Education of an Ambassador is the story of how a former ambassador, who was called upon to make an effort to fashion a ‘Higher Education 2.0’ for Kerala, ended up educating himself on the hindrances to heralding changes in the system. The resistance to change came in the form of ideological battles, turf wars, bureaucratic lethargy and sheer indifference. The author recounts his experiments with reform passionately and explains his frustrations vividly, but without rancour.
The author gives the salient aspects of the reform proposals contained in the sixteen reports he submitted to the Government in the expectation that future reformers will start where he left off and they will not have to show the other cheek to intolerant elements and enemies of change as he had to do throughout his journey of reform of higher education.
Former Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan became an ‘accidental educationist’ after nearly forty years of diplomacy and strategic thinking and writing. He has joined the galaxy of men who shone as both diplomats and educationists such as Sardar K.M. Panikkar, M.C. Chagla, Nurul Hassan and Hamid Ansari. His work in Japan, Bhutan, Russia, US, Myanmar, Fiji, Kenya and Austria and his expertise in multilateral affairs have been universally recognized and appreciated. As a Senior Fellow in the Brookings Institution, a member of the National Security Advisory Board and Director General of the Kerala International Centre, he sharpened his skills to wrestle with the higher education system in Kerala and to narrate his story in an inimitable manner.
Sreenivasan currently lives in Thiruvananthapuram as a much sought after commentator and speaker on international affairs and a trainer of young minds to compete for the civil services.
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