The Neotia University is providing contemporary holistic education in subjects such as robotic engineering, energy engineering, cyber security, cloud computing, marine engineering, etc, at Bachelor’s level. The university is developing research and innovative platforms for the students through interaction with industries such as Adani Power Limited, IBM, Phi Robotics, Sage Publishers and others.

Explaining the significance of the private universities, A S Kolaskar, vice- chancellor, The Neotia University, says that private universities in India will play a vital role in the coming years. Excerpts from an interview:

Q People in our country always prefer government institution over private universities because of recognition and most importantly the fees structure. Why do you think then private universities can make a change or have a stand in the race of universities?

It is true that people prefer government institutions over majority of private universities. However, one should not forget that several well-known government institutions/universities have started as private institutions/universities. For example IISc (Bangalore) or Tata Institute, Visva Bharati University (Shantiniketan), Banaras University (Varanasi), Aligarh University, etc, were private universities. One of the older private universities Birla Institute of Technology and Science attracts good number of high quality students. The correct way to call them is “self-financed” state universities.

Q On your website there is something called Choice Based Credit System. How is it beneficial for the students and how does it work?

Each student being different, the education system must provide an opportunity to learn as per their liking and gain knowledge. This is an attempt to provide such an opportunity to learn the subject and helps them to earn two degrees with little extra time and efforts. The CBCS in fact completely destroys our present structure of hierarchical model of education. The only requirement is that they must have pre-requisite knowledge to use optimally.

Q Do you think private universities have more global as well as job opportunities, if yes then, why?

Private universities in the US and other countries have proved that for their existence and to attract good quality students and teachers it has to adopt a global approach. Universities make special efforts to admit international students in large numbers. It is also expected that the private universities will work more closely with industry that will help students to get job after successfully completing their undergraduate/ postgraduate degree programmes. The mindset of most Indians is that higher education provides better jobs and thus, improves quality of life.

Q What is the global reach of the Neotia University? Are there any exchange programmes or international affiliations?

The university though only two years old has signed a memorandum with the Concordia University, Edmonton, Canada; Yasar University, Turkey; Shandong Labour Vocational and Technical College, China; Belgrade University for humanities and social sciences and will be signing MoU with Tel Aviv University, Israel. We also organise workshops/seminars/symposiums with the help of our partners at the national and international level.

One example is the international conference on “Energy Options of Tomorrow: Technology and Sustainability”. In this conference, experts from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland have helped in preparing scientific programme, getting international experts, coordinating their own participation along with national and international experts.

Q According to you, how’s the future of private universities in India going to be?

Private universities are going to play pivotal role. Many big industries and social entrepreneurs have taken the decision of starting universities. The government is also changing its policies to nurture those private universities which are sincerely working to excel quality of education, research and development activities.

In fact, under the “world-class universities” scheme, Central Government has decided to provide support to ten private universities and ten state/central universities.

The Neotia University having taken initial steps of creating “A University with Difference”, providing flexible holistic education with the aim of creating human resources .

It is developing modern infrastructure, selecting only the best faculty available in the area, nurturing research and industry supported projects and helping to create entrepreneurs.