India is perhaps one of the few countries in the world that still has the model of centralised universities which design the syllabus, conduct exams and give degrees while the teaching is done in affiliated colleges that have no control on academic content or evaluation. Though there are many things that are wrong with our higher education set-up, removing this totally anachronistic model should be at the top of the agenda. First, let us compare with the situation elsewhere in the world. The US never had anything close to this