There may be no better symbol of independent India’s ambition than IIT Kharagpur. It rose from the grounds of the Hijli Detention Camp, where British forces imprisoned freedom fighters and, in 1931, shot dead two unarmed detainees. Less than two decades later, India transformed that site of repression into its first Indian Institute of Technology, turning ground once used to suppress Indian minds into a place that would produce engineers and scientists who helped shape the modern world.

As IIT Kharagpur celebrates its platinum jubilee, that history carries a larger lesson: India does its best work when it has the confidence to trust its own talent rather than wait for the West to define excellence.

The IIT system became one of post-independence India’s greatest institutional achievements. Its graduates built domestic industries, helped power Silicon Valley and rose to lead some of the world’s most influential technology companies. Yet India still underestimates the scientific and engineering capability within the IITs and many other institutions of similar calibre.

Also Read | IIT-B allows students rethink their academic journey

For decades, Indian institutions have been pressured to mirror Western universities such as MIT, Stanford and Harvard. The prescription is always the same: Spend more on basic research, publish more papers, expand tenure tracks, improve citation counts and climb global rankings.

The American university system has many strengths, and I have spent the latter part of my career in it, but India should not copy its........

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