Indian scriptures state River Saraswati, synonymous with learning, originated from a Plaksha (Sanskrit word for the ficus tree), which grew at the foothills of the Sivaliks. So, it made sense when Plaksha, which denotes a tree from which a river of learning flows, nurturing everything that it touches, was chosen as the name for a university.
But Plaksha University is not just another educational institute among the hundreds in India. The institute has a story like no other in the world: 45 entrepreneurs and chief executives came together to raise Rs 2,000 crore for Plaksha. This is at least four times the amount that the government spends to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
As per a recent report by Aspiring Minds, 80 percent of Indian engineers are not fit for any job in the knowledge economy. Worried about the current state of employability among graduates, 45 top entrepreneurs and CXOs built this institute to bridge the gap between employers and educators. All programmes and courses at the university are designed by the leaders along with a special academic advisory board.
The university will launch its first Tech Leaders Fellowship Programme at its Gurugram campus in collaboration with universities, including UC Berkeley, Purdue University, MIT, and University of Pennsylvania, as well as tech companies like Google and IBM among others. Their bachelor's degree course will launch in 2021. The Fellowship programme is open to candidates including fresh graduates and experienced professionals.
How Plaksha was born
Bringing dozens of leaders together for such an effort needs time and energy, and more importantly, a strong vision to implement. Mohit Thukral, Founder and Trustee of Plaksha University (and Founder and Managing Partner at BPM platform Vivtera), spoke to YourStory about the journey over the last few years.
The idea of reimagining higher education in technology was seeded around mid-2015 when Mohit got together with Neeraj Aggarwal, Chairman, Asia Pacific, Boston Consulting Group; Vineet Gupta, Co-founder and MD, Jamboree Education; Ashish Gupta, Founder of Benori Knowledge; and Manas Fuloria, Co-founder and CEO of Nagarro.
“We felt there was not only a need to change what is taught in engineering colleges in India but also to change the way it is taught,” Mohit says.
After months of meetings and brainstorming, the idea of a technology university took shape. The core team ideated on the gaps it should address and the problems it could solve.
“Every few years, there is a massive shift in technologies. Right now, there is a lot of buzz around AI and data science. But there is no educational programme to train you for it,” Mohit explains.
Plaksha aims to be not “just another engineering school”. It wants to empower students to solve challenges in the next industrial revolution, especially in India. The team researched the industrial changes possible in the next four years.
“The question was how to bring tech into key areas globally. We talked to academia in India and the US for this,” Mohit recounts.
Plaksha’s primary focus will be on problems specific to India, across sectors like urban planning, mobility, agriculture, hunger, transportation, etc. Alok Mittal, Co-founder and CEO of Indifi Technologies and Co-founder at Plaksha, tells YourStory that since India is a developing country, it needed a different agenda in research and development (R&D) than the US.
“In scaling (solutions) for a large population like that of India, tech helps bring down the price points. On the other hand, students should keep updating themselves, as what they learn today may not be relevant in 10-20 years,” he adds.
After two years of iterations, research in best practices, and discussions with experts, Plaksha was born in early 2018.
Building a team of veterans
Once the core team built its vision, they started talking to people outside the core group in 2017. “We got great support and encouragement. Gradually, people who shared the vision and philosophy started coming together, and the tribe grew.”
The current 45 members include CP Gurnani, MD and CEO, Tech Mahindra; Vineet Nayyar, former executive vice chairman, Tech Mahindra; Ashish Gupta, Co-founder, Helion Ventures; Pankaj Chaddah, Co-founder of Zomato; Ritesh Malik, Founder of Innov8; Pallav Nandhani, Founder of Fushiocharts, and Gaggan Hasteer, VP (Content Engineering) at Netflix, among others.
Pankaj, who left Zomato last year, was looking to do something new after building the foodtech unicorn for 10 years, when he heard of Plaksha from Neeraj.
Pankaj tells YourStory, “The idea of Plaksha resonated with me. I strongly believe that higher education in India needs to be reinvented, and I wanted to be part of this great, capable team.” Pankaj has been involved with creating the first batch of students for the fellowship programme in the past four months.
Having people from diverse fields have helped shape the strategies of Plaksha. Mohit elaborates, “Each one of us has built a successful company or is currently running one. Many are part of the ‘technology change’ being witnessed today and know the pulse of ‘technology change’ across verticals, including IT, ecommerce, fintech, consulting, education, venture capital, and products.”