BENGALURU: The CMN Foundation Excellence Award 2026 was conferred on Padma Shri awardee and former Director of IIT Gandhinagar, Sudhir K Jain, in recognition of his contributions to engineering education and academic leadership.
Instituted by the CMN Foundation, the annual award honours excellence in education, research and innovation. It is presented by the Thirupathi Education Society in association with CMN Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.
Speaking at the event, Jain called for a fundamental rethink of higher education in India, arguing that institutions should focus on creating lifelong learners and problem-solvers rather than merely training students for employment.
He said India was facing what he described as “academic bankruptcy”, with colleges and universities increasingly geared towards meeting the immediate needs of employers instead of nurturing critical thinking and intellectual curiosity among students.
Jain also criticised the growing obsession among institutions with becoming “world-class” through rankings and publication counts, arguing that integrity, academic culture and shared values were equally important.
Calling for reforms in recruitment, governance and research evaluation, he said India’s future competitiveness and security would depend on its ability to build strong educational institutions that foster innovation, independent thinking and lifelong learning.
Padma Vibhushan Vasudev K. Aatre, former Scientific Adviser to the Raksha Mantri and former head of DRDO, who was also present at the event, stressed that India can become a global power only by first becoming a knowledge-driven economy.
He said academic institutions form the foundation of innovation, technological development and leadership, and called for a renewed focus on building world-class institutions alongside producing talented graduates.
Highlighting the role of academic excellence in strengthening scientific and economic progress, Aatre warned that India has only the next two to three decades to create globally competitive institutions if it hopes to realise its ambition of becoming a fully developed nation.
