Sharda University: Imparting knowledge

THE Sharda Group of Institutions (SGI) is one of the largest educational groups, with more than 20,000 students and 1,200-plus faculty members. The group has state-of-the-art campuses in Agra, Mathura and Greater Noida, all in Uttar Pradesh.
Says Pradeep Kumar Gupta, Chancellor, Sharda University, and Chairman, SGI: "We have students from 46 different nationalities studying at our campuses. They come from the Middle East and Africa and different parts of Asia."
The Greater Nodia campus, which occupies a sprawling 63 acres, is the flagship of the group. "We have a built-up area of four million square feet here," says Gupta. "This is like the Dubai Knowledge Village and we have students from all over the world here."
Gupta points out that there is hardly any professional course that is in demand and which is not being taught at Sharda University. "We have 150 different programmes in medicine, para-medicine, engineering, law, architecture, fashion technology, product design, digital marketing, business studies and management," he adds.
Sharda University began in a small way in Mathura in 1995, when it set up the first private engineering college in north India. The group has travelled a long way since then. The medical college is the flagship of the educational group.
"We now have a 900-bed hospital here," says Gupta. "We get patients from across Africa and the Middle East who come here for treatment." The group plans to start a multi-speciality hospital soon to cater to the needs of medical tourists from around the world.
Sharda University is a self-financing institution and has approval from all the professional councils for the various courses that it offers. "Our focus is on healthcare and we have a lot of expertise in this area," adds the chancellor of the university.
Looking ahead, Gupta says he would like to increase the number of hospital beds from 900 to about 10,000 in about 20 years. "We will open new medical and dental colleges, both in India and abroad.
In fact, many African governments have been urging SGI to run some of their hospitals, or start new ones. The group plans to open hospitals in Africa and the Middle East in the future. "Everybody trusts Indian doctors and IT professionals, who have a lot of credibility," says Gupta.
Similarly, it would consider opening campuses outside India. "However, we want to first consolidate in India and make this a top university, before looking at diversifying into other states or countries," explains Gupta.
Sharda University also has tie-ups and twinning programmes with 90 universities around the globe. Many African and Asian governments also sponsor their candidates for enrolment at Sharda Unviersity.
Gupta points out that army, air force and naval officers from Vietnam have trained at the campus. Pilots and naval officers, who are sent for training to India, first take courses in English at Sharda University, before heading for their interaction with the Indian defence forces.
Asked about the state of higher education in India, Gupta says the country has seen quantitative growth in institutions of higher learning over the past 20 years, but it has lagged behind in terms of qualitative growth.
"Medical and dental education has grown qualitatively, but unfortunately that has not been the case with engineering and management," observes Gupta. About 20 years ago, India had an intake of 100,000 engineering students every year. This has now gone up to two million, as a large number of new colleges have come up. However, their infrastructure is not good and even the quality of education that many of them provide is not up to the mark.
Gupta says that higher education is a very capital-intensive segment. "Every year we have to invest about Rs1 billion to upgrade our infrastructure, and start new courses," he says.
The chancellor of Sharda University notes that top universities are funded by the private sector the world over. Even in India, the role of the private sector in higher education is growing significantly.