It's that time of the year when
prospective LPU students rush to complete their application process with the
hope of being part of the Punjab-based university's academic community. The
application process is in its final lap with barely a week to go after which
entrance tests commence from April for admission to its B.Tech, MBA, Law, Hotel
Management, Design programmes. LPU campus in Punjab is buzzing with strategic
activities across 360 degrees. A tie-up with Google, a start-up incubator, and
global promotion of Ayurveda are only a few among the noted steps. The university welcomed a delegation from Monmouth University recently thereby bringing yet another US university within its radar. The campus is
an enabler with full cashless facility, least expensive medical care, and not
to mention one of the largest scholarship programs in the private space. No
wonder then that discerning students are rushing in, and impressive companies
are favouring LPU for placements. The university was also recently recognized
by the ‘Higher Education Review’ as one of the best among 700-odd universities
in India.
With the admission season just
round the corner, universities have their task cut out. While a university like
LPU may have very few reasons to worry about attracting reasonable students, it
is still not a stretch to rule out the stiff competition that the
Jalandhar-based University has been experiencing of late.
However, LPU isn’t betting its
money only on filling up its seats. The university has made some quick and
innovative strides in the last one year while maintaining its competitiveness
in the higher education space. From opening a startup school to collaborating
with tech giant Google Inc, LPU has charted its future course in becoming a
one-of-its-kind global university in India. As another stellar placement season
for the university saw the likes of Qatar Airways, Air India and Hyatt Hotel
USA offer lucrative packages, LPU would hope that the ongoing year would help
stake their claim as a leading private university in India.
Lovely Professional University
(LPU) has been hogging the limelight recently for more reasons than one. After
becoming one of the largest recruiters of faculty talent from India’s various
IITs, the private university based in Phagwara, near Jalandhar in India’s
Punjab State had set a high placement record in 2015-16. Students of LPU have
bagged plum placements with top companies both in India and abroad. The
remarkableness of this record was even more evident with the selection of 550
students in just a day by Cognizant! Among global placements, Qatar Airways
offered highest salary package of Rs 20 lakh and Hyatt Hotel USA at Rs 15 lakh.
Other top salary offering companies were Air India (Rs 8.5 lakh), Practo
Technologies (Rs 7 lakh), etc. Cognizant once again remained the top recruiter
across all the sectors and clusters. It was followed by TechM’s selection of
249 students.
While LPU’s strong showing in the
placement front is no surprise, the University has truly gone a step ahead to
make its presence felt globally. The year began with The School of Ayurvedic
Pharmaceutical Sciences of Lovely Professional University and one of the
leading ayurvedic pharma companies, Shree Dhanwantri Herbals, collaborating to
produce and promote ayurvedic products not only in India, but across the globe.
The said pharma company is already producing and exporting dozens of herbal and
ayurvedic medicines in many countries. For collaborative approach, LPU
researchers will frame out a literature for the promotion of ayurvedic products,
as it has been greatly realized that ayurvedic medicines are reliable
alternatives to modern day medicines in their efficacy. This tie-up is also to
strengthen academia industry relations for production and promotion of
clinically-safe Ayurvedic medicines.
Weighing in on the strategic
deal, LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “Under this collaboration, LPU students
will pursue important research projects to further enhance acceptability of
herbal, ayurvedic and nutraceutical products. LPU students will also create a
literature in this regard for awakening and awareness among people around the
world for the great utility of age-old ayurvedic implementations of India in
the health sector. On these lines, a lot of achievements have been made at LPU
Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, and our students have researched hard for
producing alternative medicines to cure and curb diabetes and even cancer.” Mr
Mittal added, “As per the needs of global society and Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission (IPC), LPU students and faculty members have already researched
together to get many patents applied and published.”
The attempt at global reach
didn’t end there. Earlier in the year, LPU made headlines when it announced a
landmark tie-up with the technology giant Google Inc. Google and Lovely
Professional University signed an MoU to offer courses with specialization in
Android programming. For this, LPU is going to establish ‘Center of Excellence’
at its campus, and this center will be counted among very few centers across
the world. LPU students will get Android certifications as a part of their
syllabus and that too at no additional cost. Mittal made it clear that under
this collaboration, the students will be trained through Google expertise and
that for the best training results, the University would set up the
state-of-the-art Google Center of Excellence with ultra-modern facilities and
Google Chromebooks.
