Lovely Professional University: The Hallowed ground for Learning

 Sandeep Sen
Lovely Professional University is the largest University in the country in terms of students and has earned an enviable reputation of being a premier centre of learning in India. The University that offers more than 150 programs in various disciplines also boasts of one of the most diverse student community as students from across India and from 26 countries of the world. Its vast 600 acres high tech campus is considered as one of the largest in the nation.

“Today, LPU is the fastest growing University in India, buoyed by its commitment to provide quality education at par with the best internationally acclaimed. The University derives its strength from the trust and faith reposed by its students and alumni; which has been a constant motivation and propelling force for us to surge higher and higher. LPU has set a target of featuring in the list of top 200 Universities of the world by 2025”revealed Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University.

Indian education sector is dominated by established brands that have set the bar for the new entries to follow. However, within these old mansions lie the burden of custom and tradition. Customs and traditions have their merits with the long standing test of time but they also hold the risk of turning thriving corporations into dinosaurs. LPU does not have any such burden and as a result is a ballistic blitzkrieg of a page turning educational establishment. This year alone more than 150 top global and Indian super brands recruited LPU students taking the total number of recruiters to more than 300. This in itself is a massive feat, putting aside the fact that the IT giant, Cognizant single-handedly recruited 340 students from the campus, followed by HP which recruited 98; in a single placement drive.

Established in 2005, LPU is relatively a new customer in the block. One begs to question, how does a new comer come up with such an astounding track record?

“At LPU, learning happens through real time experience & exposure,” says Mittal.

LPU takes pride in inculcating one of the most updated and finest curricula for its programmes in the country and these curricula are continuously enhanced to meet changing situations, requirements, and needs of the industry. The curricula are globally benchmarked, innovative, flexible, and highly integrated and help students to develop and sharpen their skills while building up their knowledge about the fundamentals. The University is in constant touch with the industry for feedback to be used in development, improvement and restructuring of its curricula. The curriculum has been designed in such a way that it creates transformational learning experience for students and prepares them to meet challenges of the global community in the 21st century. This is translated in the many exhibitions and events where the students have a chance to showcase their talents.

This year, LPU students of engineering exhibited next generation’s 20 concept cars & automobile projects at huge platform like Auto Expo 2014. These exhibits were totally conceptualized, designed, developed and manufactured by students themselves. The display included world’s first family solar car, world’s smallest car, mobile operated driverless Car, multi-energy ‘Smart Hybrid Car’, Unique bikes, Hybrid Cryogen Engine, Hexa- Copter, all terrain vehicles amongst others. Developed as a part of the world- class application based curriculum at LPU, each project highlights the talent and the thrust given to creativity at the university. In addition LPU students have won numerous coveted awards including Dada Saheb Phalke award in short film category, Google Ambassador position, and many more.

The All important Faculty

The faculties at LPU are the finest of the bunch and are the real drivers of excellence in the university. The institute believes in the education philosophy of ‘Educare’ where students is provided with a learning platform to imbibe the right values, develop a positive attitude, gain knowledge, and attain a broader mindset without the shackles of rigidity in the system. “The students are guided towards the paths that they have chosen for themselves. The key word here is Guide,” says Mittal.

The University strongly believes that an individual can build knowledge, gain skills and enhance values from a direct experience. This is only possible when an individual participates in an activity, takes a serious look at the activity, as a result gains valuable insights, understands the reason behind every course of the action and finally incorporates the results through a change in understanding or actions. Experiential learning is a core component to intellectual life at LPU, giving students hands-on learning opportunities thus expanding the foundation of classroom learning and adding to dynamic educational experience. This mode of learning allows career development by providing a realistic day-to-day view of various professions, industries, labs and organizations. Experiential learning at LPU includes different types of activities, with one common goal- to immerse students in “hands-on” experience outside the classroom - which in no way implies that the University has spared any expense in the infrastructural department.

“All classrooms are smart classrooms in LPU,” says Mittal. The traditional system of lecturing has to be supported for better communication, presentation, and conceptualization by the use of latest technological teaching aids. At LPU, classrooms and lecture halls are provided with multimedia projectors and other technical equipment making learning more absorbing, comprehensive, and fruitful. Simulated teaching software is the ‘in thing’ for visualized form of concepts helps better development of application oriented skills among students. The university has more than 300 labs for various disciplines, fully equipped for academic support of students as well as for pursuing research.

LPU has more than 100 computer labs with latest configuration and software for almost every specialization which falls under the disciplines of Engineering, Sciences, Biosciences, Applied Sciences, Applied Arts, Applied Medical Sciences, and Management. All the departments and schools have adequate number of experiment labs, research labs, project labs, workshops, studios, and other support systems which are integral for strong practical exposure.

The university also has a dedicated department to further the culture of entrepreneurship amongst students and a separate Research & Development. LPU is committed to technology deployment in its campus, and it is evident from the fact that nearly 90 percent of the tasks undertaken in the university incorporate one or the other tool of high end technology of present times.

Lovely Professional University is turning out to be one heck of a blockbuster of our time and it is doing this with finesse. LPU recently bagged World Education Summit Award (WES) 2014 for its online Learning Management System, “LPU e-Connect” and this is only the fourth consecutive time that the University has achieved this. Google opened its first all women developer network of North India at Lovely Professional University. The group would be called as Google Developer Group Women (GDGW). LPU has climbed onto the national centre stage in a very short span of time and its students have already reached far and wide. The University has set a high bar for itself and from its current trajectory; it seems that it would hit the mark as it has been doing since the very start – with finesse.

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