Need to Reimagine Not Just What Education Is, But Also What It's For

While it is easy to offer the opportunity for a student exchange semester, or an internship overseas, the activity itself is not learning.

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It is the self-reflexivity that turns activity into learning, then into valuable experience. This is the current gap in most universities. But in an age where universities are asked to close off opportunities for students from beyond one's national boundaries, we lose the crucial opportunity to expose students to other cultures and other peoples. We need more student mobility, not less.

Another approach to cultivating a spirit of exploration and experimentation is to provide opportunities for independent production. These include giving young people a chance to engage in self-direction, to take risks and pursue self-driven projects. We could do this, for example, by creating the space for students to design their own major.

What about that other dimension of intrapersonal intelligence—emotional resilience? This is not something cultivated overnight. Of course, mental health resources, counseling, stress management and peer support programmes have become commonplace since Covid-19. These are much needed, but more critical in the long term is developing resilience proactively rather than providing support as reactive service.

For this, we must create environments where friendships are forged and mentoring relationships developed; where community engagement and wellness practices like mindfulness are systematically introduced. They build support systems that last through personal and professional lives.

Such efforts need to be intentional and planned, much like the attention that curriculum has been given.