16. Vidya Gateway Foundation 

16.1 As they say, all good things come to an end, at the age of 67 I almost decided to call it a day after quitting Shantha Group in September 2019.   Dr K Sankaran, my ex-colleague in TAPMI, Manipal about 15 years ago and now working as Director of Justice KS Hegde Institute of Management, under Nitte University near Mangalore invited me for discussions.  Dr Sankaran obtained his PhD from USA and also taught at SP Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai, IMI New Delhi and Sharjah University.  

16.2 Dr Ananth Rao, Dr Sudheer Sharan, Dr Pattanayak were also included in the proposed project by him.  I added Dr Varun Murthy of Bangalore whom I knew as a Medical Graduate, engaged in Social Work and Educational Entrepreneurial Ventures.  Dr Rao is an ex-SBI Officer turned Academician with high credentials having his PhD from USA and worked in Senior positions in University of Dubai.  Besides being a Professor and Academic Administrator, he is an expert in global AACSB Accreditation.  Dr Sudheer Sharan is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and obtained his PhD.  He worked as a Dean at MSRF Bangalore and was my predecessor.  Dr SK Pattanayak is a retired top executive of Indian Railways and located in Bangalore as a Consultant.  Mr Pratap Hegde of M/s Rane P Ltd., Bangalore joined us as seventh member in the proposed venture.  He is an IT expert and engaged in Social Work too.  Ms Sharvari Kulkarni, a PhD Scholar joined us as a Research Associate and worked for 4 months. 

16.3  All seven of us met in a few rounds of meetings during Sept to December 2019 in Bangalore, Nitte and Udupi preparing to form an outfit for engaging in Educational Consulting to Universities and Higher Educational Institutes like Engineering Colleges and MBA Colleges all over India.  Primarily we planned to propagate the New National Educational Policy 2019 of GOI.  We called our organisation as Vidya Gateway Foundation.  We recruited a Research Assistant and proposed to organise a National Conference to train Faculty Members and guide the Managements of Higher Educational Institutes. (33) Vidya Gateway Foundation - (VGF): Overview | LinkedIn

Conference Brochure 2020

Visit to Jain University, Bangalore during our campaign for the Conference

16.4 We were making preparations for forming a Pvt Ltd Company and embark on our operations.  All arrangements were made to launch our first program.  Canvassing to several Bangalore based Institutes / Universities were commenced.  Simultaneously, we did necessary research on the NEP 2020 (changed from NEP 2019 by GOI).  The Conference was scheduled for April 2020, but unfortunately Covid19 took ugly turn in March 2020 aborting our progress.  The prolonged lockdowns and uncertain conditions in all fields including Colleges and Schools affected the entire environment.  After waiting for over an year, in view of changed conditions in Education field, we shelved the idea, while each of the Members engaged in their respective areas of interest.  I almost took FULL RETIREMENT from work. 

 

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