The university was also an early
adopter of digital technology and wholeheartedly embraced the idea of cashless
payments at academic campuses through a strategic partnership with Paytm.
History was created when Paytm created the first cashless campus at LPU. Mind
you, this was months before the demonetization move and subsequent promotion of
online transactions by the government. Mr Mittal felt that for a
state-of-the-art university like LPU, it was imperative to bring the cash
transaction in the campus to a minimum.
“After talking to Paytm and
implementing their system, all our fees are coming online and even all our
vendors such as the hostel canteen etc are also accepting money through Paytm
solution. This has really helped parents and students to understand their
spending pattern.” Upbeat about the “cashless campuses concept”, the institute
is implementing wallet-based payments in different styles by bringing out
various offers for its students. There are cashbacks, contests and discounts in
association with various brands in the campus.
At a time when the digital wave
had gripped the nation and the entrepreneurship fever among the youth reached a
crescendo, LPU went forward with the inauguration of its startup school in
early September. On the occasion, Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley spoke
about the need to emulate the tech hubs like California in the US and countries
like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and about how each one of these countries were
advanced in technology and research and have grown rapidly by targeting global
market. His clarion call was to the LPU students to become ‘disrupter’ entrepreneurs.
Mittal said that their primary mission was to ensure that no startup idea
stayed just an idea. “While working for LPU students, LPU will also be building
a community for the larger Punjab by working closely with the local
entrepreneurs. Our goal is that every year, at least, 500 startups are
launched, 100 are funded and make 10 of it to the series ‘A’ level. For this,
LPU startup school will be providing mentorship through industry experts and
academicians related to the fields,” he added.
Recognizing the rising cost of
healthcare due to the complication of varied medical products and intricate
processes, the institute has tied up with 18 top hospitals from across the city
to ensure the best and cost effective healthcare services to LPU students,
faculty, staff and their family members. Mittal believes that this effort will
indeed touch thousands of precious lives by bringing better and more scientific
cost control in providing healthcare service. The participating hospitals
include BBC Heart Care Pruthi Hospital, Capitol Hospital, Cardinova Hospital,
Johal Multi-Speciality Hospital, Chhabra Neuro Care &Trauma Centre, Nasa
Brain and Spine Centre, Sikka Hospital, Thind Eye Hospital, Bhatia Mann Scan
Centre, Dr Ruby’s Path Lab, Apex Hospital, Ghai Hospital, Kamal Hospital,
Satyam Hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital, Doaba Hospital, Pasricha Hospital etc.
Besides the significant gains
made in fields ranging from the startup ecosystem to healthcare, LPU is
renowned for its comprehensive financial aid and incentive program for its
economically under-privileged students. By offering India’s largest private
scholarship program, LPU has been continuously endeavoring to provide quality
higher education to all meritorious students regardless of economic condition.
Scholarships are applicable to almost all the 200+ programs offered by the
university. The benefits of this program has already been reached to 30,000+
meritorious students over the last 6 years. A student can avail up to Rs 7 lakh
depending upon the program opted and the performance of the student in the last
examination as the base of admission.
In the last couple of years, LPU
has been recognizing not only academically strong students but also candidates
who have performed at state, national or international level sports, cultural,
co-curricular activities, social services, bravery acts or research &
development works. This culminated in instituting a cricket scholarship in the
name of India’s former skipper M.S Dhoni for international level cricket
players, Ranji Trophy probables and inter-university finalists. The duration of
the five prestigious MS Dhoni-LPU scholarships is for three years. The
scholarship includes tuition fee, residential accommodation and food charges.
In effect, a student with exceptional cricket can take up a subject of his
choice and study at this prestigious private university free of charge and
avail all the facilities there is on its state of the arts campus. “Our
academics are valued everywhere in the world, we need to bring the same
excellence to sports and one way to do this is to institute scholarships and
chairs for sportspersons.” said Mittal.
LPU student, Hansjeet Singh
Duggal won the 1st runners up award in Students’ Emmy and bronze medal in
Student Oscars. Presently, he is settled in California as a qualified
‘Visual-Effects (VFS) artist. Hansjeet’s artistry proved winning at 43rd
Student Academy Awards, commonly known as ‘Student Oscars’, held in California.
These awards are presented by Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences (US)
for excellence in cinematic achievements.
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