Mumbai’s Amity University, sprawled across the Mumbai-Pune highway, is one of the 11 branches of the institution currently imparting education to nearly 5,000 to 6,000 students. It offers around 25 degrees and also provides hostel facilities to students along with an opportunity to join its 18 different clubs.
Now the University is planning to expand its Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) campus as well. In a conversation with The Free Press Journal (FPJ), the vice-chancellor (VC), AW Santosh Kumar, unveiled the University’s plans, including future goals, scholarships and the city campus, among other topics.
FPJ: What curriculum revamp has been initiated under the National Education Policy (NEP)?
Kumar: NEP is an excellent revamp of the education system. The important factor regarding the NEP implementation at Amity Mumbai is that our curriculum is already well-equipped with NEP regarding versatility, extracurricular activities, languages and more. Thus, transitioning into NEP for us was very smooth.
We have implemented it for two years now and more than 6,000 students from 18 different schools that we currently have on the campus are benefitting from it. We are actively adding and tailoring new NEP courses which are governed by different councils of India. It is a challenging task but we have been successful in formulating different courses. We are following the basic skeleton that is prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Government of Maharashtra. Further, we also provide students with flexibility through Choice Based Credit Systems (CBCS).
FPJ: Does Amity University, Mumbai, have any international collaboration in the pipeline?
Kumar: Amity has more than 256 international collaborations and 13 campuses abroad which are live, up and running. We also offer various international programmes. One of our flagship programmes is the three-continent programme and the study abroad programme. For the three-continent programme, students are taught in the Indian campus and are then sent abroad to study at three different campuses.
For the study abroad programme, we tailor make most of the programmes for all the institutes who want to take them up and we offer skill-based courses and degrees wherein we tie up with the particular top-tier universities in that geographical area.
We also have a 15% foreign student population on our campus, with most of them belonging to Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia and others. We are looking to increase this population this year.
FPJ: Are there any plans to expand the city campus?
Kumar: We have plans to expand the city campus located at the Bandra Kurla Complex. The campus currently offers certificate courses and periodical service training but we are actively scaling it up in a way to make it an exclusive campus that can cater to the needs of Mumbaikars.
That being said, the Panvel campus is easily reachable. It is nestled beautifully within the valley and is a “home away from home” for students. We have hostels for students and have options for both AC and non-AC rooms. We also have two skyscrapers known as Twin Towers with 24 floors and an indoor stadium which was recently opened.
FPJ: How was the placement season for Amity, Mumbai, this year?
Kumar: We secured around 91.3% of placements this year. The rest of the students have joined either family business or have started a business of their own.
We are also very happy to report that 15 of our current students have very lucrative startups. We refer to them as “campus-preneurs”.
FPJ: How does Amity assist the startup culture on campus?
Kumar: We have different incubators at different standalone campuses funded by the Government of India and angel investors. Other than these, we also have an Entrepreneur Cell that helps students develop entrepreneurial skills and ideas. We have entrepreneur laboratories and also facilitate exchanges between alumni and students.
FPJ: Does Amity offer any scholarships to students?
Kumar: I am very proud to announce that we have various merit scholarships and continuing scholarships from UG to PG. Other than that, Amity is also actively involved in various philanthropic initiatives involving underprivileged and rural areas.
