By Muzamil Farooq

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics hits close to home for anyone who cares about higher education in Kashmir.

While the world celebrated economists showing how societies grow through innovation, our universities remain stuck in old routines.

Kashmiri students are still taught to memorize facts instead of thinking creatively or using what they learn.

The Nobel winners remind us that economic progress is the result of institutions that encourage new ideas, experimentation, and technological change.

Innovation drives growth everywhere, but it struggles to survive in Kashmir.

Classrooms favour correct answers over original thought, and exams focus on memory over reasoning. New ideas struggle to take hold.

Young Kashmiris are talented and globally aware, but our universities rarely give them the tools to explore ideas deeply.

Programs that examine technology, policy, and innovation are rare. Entrepreneurship, technology management, and interdisciplinary research remain optional instead of central to learning.

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