Lovely Professional University tops all

Lovely Professional University (LPU) is the largest university in India in terms of number of students on a single campus. LPU has more than 30,000 fulltime students on its 600 acre campus which is located on Jalandhar-Delhi National Highway at Phagwara (Punjab), India. The University campus has many architecturally striking buildings with all the requisite facilities for the students available therein. More than 18,000 students reside in 6 boys’ and 6 girls’ hostels on the campus.

The University has a rich diversity in its students' population, with students coming from all the 29 states of India and 28+ countries including the USA, China, Colombia, Thailand, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Congo, Rwanda and more. In addition to regular students on its campus, more than 1,00,000 students are pursuing distance education programs at different education centers.

LPU had a humble beginning in the field of higher education in India. This university started off in the year 2001 as a single college known as "Lovely Institute of Management" with only 4 Programs (MBA, MCA, BBA & BCA), and near 250 students with faculty strength of 15. Within a small span of time, it became a full-fledged university in December, 2005 by the enactment of an act by the State Legislature of Government of Punjab. It was vide Punjab Act No. 25 of 2005, namely The Lovely Professional University Act, 2005, notified vide notification No. 38-Leg/2005. Today, university has more than 1,600 faculty and 1,400 staff to serve its mission of "Transforming Education, Transforming India”.

LPU has now emerged as one of the leading universities of India and is duly recognized by University Grants Commission (UGC). LPU is also a member of Association of Indian Universities (AIU). LPU is also recognized by the statutory bodies of the Government of India in diverse fields of higher education including National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Distance Education Council (DEC), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Council of Architecture (COA) and Bar Council of India (BCI).

To globalize its educational programs, LPU has developed mutually beneficial academic programs and bilateral tie-ups with 50+ international universities and institutes of different countries, across the globe, including China, the USA, Australia, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Brazil, Poland, Croatia and more. These tie-ups are to offer opportunities to students through study abroad and student exchange programs. In addition, LPU has signed MoUs with several international universities on 2+2 twinning and joint research programs.

It provides study abroad options at various foreign universities with unique opportunity to get an additional foreign degree by completing half of the degree program at LPU and the other half at the foreign partner university. LPU is also exploring possibility of having foreign university co-guides/co-major professors for its PhD students. This will increase the number of well qualified pool of quality PhDs for faculty positions in India, and potentially eliminate the problem of in-breeding of degrees which has become a challenge in higher education.

In collaboration with foreign universities, LPU is also trying to establish world class research centers in the broader areas of Solar Energy, Embedded Technologies & Materials, Water Resources Management, Food Processing & Food Safety, Environmental Quality & Pollution Control, Health Care and Pharmaceuticals.

To increase further visibility, LPU has attained membership of many prestigious international bodies including Association of Commonwealth Universities, UK; International Association of Universities, France; Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, USA; European Council of Business Education, Switzerland; The Institute of International Education, New York; and, the Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific, Thailand. Hundreds of students from several universities of USA, Canada, China and more have visited LPU, and similarly students and faculty of LPU have also visited universities of the USA, China, Singapore, and Canada to gain international exposure.

Lovely Professional University is headed by Chancellor Mr Ashok Kumar Mittal. Under his dynamic farsightedness, LPU is making steady growth in quality and quantum of faculty & students. Under Mr Mittal’s leadership, LPU has now established itself as one of the leading universities in India. The academic team of LPU is led by Vice Chancellor Dr Ramesh Kanwar, who is US citizen and has spent more than 35 years in higher education in the USA. He has been a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor and Chair of Agricultural and Bio-system Engineering Department at Iowa State University, USA. He has also served being in many other leadership positions including the Director of Water Resources Research Institute in US.

Empanelment: University is empanelled with Educational Consultants India Limited (EDCIL), a Government of India enterprise. University is also empanelled with Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the Council that helps to formulate and implement policies pertaining to India's external cultural relations, to foster mutual understanding between India and other countries and to promote cultural exchanges with other people.

