MIT Alumni as Nation-builders
The 1950s and 1960s marked a period of radical change and nation-building in South Asia. MIT’s South Asian graduates returned to their newly-independent countries ready to apply the skills they acquired at MIT in the service of their nations. They came to occupy a significant number of high level positions applying their technological skills to oversee the infrastructural development of the country. At the same time, India and Pakistan’s first Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan actively pursued institutional collaborations with MIT to develop their new nations.
India
Jawaharlal Nehru considered these educational institutions the “temples of Modern India”, bringing scientific and technological progress to their country. He viewed MIT as a guide and partner in decolonization and modernization which resulted in several successful collaborations, including the Indian Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. During his visit to MIT in 1949, Nehru personally requested MIT’s Indian alumni to return to India and join him in building their newly-independent nation.
Pakistan
Liaquat Ali Khan’s visit to MIT in 1950 marked the start of a decades-long association between Pakistan and the Institute. Khan’s firm position on Communism secured his nation a valuable geopolitical alliance with the United States that lasted for several decades. After Khan’s assassination in 1951, Pakistani leaders continued to push for the establishment of cross-national connections in education and technology. While this did not eventually materialize in a tangible program or institution, efforts to do so continued till well into the 1980s. In this pivotal post-Independence time of decolonization and nation-building, Liaquat Ali Khan’s connections with MIT and the United States helped Pakistan establish a sovereign identity and gain valuable economic support to secure the country’s future. Several faculty and leaders in MIT's administration visited Pakistan in the 1960s including John Burchard, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, and Jerome Weisner who was honored with the Sitara-e-Pakistan, the country's third highest civilian award in 1963.
“The principal purpose of Mr. Qureschi’s visit to MIT was to see if an arrangement could be made for a temporary alliance between MIT and an appropriate university in Pakistan in the interests of bringing higher technological education in Pakistan up to a level which Pakistan needs if it is to progress technologically and industrially.” - John Burchard memo to James Killian on visit of Mr Qureshi, Minister of Education, Pakistan, October 1953
Memorandum to President Killian re: Pakistan Minister of Education (Page 1)
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Principal Technological Needs of Pakistan, as shared by Mr Qureshi, Minister of Education, Pakistan, with John Burchard. October 1953
