What does it take to build a university that can keep pace with the changing expectations of higher education? Dr Atul Chauhan, Chancellor of Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, and President of the Amity Education Group, has spent decades overseeing that endeavour. We spoke to him to hear how he views the responsibilities of university leadership and the direction higher education must take.
How does Amity review its curricula, and what informs decisions to introduce or revise courses?
All our degree programmes and constituent courses undergo a mandatory 360-degree triennial review, supplemented by interim revisions to integrate emerging sectoral trends. Industry feedback is a primary consideration. External experts serve on course-level committees, programme review boards, and the University Academic Council.
Partnerships with organisations such as Tata, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and CII support specialised programmes across engineering, technology, management, and health sciences. Industry practitioners and university faculty jointly design and deliver these curricula, ensuring a seamless translation of operational industry insights into the academic environment.
How much flexibility do students have to pursue academic interests beyond their chosen field of study?
Multidisciplinary education has been part of our approach even before the National Education Policy took shape. Our AMITY BOUNDLESS platform allows undergraduates to choose from more than 60 secondary major disciplines and over 85 minor concentrations, creating pathways across 100 fields. This degree of personalisation empowers students to custom-design their own educational trajectories to tackle the multipronged challenges of a fast-changing world. Students can also enrol in unrestricted electives suited to their interests while developing the core competencies of their primary degree programmes.
What happens to research and student projects that show potential for commercial application?
Amity’s innovation ecosystem combines entrepreneurship education, prototyping infrastructure and venture support to transition early-stage academic research into commercially viable market ventures. The Amity Centre for Entrepreneurship Development offers credit-bearing minors in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Design. The Amity Innovation Design Centre supports early-stage ideas, while the Technology Enabling Centre, backed by the Department of Science and Technology, helps move technologies towards industrial application. Our incubation network includes centres across India and 17 virtual hubs. Ventures can also access Amity Capital Ventures and dedicated seed funds, alongside hackathons and venture-mentoring networks. Our ecosystem has nurtured more than 200 ventures and supported over 40 student- and faculty-led start-ups.
What academic opportunities do Amity’s international campuses offer students and faculty?
Amity has a presence across 11 countries, with an academic and research network spanning student and faculty exchange, joint research, curriculum development, and international progression. The campuses in Dubai and Mauritius are autonomous, chartered degree-awarding institutions recognised by their respective governments, while the Tashkent campus is authorised to deliver Indian-accredited degree programmes. The New York campus functions as a Global Research Hub, bringing together Amity and external scientists for collaborative research and wider cross-border academic exchange opportunities. The London campus offers academic opportunities and pathways in the UK. Meaningful collaboration, for me, requires academic purpose, students and faculty at its centre, and continuity.
What informs Amity’s approach to placements, and how does the university prepare students for employment after graduation?
Behind every placement statistic is a young person and a family hoping for a good future. Students need to be adaptable, curious and confident enough to respond to changing hiring patterns and the cross-sectoral disruption of emerging technologies. Anticipating the macro-shift towards sustainable energy and artificial intelligence, Amity offers programmes, electives and minors in data analytics, green energy systems, quantum technologies and space sciences. Our Amity Centre for Artificial Intelligence, equipped with high-performance computing infrastructure including NVIDIA DGX systems, supports research in Explainable AI, generative AI, and multimodal machine learning. Students work with AI applications in healthcare, cybersecurity, and industrial automation. Our MISSION SPACE, MISSION QUANTUM and MISSION HYDROGEN ENERGY initiatives align with national science priorities and support the Government of India’s Viksit Bharat@2047 vision for socio-economic and technological development. We want graduates to build meaningful careers and retrain when required.
How many students receive scholarships, and what determines the eligibility and distribution of these awards?
We believe quality education should be accessible and affordable. Through a comprehensive, philanthropy-driven financial aid policy designed to democratise higher education, Amity has awarded scholarships to over 50,000 students. These include merit scholarships for strong board exam results and awards for high achievers in national and institutional entrance exams. We also offer Champs Sports Scholarships for athletes, and assistance for defence personnel and the dependants of martyrs. Divyaang Scholarships support students with physical and locomotor disabilities, while Amity Alumni Scholarships encourage academic progress among alumni. The programmes aim to support academic excellence and widen access.