LPU Rankings: Being one of the leading universities of India, LPU is now an internationally known brand and has also various international memberships, awards and rankings to its credit. LPU has already earned distinction from the most trusted names in professional education with Business Barons ranking it as the best University for enrolling in higher studies in India. Business India has accorded A++ ranking to its School of Management. Zee News has ranked LPU as one of the Best Universities in Placement and as the Best for Study Environment.

In an exclusive national level survey, India’s prestigious education magazine ‘Siliconindia’ has ranked LPU among top three private universities of the country. Many other top publications related to higher education, industry and allied sectors have also accorded LPU coveted ranking as before. These publications include Digital Learning, Career 360, the Pioneer, Career Connect and more. Magazine ‘Careerlinks’ has ranked LPU as the top university of the country for international tie-ups and among top three for infrastructure and industry-interface.

Academic Programs: The University offers more than 200 programs at Diploma, Graduate, Post Graduate and Doctorate levels. The major fields in which programs are offered by the University are Engineering, Computer Applications, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biosciences, Biochemistry, Food Technology, Agriculture, Management, Commerce, Economics, Hotel Management, Architecture, Urban Planning, Interior Design, Fine Arts, Multimedia, Journalism & Film Production, Performing Arts, Fashion Design, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Physiotherapy, Paramedical Sciences, Education, Physical Education, Home Science, Applied Psychology, Sociology, Geography, Arts (Humanities), Library Sciences, Law, Languages and more.

Internationally Benchmarked and Industry Oriented Curriculum: The strength of LPU lies in its globally benchmarked curriculum. Its innovative, flexible and highly integrated curriculum helps students to develop and chisel their skills while building up knowledge and fundamentals.

Student Centric Pedagogy and Experiential Learning: In accordance to the requirements of a particular field of study for the best of learning, some of techniques adopted at LPU are: Simulated teaching/role plays; Animation/Videos; Web based exercises and games; Demonstration through models, equipments and demo kits; Innovative lab work; Case based learning, Brain storming sessions, Seminars/Workshops/Guest lectures, Extension lectures, Effective use of related audio-visuals; Internship and training; International and national study tours/trips; Mock interviews, Projects, Student ventures and Career portfolios.

Scholarships: LPU’s 30000+ students have been awarded scholarships worth Rs. 300+ Crores in the last 5 years. More than 50% students are given scholarship and financial aid up to Rs. 1 lac per year per student, which is India's largest scholarship scheme.

Research: LPU is also ardently engaged in conducting high quality research. In this regard, LPU has established a dedicated department of Research and Development to get it-self recognized as a world class research university by 2025. LPU aspires to further the culture of entrepreneurship amongst students. An International patent for improved drug delivery for Colon Cancer developed by LPU has been filed in 140 countries. Another path breaking research product 'Permion Novel Diffusion Cell' for in vitro drug release from semi-solid dosage forms and Drug Plasma Binding Studies is recently launched by the university.

Culture of Entrepreneurship: LPU envisions being at the forefront of entrepreneurial activities by meeting expectations of budding entrepreneurs by transforming ideas and technologies into vibrant enterprises. It has mission to develop job creators rather than job seekers in an effort to facilitate growth of the nation, and to nurture innovative ideas to further convert them into viable business models. Entrepreneurship Cell at LPU works to increase chances of success of start-ups and to decrease the time and costs required to establish and grow new businesses.

The main objective of EDIC (Entrepreneurship Development Incubating Cell) at LPU is to promote and facilitate feasible business ideas; to provide common facilities including office, equipment and technology support; facilitate venture capital and seed capital for the viable projects; provide management and technical consulting support; to facilitate documentation and patenting; and to provide entrepreneurship training and mentoring.

LPU students have worked on Calcutta Tramways Modernization Project and now work is in progress to run trams in this campus making LPU the first and only university with Trams facility. LPU students have also designed a driverless car which can be operated through mobile phone from anywhere in the world. Similarly students have designed successful models of Family Solar car, Hybrid Car and Formula One car.

Placements: LPU has been instrumental in securing the most lucrative jobs for its students in various professional fields by training them as per the requirements of the related industry. Near 20,000 of its students have either been placed with top brands, or become successful entrepreneurs so far.

