“Transforming India by Transforming Education”, aims Mr. Mittal, Chancellor of LPU

Mr. Ashok Kumar Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, is a law graduate from Guru Nanak Dev University. He has a brilliant academic record and was placed in merit throughout his academic career. With his skills of meticulous planning and swift execution, he has played a stellar role in steering Lovely Group, which provides direct employment to about 5,000 people and indirect employment to about 20,000 people.

Mr. Mittal, as well as the Group’s, professional journey and growth, have been brisk and interesting. He successfully ventured into the Automobile business in the year 1991 with Bajaj dealership and added Maruti dealership in the year 1996. With his great vision and dynamic leadership style, LPU has reached unprecedented heights within a short period. He is a recipient of ‘Punjab Gaurav Award’ by His Excellency Sh. Shivraj Patil, Hon’ble Governor Punjab, ‘Entrepreneur of the year 2013’ Chief Minister of Punjab Sh. Parkash Singh Badal and has been awarded ‘Shiksha Ratna’ award by the Education Minister, Punjab in the same year.

Mr. Mittal’s journey and experience while establishing LPU

Ans. The decision to step into education rather than any other sector was based on the firm belief ‘to pay back more to the society than received.’ I always had the vision to transform the way education is delivered in India. In 2001, we stepped towards realizing this dream by opening the Lovely Institute of Management affiliated to some other University. After entering this sector, we realized that as an affiliated college, there are numerous limitations to this thought of changing the way the education is delivered. Thus, we set to open our university for imparting education the way it ought to be provided. At the same time, we kept on adding more colleges to this affiliated Institute, including those of engineering, Applied Medical Sciences, Architecture, Education, Law, Polytechnic, and more. In the year 2005, we got the approval from Punjab Government to set up a private university of our own, which presently has many tales of successes to tell, share, and be proud of.

Within a small span of its existence, LPU now also has significant 200+ international tie-ups with universities of the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, Poland, Ghana and much more. A few months back, Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar has presented ASSOCHAM’s ‘National Education Excellence Award 2017 for Best Private University’ to LPU. University has also won Best Education Brands’ 2017 award from the Economic Times (ET) in recognition of LPU as a symbol of excellence in educating and skilling India’s future. Many of the top publications related to higher education, industry, and allied sectors have also accorded coveted ranking and awards to LPU as usual. President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has graced two convocations of the university. Similarly, six other Presidents, Prime Ministers and top religious leader of different countries had been at other separate LPU convocations, where they were also bestowed upon “Honoris Causa” doctorate degrees of the university amid thousands of graduating students.

Views on the Prolific and Dynamic Environment of LPU

Although the students at the University belong to different castes, creeds, cultures, religions, and even nationalities, yet they always co-exist whether the field is academics, sports, cultural, or any other activity/event. They join hands for the best results in any of the tasks assigned. In fact, from day one at LPU, students imbibe the great diversity prevailing at the campus and start respecting one another’s existence in full vigor.

During national and international events organised annually, ‘One India’ & One World,’ the diversity at the campus is celebrated to the core, where students enjoy the multiple cultures. Similarly, international students of one country imbibe the values and spirit of other countries. In all, LPU creates a multi-ethnicity environment, where students get automatically adjusted with each other and co-exist with a greater sense of belongingness and togetherness in a safe and secure existence. We can proudly call ourselves as one of the most diverse student campuses of the country, where students learn to further exist & grow in the global environment of MNCs and Industry.

A responsive curriculum according to changing demands

LPU has strong academia-industry connect and thus has collaborated with top companies to provide industry immersion to its students. LPU has partnerships with top industry including Google, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and more for promoting intense industry versatility, rigor & recognition. The University also offers various opportunities to the students to work directly with industry on live and entrepreneurial projects, which provide students great insights about the latest trends in the corporate world.

With this, the students also gain on-site experiences through industry internships with corporate giants like Cognizant, Microsoft, Infosys, and ISRO, to name a few. On these lines, the curriculum and pedagogy followed in LPU are at par with the best of the universities of the world. It is a unique advantage as most of the Indian universities do not update their curriculum at all; however, based on the feedback of the industry, academia, and students, the curriculum is updated every year at LPU. We can very confidently say that our University has one of the most advanced and industry relevant curricula.

