Private varsities catalysing sea change in Higher Education
A spate of new genre private universities enabled by state government legislation and led by brilliant academics with excellent project management and leadership skills are generating overdue stir within the shady bowers of Indian academia , writes Dilip Thakore. An exemplar is Sanjay Padode, alumnus of the blue-chip BITS-Pilani. In 1995, Padode founded and nurtured …Private varsities catalysing sea change in Higher Education Read More »
A spate of new genre private universities enabled by state government legislation and led by brilliant academics with excellent project management and leadership skills are generating overdue stir within the shady bowers of Indian academia , writes Dilip Thakore. An exemplar is Sanjay Padode, alumnus of the blue-chip BITS-Pilani. In 1995, Padode founded and nurtured the AACSB (USA)-accredited IFIM Business School, Bengaluru (rechristened the Jagdish Sheth School of Management aka JAGSOM), routinely ranked among the country’s Top 15 private B-schools by EducationWorld and #2 in Karnataka. In 2019, Padode took a giant leap forward to promote Vijaybhoomi University — “a unique multidisciplinary liberal arts professional courses university” — on a scenic 200 acre fully-wired campus in Karjat, a two-hour drive from Mumbai. Although its smooth take-off was impeded by the Covid lockdown of almost two years, Vijaybhoomi has taken wing. Currently, it has 340 students enrolled in its two-year foundational liberal arts programme.
“The curriculum offered by Vijaybhoomi U for liberal professional education is unprecedented and unique in India. After a wide and strong two years common foundational programme, our students can study two majors and two minors in disciplines of their choice. Thus a student can graduate with a BBA (bachelor of business administration) degree combining widely disparate subjects such as business, AI, music and data science. Similarly a B.Tech student can combine AI, design, music and business. Our objective is to allow students total freedom to study subjects that interest them, so that they have an enjoyable and fulfilling higher education experience. By investing learners with the power of choice we have transferred authority from the university to students,” says Dr. Atish Chattopadhyay, founding vice chancellor of Vijaybhoomi U.
A business management graduate of Aligarh Muslim University and Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Management, Kolkata, Chattopadhyay has a wealth of experience in industry (Oberoi Hotels, Bakery Chain Kolkata), and B-schools (ICFAI, S.P. Jain, MICA, IMT, Ghaziabad and IFIM/JAGSOM).