A new university will be established in Chandigarh soon and it will be named ‘Plaksha University’. Plaksha is a Sanskrit word that means a ficus tree. Many famous gurukulas in the Indian mythology have been said to flourish under ficus trees, hence, the university is given a name that is rooted in India.
Plaksha University is under construction and will be inaugurated in the year 2021. It is said that the university will have an intake of 1,000 students in its first year and by the year 2035, they aim at having about 8,000 students at their campus. Plaksha University also envisions to have around 1,000 startups in 10 years after its commencement. This was told by Vineet Gupta who is the Founder and Trustee of Ashoka University and also a part of the founding team at the Plaksha University.
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The university will be spread on an area of 50 acres and will be constructed near the Chandigarh airport. The foundation of Plaksha University is being done on collective philanthropy model, just like some other institutions like Krea University, the Indian School of Business , Ashoka University, etc. It will be a joined force of like-minded people.
It has been announced that the first course at Plaksha University will be the Technology Leaders Fellowship Program (TLFP) which will be curated by Arvind Raman, who is the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty at Purdue University, and also an academic advisor to Plaksha. TLFP will be a residential programme and will start in August 2019 at the Plaksha Innovation Center in Gurgaon.
Raman said he is passionate about the surreal transformation of engineering education and the requirement to use interdisciplinary approaches for addressing grand challenges pertaining to agriculture, health, clean water, factories of the future and also cybersecurity.
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TLFP will be taught by faculty from India as well as abroad. The course will have a total of 60 seats of which 20 will be given on full scholarships.