New Delhi About : Ashoka University (AU) is set to expand ₹1,500 crore from businessmen, non-resident Indians (NRIs), and high net worth individuals (HNIs). private university, whose co-founders have invested more than ₹Rs 1,000 crore to build the first campus has been entrusted to Ashish Dhawan, co-founder of private equity fund Chris Capital Investment Advisors, to lead the fundraising effort.
Dhawan said the money would be used to build a second campus on a 27-acre plot adjacent to the university. The land was purchased from the Haryana government.
The new campus of 1.8 million square feet will be built in three phases over two years. In an interview, Dhawan said, “In the last decade, it was about starting Ashoka and this decade will be about building and expanding Ashoka. We are well prepared to take the next phase of Ashoka University growth. This second campus and the funds we are raising will be used to diversify Ashoka from a massive liberal arts university to a new-age science and deep-tech wing, by adding departments and research and development laboratories. Will allow it to double its student and faculty capacity over time,” he said.
Dhawan said he would approach businessmen, NRIs and HNIs from the UK, Singapore and the US to raise funds. However, a huge amount of capital is expected to come from entrepreneurs and enterprises in India, he said. “Over the years, we have had over 160 co-founders and we are confident that they are all on board for this new funding requirement in different capacities. We will be adding more to the list,” he said.
Some of the founders, including him and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Infoage Limited, have already extended their philanthropic contributions. Dhavan said that Ashok Vishwavidyalaya will raise enough funds from right minded people, but will not take loans.
Ashoka University has a well-known list of co-founders, which includes Dhawan, Bikhchandani, Dalmia Cements Managing Director Puneet Dalmiya, Jerry Rao, Chairman of Value and Budget Housing and former promoter of Mphasis Ltd, Pramath Sinha, Founder Dean of ISB and Atul Nishers included. Former Promoter of Hexaware Technologies Ltd.
“We are expanding post-doctoral, doctoral and graduate programs, and we will expand our research capacity. As part of the first phase of this new campus, we will build a new Biosciences Building with state-of-the-art research and development facilities. There is a big focus on science,” he said.
“We will also focus on computer science, building and using computational applications for use in areas such as environmental and other social problems. We are also setting up a data science center. Our goal is to harness data science in research and social good. People will have to be trained to use and deal with the future of work.” “Once, we start the funding campaign (soon), some of us will probably give some numbers from our side as well,” he said.
a budget of ₹2,500 crore to set up two campuses for an educational institution through collective philanthropy, is unheard of. The Center usually allocates less than ₹800 crore as initial cost for setting up an Indian Institute of Technology or a Central University
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