Steps opted to keep up with LPU motto “Transforming Education, Transforming India” 

LPU was started with the motto to prepare students for the industry, unlike other traditional universities. Great importance was given to develop a human resource that was ready to be taken into the industry and also play their part in the development of society and the country. This gave way to LPU’s tagline– “Transforming Education, Transforming India”. LPU is a multi-disciplined university, making the experience of a student more rewarding than at an institution with a restricted number of subjects.

The University offers more than 200 programs in 40+ disciplines including Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Fashion, Architecture, Hotel Management, and others. The professional courses in Engineering, Business Architecture, Pharmacy, Hotel Management, and Journalism at LPU are most popular. One of the biggest reasons for this popularity is the number of technocrats that the University has delivered to the top brands in these fields. Moreover, we also offer some distinct programs like Mechatronics, automobile, oil & petroleum engineering; bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and horticulture.

Check Courses offered at LPU

In addition, our infrastructure is unparalleled to any of the universities in India. It is a mini township university with fantastic academic facilities including an eight-storied library and research block, hostel and accommodation facilities for over 20,000 students, a shopping mall, numerous eateries, plenty of workshop area, India’s first iMac Lab and various other facilities for a student to grow and accomplish his goal.

As a recipient of ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’, golden advice to the young entrepreneurs

We at the University assure to create a vibrant ecosystem for the budding entrepreneurs continuously. With this, we have also been instrumental in offering the student start-ups with access to the top-quality infrastructure and consultancy. Only a few months back Union Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley inaugurated LPU Startup School, which is now fully functional and is creating a world-class incubation facility for aspiring students. 

We at LPU advise students to test out their entrepreneurship ideas and grow those eventually into mature businesses. In this context, dedicated ‘Students’ Entrepreneurship Cell’ (E-Cell) works with the budding entrepreneurs to help them access the in-house market of LPU. Republic Motors- an e-Rickshaw manufacturing company; King Hills Travels; sub store.in-a hyperlocal delivery store; Couponshub.co.in- an affiliate marketing company and more have all started from LPU campus by students. Students should come forward by thinking on positive lines like those great entrepreneurs of the world, who in the initial phases of their life had been a failure to attain glorious success afterward. LPU is always there to support students with market access, infrastructure, and in some cases, even with the seed money. We want to encourage enterprising students by informing that.

Balancing act for managing the student and faculty members

There are several separate departments at the University, having perfect team spirit and is trained to maintain a disciplined environment at the campus. I honestly feel that I am lucky in this manner as I command a great team of dedicated and devoted persons who work hard for the fast development of the university. We also have a dynamic approach towards the growth of individuals by having exclusive divisions and departments like Professional Enhancement, Human Resource Development Center and more. These departments keep on organizing seminars, workshops, training programs, research endeavors for both students and staff members. All of the participants are encouraged to have active participation in these endeavors where top-ranked global trainers and speakers from across the country, and the world reaches LPU Campus to guide them for their development as per global standards.

Placement Opportunities at LPU

LPU has created history by having highest placements in any of the North Indian universities, three times in a row. Cognizant alone has taken 1900 students in three years from LPU. Reputed companies like Amazon, Practo, and HUL appreciate the workforce that our university has created. We are proud to say that 51 companies that recruit from IITs also recruit for the talent at LPU, which is a great achievement for a university. Presently, LPU students are working with prestigious global companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and much more at salary packages of more than INR 1 Crore.

Check Placements at LPU

Upcoming Goals for LPU

Through our slogan ‘Transforming India by Transforming Education,’ we seek to revive the golden-glory of the ancient Indian education system. By providing an academic ambiance, innovative pedagogy of global significance, we will continue preparing our students to succeed in a highly competitive professional environment. Now, having created a strong international presence, LPU is poised to become a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in academics and research. We also aim to be listed among the top 200 universities in the world by the year 2025.