'WE ARE TRYING TO REIMAGINE TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA'

Aakash Chaudhry is founder and trustee of Plaksha University and chief mentor and co-promoter of Aakash Educational Services Limited. He spoke to Careers360 about what makes Plaksha University different, placements and tech jobs and also regulating the coaching sector.

- Aeshwarya Tiwari

Q. What was the motivation behind starting Plaksha? 

A. Plaksha is a university where we are trying to reimagine technical education in India. Many have attempted to reimagine models in management and liberal arts. However, in the field of tech education, there hasn't been much rethinking.

The problems faced by India, considering the scale of our population and the size of our country, cannot be solved by simply adopting solutions designed for western problems. It is important for us to educate our children about our unique problems and how technology can be utilised in an interdisciplinary curriculum. This means that while studying AI, students should also be introduced to robotics, bio information systems, and data science. All these elements should work in harmony.

We aim to integrate liberal arts, design thinking, and real-world problem-solving alongside technology education. This approach is unconventional because Plaksha doesn't begin with the traditional four-year B.Tech programmes.

Our focus is on offering programmes that are relevant to today's needs. Our first major is computer science and AI, followed by robotics and cyber-physical systems as the second major. The third major is biological systems engineering, and the last major is a unique one. It allows non-science students who have studied maths till Class 12 to pursue data science, economics, and business.

These four majors are unlike anything currently offered by tech education colleges.

Q. How is Plaksha different from others?

A. Plaksha believes that students should not have to pursue additional courses or internships after completing their education to become job-ready. This focus on relevance aligns with the approach of most global universities. They not only offer highly industry-relevant programmes but also engage in extensive research and industry interaction.