“We have always done it this way”, screams a poster at Makerspace, the design innovation lab at Plaksha University in Mohali. That’s the danger that the newly set up science and tech university promises to avoid. Plaksha is trying to change the rules of tech education, changing everything from the way of funding, the way of functioning, the way of teaching to the very curriculum. As the founding Vice Chancellor, RudraPratap, says, “When you start on a clean slate, it is a different ball game.”
The highly regarded professor from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, says he was excited to join Plaksha simply because here was a chance to do something radical and different. “Science and Technology’s time has arrived. If we do not put our foot on the pedal and accelerate, we risk missing out on a complete century,” he says.
He hastily points out that he is not…
