This refers to ‘University Education in India’ (BJ: Feb. 15, 2022). Debates galore on the intention of the British, especially of Thomas B. Macaulay, in educating Indians.
Etched in the Indian mind is the British intent as enunciated in Macaulay’s speech in the House of Commons which touched upon alternatives. That is, whether the imparting of European knowledge is to awaken the ambition of Indians, or to make them capable enough to assist the British administration in doing good governance, or to enlighten Indians so that “they may, in some future age, demand European institutions”. In the same breath, Macaulay expressed his doubts about whether they (the British) would succeed in doing the latter. Most Indians nurtured a notion that the intent of creating a Western-style education system was to create a cadre of Indian subordinate officials who would assist the ruling class.

The real significance lies in Macaulay adding, “Whenever it (demand for European institutions) comes, it will be the proudest day in English history” and that even if the sceptre passes away from the British, the irreversible triumphs gained from instruction in European-built educational institutions would be tantamount to the extension of the “imperishable empire of our (British) arts and our morals, our literature and our laws”; this assertion could be the underlying British intent. The knowledgeable British knew that sooner or later, India would become independent.
Thus, the intention of creating institutions providing higher education crystallised with Sir Charles Wood’s dispatch to the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1954. This led to the establishment of the Universities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, on the model of the University of London.

—Dr. K. U. Mada, Mumbai