“India can benefit tremendously from the lessons learned from Stanford University’s remarkable rise to preeminence, its role in the success of Silicon Valley, and the impact on students, society, and the nation.” — Nalanda 2.0, a think tank on higher education.

You probably know about Silicon Valley, the hotbed of research, innovation, and start-ups located in California (USA), and birthplace of companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Intel, Oracle, Cisco, HP, Salesforce and LinkedIn.

But do you know who is credited for the formation of Silicon Valley?

You may be surprised to know that the person regarded as the “father of Silicon Valley” is not any of the incredible entrepreneurs, like William Hewlett or David Packard (of the Hewlett-Packard fame) or Gordon Moore (of the “Moore’s Law” fame and co-founder of Intel) or Steve Jobs (the co-founder of Apple), but Fred Terman, a faculty member at a world-class multidisciplinary research university.

Terman was former provost and faculty member at Stanford University. He is also credited for the amazing rise of Stanford from a regional university in the United States in the 1940s to a premier research university in the world by the 1960s.

Credit: lunaimaging Stanford: An Elite University and an Innovation Powerhouse

Stanford’s breadth and depth of research are driving significant wealth creation, economic prosperity, and an impact on humanity. Global brands such as Google and Cisco originated from research conducted at Stanford. According to a 2012 study, since the 1930s, Stanford entrepreneurs (faculty and alumni) have started 39,900 companies, which in turn have created 5.4 million jobs and generated the US $2.7 trillion in annual revenues.

Currently, there are more than 5,300 externally funded sponsored projects across Stanford. In 2014, Stanford received US$1.33 billion in research funding. This includes funding for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally called the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). In 2013–14, the university received approximately US$108 million in gross royalty revenues from licensing 655 of its technologies.

Its faculty members are extending the frontiers of knowledge; increasing our understanding of the world and universe we live in; educating and preparing students for their lives and careers; and informing policy, affecting change, and starting companies. No wonder, the best and the brightest students and faculty members from around the nation and the world are flocking to be part of this intellectual and innovation hub.

The current faculty includes 21 Nobel Prize and 5 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 Fields Medalists in mathematics, and 27 MacArthur Fellows. It also includes faculty members who have been inducted to prestigious memberships: 50 in the American Philosophical Society, 66 in the Institute of Medicine, 105 in the National Academy of Engineering, 154 in the National Academy of Sciences, and 276 in the American Association of Arts and Sciences, to name a few.

In 2014, the university raised close to US$1 billion in private resources from alumni, grateful patients, friends, corporations, and foundations. Stanford is an innovation powerhouse and getting stronger every year.

Credit: stanford India: Importance of World-Class Higher Education System

There are 20-26 million children born in India every year. In the next 35-50 years, India has to prepare and educate 700 million to 1.3 billion young men and women for their lives and careers. This is India’s defining challenge and opportunity of the 21st century!

India must also address its mega challenges—issues that are affecting over 100 million people—such as jobs for the youth, poverty, urban migration, energy, water, food, health, environment, climate change, gender inequality and women’s security, law and order, corruption, and education.

Stanford offers compelling evidence on why the higher education system is the nerve center for any nation and society—a world-class university educates and prepares professionals for various sectors of the society; spurs the research, innovation, and start-up ecosystem; and addresses the challenges facing the society.

Inspiringly for India and its higher education system, Stanford was not always like this.

Stanford’s Remarkable Rise to Preeminence

Leland Stanford, railroad president, land baron, and US senator, and his wife Jane founded Stanford University in 1885 in memory of their son. In 1891, David Starr Jordan, president of Indiana University, was appointed as the founding president of Stanford. Stanford opened with 555 students and fifteen faculty members.

It has grown in size, scope, and prestige since then. In 2014, it had an enrollment of over 7,000 undergraduate students and over 9,000 graduate students for a total of over 16,000. It had over 2,100 faculty members in its seven schools and colleges: the Graduate School of Business, School of Earth…