Educomp plans to set up private varsity in Delhi

Making its second innings in the education sector, online learning solutions provider, Educomp Solutions is planning to enter the higher education space by setting up a private university in New Delhi. The company is looking at acquiring anywhere between 25 and 50 acres of land in and around the Dehil-NCR region. Though Kumar did not reveal investment figures, experts say setting up a full-fledged private university would require an investment of around Rs 500 crore.

India’s higher education sector is worth Rs 100,000 crore today and is expected to treble over three to five years, note industry players, as faster economic growth raises the demand for qualified people. Educomp follows HCL founder and Chairman Shiv Nadar’s example, who recently announced his second foray into university education having sought 300 acres of land in Noida, near New Delhi, to set up a Rs 300-crore multi-disciplinary university.

“Our long term plan is to set up a private university. However, to begin with, by April next year, we plan to launch certificate courses in fashion designing, interior designing and business administration. The university will come up in the next two years,” said Rohit Kumar, President-Higher Education, Educomp Solutions on the sidelines of FICCI Higher Education Summit— Higher Education at the Crossroads: Imperatives for Policy and Practice.

“We are getting in to this space as we believe, we can help professionalise higher education in India and bring corporate professional culture to higher education,” added Kumar. Educomp Solutions is already an established player in the education sector, serving over 19,000 schools and 9.4 million learners and educators across the world.

The company runs a chain of pre-schools, Roots to Wings, to cater to the pre-schooling needs of the students from 2 to 5 years. It also owns 50 per cent in the pre-school chain, EuroKids. A prominent player in K-12 (Kindergarten to Class 12 students only), education, the company also runs Millennium Schools. The K-12 schools are already operational in Bangalore, Chennai, Noida, and Mohali.

The company has recently entered into collaboration with Ansal API, along with associate company KTIL, to provide land and infrastructure on a 60 years’ lease basis for building up schools all over India. Educomp is present in three streams: content licensing to schools, professional development of tutors and bridging the ‘Digital Divide’ (by taking IT to rural areas).