Starting its first academic year in 2015, Dayananda Sagar University (DSU) is a State Private University established under Karnataka Act No. 20 of 2013. This young university is a proud member of the Dayananda Sagar Institutions’ family, founded by Late Sri Dayananda Sagar in the early sixties. Today, DSU is taking the torch of this rich legacy by offering a new canvas to the young global citizens to transform their creative abilities to conquer the world.
Driven by Vision, Led by Mission, & Backed by Core Values
DSU’s vision is to become a centre of excellence in education, research & training, innovation & entrepreneurship, and produce citizens with exceptional leadership qualities to serve national and global needs.
“Our mission is to achieve our objectives in an environment that enhances creativity, innovation and scholarly pursuits while adhering to our vision,” shares Dr. K.N.B Murthy, Vice-Chancellor of DSU. To achieve its vision and walk on its mission, DSU is backed by a robust set of core values, i.e. fairness, leadership, integrity & transparency, and pursuit of excellence.
What makes DSU a Single Stop Destination for Education?
- Diverse Student Population: DSU offers a multicultural environment to students from different states of India, such as Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, and Kashmir, as well as international students, thereby promoting its strength through diversity.
- Different Courses for Different Passions: DSU provides a variety of programs to students at the graduate, post-graduate and research levels in engineering, medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, biological sciences, commerce, law, journalism, management programs (Business Administration, Computer Applications and Executive MBA), arts, design and humanities.
- High-Calibre Teaching Staff: To teach a diverse student population, DSU has appointed an expert team of faculty members from diverse backgrounds, such as researchers and academicians with industry experience. Likewise, visiting and adjunct faculty expertise in niche areas bring in their own expertise.
- Best-in-class Facilities: DSU provides a challenging academic environment with well-equipped lecture theatres, laboratories, excellent libraries, and computer networking facilities on its campus. It also has exceptional infrastructure for students who possess a passion for sports and games. The hostel facilities, encompassing cultural and recreational needs, cater to local and international students.
- Prestigious Recognitions: Over the years, DSU has received notable recognitions—University Grants Commission (UGC) New Delhi, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Indian Nursing Council (INC), and Medical Council of India (MCI) under National Medical Commission (NMC).
- Scholarships: Financially stressed students and meritorious students are awarded scholarships in accordance with DSU’s norms.
- Strong Alumni Network: The campus life of DSU students doesn’t end even after passing out of the university. An exclusive alumni association mentored by one of DSU’s faculty keeps the previous batches connected to the university’s campus. As per convenience, alumni students plan and visit DSU to relive, reconnect, and refresh their past memories and build new ones with their peers and teachers.
Adopting Competency-centered Learning Approach
Instead of taking the traditional knowledge-based approach, DSU has identified and implemented the competency-centred system wherein learning is personalized to focus on the competency gaps of students. These aptitudes can be related to theorizing, articulation, problem-solving or hands-on working at the lower level or ‘Abstract Thinking’, ‘Critical Thinking’, ‘Creative Thinking’, ‘Systems Thinking’ and ‘Clarity of Vision’ at the higher level.
“DSU strongly hopes that its students perceive and enthusiastically embrace competency-centred learning to perform their best on any platform and justify the responsibility placed on them to shape the future of the nation and the world,” asserts Dr. K.N.B Murthy.
Likewise, DSU has an innovative pedagogy which is kept fun-based to encourage student engagement. It includes problem-solving activities providing opportunities to think differently and work independently with students, accommodating and accepting multiple perspectives and diverse opinions, and creating an element of curiosity and searching for answers collaboratively, especially for some open-ended questions.
Nurturing Industry-Academic Collaborations
Over the years, DSU has formed successful collaborations with top-notch industries and institutes of repute and research organizations for placement and internships. Collaboration such as these benefits universities by having opportunities to work on relevant technologies and challenging problems and offer a work-ready talent with specialist knowledge and practical training to the industries.
Some of DSU’s international industry collaborators have set up specialized labs at its campus. To name a few— VMWARE IT Academy (leader in cloud infrastructure & business mobility), Autodesk Centre of competence for virtual design, IBM software lab for emerging technologies, NVIDIA – Boston Innovation Lab (DSU is named as GPU education centre), GE Advanced Healthcare Simulation lab, Dassault Systems—Aerospace Engineering Lab, and IBM Centre of Excellence. Moreover, the Bangalore-based university is also working towards faculty exchange and student exchange programs with its partner universities.
