Chandigarh
31 August 2021
DIVYA AZAD
Plaksha University, being set up by over 60 entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the world with an investment of over Rs 2000 crore in the next ten years, announced that its 50 acre state-of-the-art campus in IT city, Mohali will open on Oct 4, 2021. Plaksha is being set up in collaboration with top universities like UC Berkeley, Purdue and SRI and will foster an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation in the region. Plaksha’s vision is to focus on contemporary and interdisciplinary technology degrees, set up research centres around ‘grand challenges’ such as digital health, cyber security, data science, digital agriculture and manufacturing 4.0 and stimulate entrepreneurship with an aggressive vision of seeding over a 1000 startups in the next ten years.
Plaksha has recruited stellar faculty with PhDs from Stanford, Cornell, Cambridge, Oxford, NTU, and IISc. The University aims to reimagine technology education and research for India and the world. Education at Plaksha will be interdisciplinary – integrating a technology core with design, entrepreneurship, and self-development. The university will offer four cutting-edge and contemporary B.Tech degrees, The programs are guided by an eminent academic board including Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee; Shankar Sastry, Former Dean of Engineering of UC Berkeley, Sriram Rajamani, Managing Director of Microsoft Research India; Julia Ross, Dean, Virginia Tech; and BN Jain of IIT Delhi
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Rudra Pratap, the Founding Vice Chancellor of Plaksha University (former Deputy Director of Indian Institute of Science) said, “At Plaksha we are reimagining technology education by bringing in a unique and differentiated curriculum. The current disciplines of engineering are built on the chassis of world war 2 and need reimagination. Our contemporary degrees reflect our thinking. Our campus will be a living lab where students will learn as much outside the classrooms as they do inside.”
Plaksha University has not only partnered with renowned international institutions but is also looking to partner with leading corporates and industry to set up distinctive research centres focused on modern technologies. The well-equipped and state-of-the-art campus at Mohali is funded by a collective philanthropy effort involving industry leaders and entrepreneurs from organizations such as BCG, Bharti, Havells, Infoedge, Fractal Analytics, Naggaro, Mayfield, Arcesium, Apptio and many more.
“Plaksha aims to reimagine engineering education by bringing in a curriculum that blends technology, entrepreneurship and design. At Plaksha, our students will have the opportunity to work on real problems, seed their ventures and get global exposure through our partners – University of California, Berkeley, and Purdue University. We will nurture technology leaders, with help solve some of the toughest challenges our planet faces. Our unique industry partnerships makes us distinctive.” said Vineet Gupta, Founder & Trustee, Plaksha University and MD, Jamboree Education.
