Self University
How Self University helped and is helping the India’s Youth to reimagine what Learning can be !
It all started when I was asked by one of my seniors at College to Why i was reading a particular book which was not a part of the syllabus. That day I asked myself 2 questions.
What is University?
What is Syllabus?
I attempted to answer these 2 questions with utmost truthfulness and blatant nakedness. For me the answer was a university is fundamentally a set of prescribed subjects to be learnt, subscribed by someone else and I would be given a certificate signed by someone most likely I have never met that person.
And syllabus is a set of prescribed subjects decided by someone else as to the specialization I have chosen (in total guess work)
That day I felt the rigidness, lack of choice and freedom to explore and figure out my personal core interest. The design of the syllabus and university restricted my freedom and exploration. I decided to start my own self university. I designed a certificate calling it SELF UNIVERSITY.
This is how it looked like An image of self university
It all started when I was asked by one of my seniors at College to Why i was reading a particular book which was not a part of the syllabus. That day I asked myself 2 questions.
What is University?
What is Syllabus?
I attempted to answer these 2 questions with utmost truthfulness and blatant nakedness. For me the answer was a university is fundamentally a set of prescribed subjects to be learnt, subscribed by someone else and I would be given a certificate signed by someone most likely I have never met that person.
And syllabus is a set of prescribed subjects decided by someone else as to the specialization I have chosen (in total guess work)
That day I felt the rigidness, lack of choice and freedom to explore and figure out my personal core interest. The design of the syllabus and university restricted my freedom and exploration. I decided to start my own self university. I designed a certificate calling it SELF UNIVERSITY.
This is how it looked like An image of self university
What i would do is go and learn whatever I wanted to learn from whichever book that inspired me. Then I would go and teach what I learnt from that book to 4 new people, basically strangers. After I would share my core learnings, I would request them to sign on the certificate and at the back give me feedback on what they liked about the content and my presentation style, also what they wished was there.
This became so engrossing that my engagement level with my learning became very high and playful. I still remember my first sign that I received from a student who was delightfully awed with the concept. One Principal from Aurora College (Hyderabad) Mr. Ravi Paturi looked at the certificate of self university and was so much in love with it. He said one day you will either go to jail or make an extraordinary mark in the world.
As that journey started today I owe it to Self University to instill confidence, courage and playfulness to disrupt and challenge the status quo and have the inspiration to design for better. It was the Design of self university that transformed my outlook of life and in many ways nurtured the Proactive self in me. And you may wonder why Proactive I, I hope after reading this you have got your answer. It’s time for everyone to have their own self university. As It gives choice, autonomy and most importantly Self responsibility to be nurturing our own skill sets, mindsets and grow to achieve our highest potential. Here is a sample of how you could use this as Your own Self University.
This became so engrossing that my engagement level with my learning became very high and playful. I still remember my first sign that I received from a student who was delightfully awed with the concept. One Principal from Aurora College (Hyderabad) Mr. Ravi Paturi looked at the certificate of self university and was so much in love with it. He said one day you will either go to jail or make an extraordinary mark in the world.
As that journey started today I owe it to Self University to instill confidence, courage and playfulness to disrupt and challenge the status quo and have the inspiration to design for better. It was the Design of self university that transformed my outlook of life and in many ways nurtured the Proactive self in me. And you may wonder why Proactive I, I hope after reading this you have got your answer. It’s time for everyone to have their own self university. As It gives choice, autonomy and most importantly Self responsibility to be nurturing our own skill sets, mindsets and grow to achieve our highest potential. Here is a sample of how you could use this as Your own Self University.