By: Fayaz Khan
This is in response to the article “The case for a medical university in Kashmir: Why SKIMS must lead the way“ by Dr Fiaz Maqbool Fazili.
In my view, students are not trained to think, question, or research in J&K. They are trained to clear exams. Faculty are not rewarded for inquiry, ethics, or mentorship. They are rewarded for compliance and survival. Administration is not designed for autonomy or accountability. It is designed for control and optics.
Under these conditions, a medical university will not elevate standards.
It will centralize mediocrity. Need is to establish academic freedom, protected academic dissent, transparent faculty evaluation, ruthless peer review, separation of non-academic narratives from curriculum and zero tolerance for favoritism.
Only after that do institutions scale. Without institutional ethics, research culture and merit based governance, a medical university becomes a degree factory with a grander signboard. SKIMS is a strong clinical institution. But converting a hospital centric ecosystem into a research led university requires something far deeper than affiliation powers. It requires a cultural reset that no resolution can mandate.
So no, this won’t happen. And even if it does, it will fail quietly. Not because Kashmir lacks talent. But because institutions are built on trust, not titles. Until that changes, expansion will only amplify the existing cracks.
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