LPU has broken all its previous placement records by setting record in North India with largest number of 610 engineering students’ placement by a single company, in a single day, on the single campus. Cognizant Technologies- leading IT Company visited the campus twice in a row within a span of nine months. In addition, international placements by Ritz Carlton Hotel USA, Qatar Airways Doha & Al Rakha Group Dubai at allowance up to Rs 22 Lakh also made LPU to clog up one of the highest placement packages' record in the region.

Top brands made 200 placement drives through which 2000+ LPU students got placements in all sectors including Management, IT, Engineering, Banking, Agriculture, Consultancy, Architecture, and Pharmaceuticals. Visiting globally giant companies include Cognizant, Amdocs, HCL Technologies, Vodafone, LG Soft, Ericsson, Asian Paints, Verizon Data Service, Tavant Technologies, I Gate, NTT Data, Infosys, IBM, ERA Infra Engineering, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, Redington India, Rockman Industries, Sandhar Technologies, Simplex Infrastructures, Zenesis Agro and more.

Safety & Security: LPU firmly believes that security and safety of its inmates, both students and staff, is an integral part of its services in the education sector. For a safe academic environment, LPU has dedicated team of professional security officials and personnel, under supervision of senior retired defense officers; network of 3500 CCTV cameras installed at strategic places with a Control Room to provide 24-hour live surveillance/monitoring of nearly all places at the campus; automatic Boom Barriers installed to regulate vehicular entry and exit; turnstile entry at main gate, libraries, hostels, other residential areas; fire safety kits mounted inside all buildings and at all important locations; and, LPU also has its own Fire Tending Vehicles with trained fire tending staff.

Computing services: LPU can boast of providing one of the most robust computing facilities. The entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled for anywhere and anytime internet access. In addition, the University houses 90+ computer labs, Animation studio with Quad Core processors, 6000 computer terminals with Dual-Core and Core 2 Duo processors, Access to industry relevant software and technology like ProE, STADD Pro, AutoCAD, Corel Draw and independent cyber labs, providing easy access to internet.

Libraries: LPU houses a Nine-Storied 1.5 lac sq ft Central Library and 10 other dedicated libraries to provide opportunity to students and staff-members to explore world of knowledge in a conducive environment. The Libraries house a rich collection of text and reference books, journals, magazines, audio/videos, CD-ROMs, research reports, online Journals and databases and data analysis software, etc. in all areas of study in all disciplines. RFID system and LIBSYS software is used in the libraries, which has made book issuing and depositing system completely an automatic process. Availability of WEB OPEC Catalog (Online Catalog) software enables the students and staff to search the availability, request and reserve various books and other reference material available in the libraries from the comfort of their houses.

Accommodation: The University offers excellent student living accommodation within the campus separately for boys and girls. More than 20,000 students\staff are residing on the campus. Some of the residential facilities are: Rooms with beds, chairs, tables and attached washroom; air cooled or air conditioned rooms, Hot water in winters, facilities for indoor and outdoor games including Table Tennis, Badminton, Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Lawn Tennis, Cricket, Hockey, Boxing; Free internet connectivity through wi-fi system; hospital with resident doctors and ambulances; hygienic mess facility with vegetarian meals, 24 hours security, gymnasium, laundry and more.

Shopping Mall right at the Campus: Built on the University Campus as multi-storied & air-conditioned under cosmopolitan style, the Student Centre –Uni Mall is an innovative step of the University to nurture the entrepreneurial talents of its budding professionals. It has some of the shops and offices run and managed by the students, for skill based learning. In addition, it has great network of Banks, Food Courts, Branded shops in Books, Stationery, Apparels, Lifestyle Accessories, Electronic Gadgets (Computers, Lap-Tops), Sports, Music & Entertainment Items, Optical, Photo Studio, Boutique and other related service areas.

As such, students do not have to go out of the campus for their daily needs, clothing, grocery, food and other such items. Keeping in mind the health and fitness of its students and staff, LPU is also providing a state-of-the-art gymnasium, within the campus, fully-equipped with latest equipments. Qualified instructors and trainers are also available to train the students and staff. The University is constantly vigilant to the fast changing global educational scenario and is committed to instill in the students the competence to transform the society with the enlightenment of knowledge and awareness for a better tomorrow.