Shreyosi Chakraborty

Vidyashilp Education Group on Thursday announced the launch of Vidyashilp University in the presence of Thaawarchand Gehlot, governor of Karnataka, Dr Ashwathnarayan C.N, higher education minister, who also holds the portfolio of IT&BT, science and technology and skill development, professor B.Thimmegowda, vice chairman of Karnataka state council higher education, Dr.P Dayananda Pai, chancellor of Vidyashilp University, Dr Kiran Pai, pro-chancellor of the university and Dr Vijayan Immanuel, vice chancellor of Vidyashilp University at a Press conference in Bengaluru. 

The inaugural batch of the university campus will start operating from 2022 and its campus will be coming up at Bettenahalli, Yelahanka (near Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence). In the first year of launch, it is expected that the university will have 300 students. The undergraduate programmes with an interdisciplinary curriculum will offer immersive learning experiences to students. In addition, it will help them develop domain specialization that they can apply to solve real-world problems across disciplines. These domains will give the student depth in their choice of discipline, eliminate the silos in academics and enable students to apply their education in solving real-world problems. 

At the launch, governor Thaawarchand Gehlot said: “The university has been built on the foundation of National Education Policy, 2020 with modern curricula. The NEP sets high goals for our universities to become leaders in providing quality education. The purpose is towards the creation of greater opportunities resulting in resourceful citizens. The university will also be a beacon to students who belong to humble backgrounds while establishing many scholarships to ensure that no deserving students are deprived of the opportunity of education.”

Minister Dr Ashwathnarayan said, “I firmly believe that NEP will transform the society we live in. With Multidisciplinary education and research university (MERU) being a key model to the success of the NEP, I am confident that the university will strive towards this model and commit to it. This will definitely open up newer opportunities, promote research and development in the State and the country. The concept of MERU is going to encourage innovation in the country, as students are exposed to a blend of creative and analytical thinking at a much higher level. I commend the commitment that the leadership team at Vidyashilp University have towards realizing the vision and objectives of NEP for higher education. Being born at the beginning of the NEP era, Vidyashilp University would be able to embrace the policy with more ease.”

He further added, “Education is ever-evolving and hence there will be challenges. We are trying to seek people’s support in this journey. It is important that education is not limited inside any campus or classroom. The entire state should be our learning space. Whatever we will not get at our institution, we must find it else where. But before that, it is important to explain our students about real learning and a thought process which will aim them to achieve their goals.”

Dr P. Dayananda Pai, chancellor, Vidyashilp University, said, “High-quality education has transformative powers for individuals and nations alike. Vidyashilp University will strive to deliver a more balanced education to create next-generation leaders with a comprehensive worldview. Over the next five years, we plan to invest Rs.600 crore. Also, we are looking at funding 30% of students by scholarships. We will strive to attain the faculty to student ratio to 1:7 in the next few years. 

VC Dr Vijayan Immanuel said, “The university will be different from other run-of-the-mill educational institutions as it will bring in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary units. Hence, at VU, we have chosen domain and not courses that will build the base for interdisciplinary education. For example, we are in a digital world. Therefore, the domain of digital business and data sciences are very essential to any undergraduate student. Hence, we are beginning our domains in Data Science and Digital Business. For a nation to progress, the graduates will have to understand design and problem-solving. Therefore, the third domain will be Design Studies to enable students to understand design of solutions. Our fourth domain will be Liberal Arts. The university also has established a research centre to foster a culture of innovation among faculty members.”

Apart from these, there are plans to introduce courses in Legal Studies and Governance, Education and Fine Arts to meet the challenges of transformation and expansion in respective industries, added the VC.

Prof. B. Thimmegowda, vice chairman, Karnataka state higher education council congratulated the leadership at Vidyashilp University, saying “The task of the educator is to create independent learners who can experiment and innovate. A future-focused university such as Vidyashilp University creates a space for learners to prepare themselves to be leaders of tomorrow. The University creates the ground for students to bring out their analytical thinking and creatively solve problems of the society.”

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