Anant National University Announces Launch of Unique, Post-Graduate Fellowship Program

New Delhi, May 4, 2017: Ahmedabad-based Anant National University (ANU) today unveiled a unique, one-year, post-graduate Fellowship program with the mission to prepare and empower ‘solutionaries’ who design, build, and preserve more equitable and sustainable Built Environments in India. The term Built Environment refers to any space which has been created or modified by people including buildings, parks, and transportation systems. Recently, the definition has been expanded to include healthy food access, community gardens, mental health, walkability and bikeability.

ANU, established as a private university in 2016 by an act of legislature of State of Gujarat, aims to become one of the top five universities in India with global standing and Indian roots. Some of India’s most prominent business professionals, educators, and industry leaders from diverse sectors have come together to steer ANU towards this vision. The university is led by two of India’s most respected visionary leaders and educationists: Ajay Piramal, President – ANU, Chairman, Piramal Group and Shriram Group, and Dr. Pramath Sinha, Provost ANU, Founding Dean of Indian School of Business (ISB), Founder and Trustee of Ashoka University.

In the Fellowship’s founding year (2017-18), ANU is looking for a 100 Fellows, all of whom will be fully funded for tuition and living expenses through a scholarship to the tune of INR 7 lakhs a year. Designed as a multi-disciplinary, experiential program, Anant Fellowship engages young, socially-committed practitioners and students in new ideas, knowledge and skills to question, evaluate, invent and redefine the Built Environment. Some of the world’s best educators, scholars, thought-leaders and practitioners have been signed up as faculty for the Fellowship.

Apart from 100% scholarships and a deeply embedded multi-disciplinary focus, ANU has partnered with Gandhi Fellowship (one of India’s most respected fellowship programs) to train its Fellows to constantly work on the self and to hone their relational skills to bring about lasting, transformative impact. Anant Fellows will work in teams on live projects rooted in local municipalities to establish connections between theory and praxis, test new ideas, and propose innovative solutions that significantly enhance local knowledge, climatology, and user lifestyle.

With the belief that solutions to the vast and complicated challenges in the Built Environment can be solved by practitioners from a variety of disciplines working together, this highly-competitive Fellowship invites entrepreneurial students from all professional and educational backgrounds to apply, with preference to those from the disciplines of architecture, design, and planning; engineering branches like civil, and construction; and other fields of study such as environmental sciences.

Ajay Piramal, President of ANU, said, “I personally believe that for youth who love to solve complex issues there is no field today which is as exciting as enhancing our Built Environment. From balancing affordable housing needs with environmental sustainability, facilitating interactions and understanding between different groups of people, bridging the gap between traditional and modern, to water and waste management systems, professionals in the field need to plan for the future, don multiple thinking hats, and implement solutions that work for all. Anant Fellowship is an unparalleled program that equips young people with essential skills of the future - empathy, collaboration, creative problem-solving and change-making.”

Dr. Pramath Sinha, Provost ANU, added, “To prepare for global challenges and to ensure that India makes further progress on the MDGs, we need solutionaries, coined to characterize revolutionaries who generate inventive solutions. Our Built Environment has a profound influence on who we are, how we function, our over well-being, and even what we will leave behind for future generations. With the guidance and mentorship of exceptional faculty, we want our Fellows to operate with a sense of this awareness and responsibility now and in future. We are excited by the prospect of transforming Built Habitat education in India, and to establish ANU as a top 5 private university that combines international academic standards with true Indian spirit.”