Transforming the Entrepreneurial Dream through DERBI
Since its inception, research, innovation, and incubation have been vital components of DSU’s vision. As a result, Dayananda Sagar Entrepreneurship Research & Business Incubator (DERBI) Foundation, a Technology Business Incubator spread over 25,000 sft of industry quality labs, has been set up to incubate technology ventures. Impressively, DERBI is one of the top incubation centres in India that provides a special emphasis on mentoring and scaling early-stage tech ventures. Commenting on DEBRI’s progressive strides, Dr. K.N.B Murthy says, “We provide a platform to learn, network to grow, and guidance to empower young entrepreneurs through DERBI.”
Additionally, DSU houses an AIC-DSU campus which is approved by NITI Aayog. The labs at this innovation campus, the ecosystem, and the AIC-DSU Foundation are open to all students, innovators, working professionals, and the community. Individuals and groups with disruptive ideas are welcome to join this great movement to accelerate India’s transformation into a manufacturing hub and create a knowledge economy.
Training Centre Maximizing Placement Opportunities
At DSU, a well-established and centralized placement and training division called the Centre of Innovation and Leadership (CIL) is established under the banner of DSI. The main aim of CIL is to impart innovative soft-skill training programs to enable individuals to become champion leaders in their endeavours and to sustain a high level of performance at the individual and the organizational level. More importantly, students receive 100% placement assistance from eminent academicians, coaches, mentors, and thinkers with hands-on experience in the corporate world as part of CIL.
DSU’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr. K.N.B Murthy, proudly reveals, “Last year, highest salary package was Rs.27.0 Lakhs with a few students getting international offers; about 35 to 45% of eligible students received offers above 10.0 Lakhs, and 25 to 30 % acquired packages in the range of 5.0 to 10.0 Lakhs and rest below 5.0 Lakhs.”
Preparing Students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The advent of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is transforming the traditional education system by implementing strategic approaches in learning to increase creativity and innovation among students. Therefore, to prepare students for the 4IR and develop the skills needed for future work, DSU has introduced cutting-edge programs offering enhanced computer science technology in AI/ML, Cybersecurity, and Data Science.
“We also have multidisciplinary courses available for our students, enabling a holistic education for them,” shares Dr. K.N.B Murthy. For instance, an engineering student can opt for a subject from humanities. It, therefore, provides an opportunity for students to build diverse perspectives from different disciplines to better understand a theme or a subject. “When students go out in the real world, a science student needs humanity while a humanities student needs science,” he further elaborated. In addition, DSU is offering a major and minor degree and initiating the concept of ABC—Academic Bank of Credits.
Battling the Pandemic Challenges
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the senior management team of DSU identified good assessment tools with audio-visual ability that could detect the kinesthetics of students. Moreover, online classes and remote learning were adopted as learning mediums. Faculty members were also given training on using digital platforms to conduct classes and deliver lectures. Examinations were carried out as per DSU’s published schedule, which was advantageous for its students. “Few of our faculty-led by our engineering dean focused on the social impact by generating funding for economically challenged students,” adds DSU’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr. K.N.B Murthy.
About Dr. K.N.B Murthy, Vice-Chancellor, Dayananda Sagar University
Dr. K.N.Balasubramanya Murthy (popularly known as KNB) is currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Dayananda Sagar University (DSU), Bengaluru, which he joined on April 01, 2020. He holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Power Engineering from Malnad College of Engineering, then affiliated to University of Mysore (1980), a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1986) and PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, Chennai (1996). He visited New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, the USA as a research specialist in Parallel Computing in August 1998 and January 1999.
Dr. Murthy has authored one book and more than 100 research papers in conferences and journals of repute. In addition, he has filed a few patents and worked on several sponsored projects funded by government agencies and industries. He has an overall experience of over four decades in teaching, training, research, administration and industry.
He is the recipient of the “CM Nagaraj Memorial Award – 2018 for immense contributions to higher education sector” instituted by East West Group of Institutions.