCHI: This maths professor from the US is calculative in his words the way he deals with numbers. Prof John C. Meakin, professor of mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is at Cusat as part of the Erudite Scholars-in-Residence Programme of the Kerala state higher education council.

“I don’t know the politics here,” he said when asked if he supported private universities coming here.

It is amply clear from his answer that he is familiar with the politics here since he was visiting the state since 1977.

“Private universities are doing well in the US, but they are expensive,” he said.

“However, these universities sponsor poor students with academic brilliance. So I would say they have not done anything bad to us. But private universities should not become a ground for the rich with a poor academic background to acquire degrees. So private universities should be well-guided.”

Prof Meakin said endowments from alumni had been the backbone of eminent private universities in the US that had a reputation across the globe. They make great strides in research like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Duke.