The Young India Fellowship Programme takes the first steps to a new future in higher education
It’s 10 am. Sociologist Andre Béteille is in a classroom at Adhchini, Delhi, with 58 students, talking of the time he met Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. The class of students listening in rapt attention consists of an engineer,lawyer, film-maker, psychologist, entrepreneur, doctor, dancer, painter, fashion designer and a linguist, all in their twenties. And they have come from all over India—Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. In the afternoon, they have a lecture with Robert Swan, an explorer who has walked to both the North and South Poles. They step out of the classroom and get into heated discussions - the class has left them with more questions than answers. Over lunch at the thatched roof canteen where they eat hastily, they are told that Anwar Murtaza,a senior scientist at Abbott Bioresearch Centre, Worcester (USA), also working on drug discovery in the area of auto-immunity, will be coming for a guest lecture in a few days. If you looked around, you would find that there were groups of students huddled in a corner talking about joining a Tango session l a t e r in the evening. You also hear about a heritage walk to Humayun’s Tomb. At the end of the day, the students head off to their hostelin buses. And all of this —food, stay and transport—is all paid for.
By then you begin to wonder what’s going on. And, what kind of course this is.
Welcome to the Young India Fellowship Programme (YIFP). The YIFP is a one-year residential and fully-funded postgraduate programme launched by the International Foundation for Research and Education. It is co-located at present in the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication campus at Adhchini, New Delhi.
The Seed of the Idea
What led to this never-before-heard-of innovation in Indian higher education?
Like many other innovations, the seeds of the YIFP germinated in a simple conversation between friends. Reminiscing about their college days and aspirations, they recalled how they had wanted to make a “difference”. The discussions concluded with them deciding that though there were many issues plaguing society, investing in higher education would probably have the most long-term impact.
Troubled by the fact that India did not boast of a world-class university, they decided to set up one and thus change the way higher education was viewed in the country.
While on the one end Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chaiman, InfoEdge and Ashish Dhawan, Co-founder and Senior Managing Director of ChrysCapital Investment Advisors, were thinking about starting a Liberal Arts school, on the other end Vineet Gupta, Managing Director at Jamboree Education and Director at Parabolic Drugs and Rakesh Jaggi, VP at Reservoir Production Group, Schlumberger were talking about setting up a high quality technology institute. They were also talking to Pramath R. Sinha, Founding Dean of ISB, who mooted the idea of bringing the two concepts together in a multidisciplinary university. They concluded that in all this time enough technology and business institutes focused on producing professionals had cropped up, but liberal and general education had been neglected. Over time the circle of friends who believed in the idea grew to include Ashok Belani, CTO Schlumberger; Arjun Bhagat, Chairman and CEO of Calibrated Group; Pranav Gupta, Managing Director at Parabolic Drugs; Vinati Kastia, Partner AZB and Partners; Ashish Gupta, COO and Country Head at Evalueserve; Sunish Sharma, Managing Director, General Atlantic; Saurabh Srivastava, Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur and N.V. “Tiger” Tyagarajan, President and CEO, Genpact. In fact, they found that a collective conscience existed on the issue in their immediate social circle.
Putting together the YIFP
Now that there was force behind the idea, together they set up a foundation — the International Foundation for Research and Education (IFRE). Each individual contributed to the shape and vision of what they wanted their world-class university to be like. They also realised that establishing a university of this kind would take time. In the meantime, they decided to start something that would showcase the core principles of the broad-based multi-disciplinary university that they wanted to build.
The result of the many rounds of brainstorming and ideating sessions was a flagship programme that could be the kernel for the university and its core philosophy. They all agreed on one fact: “We may be successful today, but we have a deep regret that we could not pursue what we really wanted to study when we were students here. If we can now give our youth the opportunity to follow their passions, instead of being pushed into socially desirable and defined career roles, we would have achieved our goals. If we had pursued the dreams that made us really happy, just imagine how things would have changed. Perhaps we would have been more original in our thinking, more innovative and excelling in our chosen fields. We would all be able to think differently.”
It was the idea of helping the youth get in touch with their passions and rethink or even reconfirm their choices by exposing them to myriad subjects and fields, that made the basic structure of the programme multidisciplinary. The course had to be broad-based and world class, and to ensure this they required world class faculty. The tie-up with UPenn thus followed.
It is not that world-class education has been denied to Indian students. But the talented, but less affluent, Indians missed out on it for pecuniary reasons. The founders decided to focus on this group and help them take that leap of passion. To ensure this, the programme was made a fully-funded course which would take in students who were path-breakers with a passion to excel.
A programme of this nature and scale would need funds. The founders were convinced, though, that they did not want corporate donors, as they wanted to avoid any undue influence by a single company or person. Instead, they invited individuals who believed in the idea to fund the programme.
In stepped 45 donors that included big industry names such as Rithankar Pal, MD, Barclays Capital (New York); Jerry Rao, Founder MphasiS; Uday Shankar, CEO of STAR India; Analjit Singh, Founder and Chairman of Max India and Ayesha Thapar, Director of India City Properties.
Next on board were mentors who could share real-life enriching experiences and guide students even after they finished the course. Mentors included some of the top names across industries — Sanjeev Aga, Managing Director of Idea Cellular Limited; Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor at Infosys Technologies; Deepak Parekh, Chairman at the Housing Development Finance Corporation; Rajendra Pawar, Chairman and Co-Founder of the NIIT Group and Anoop Prakash, Managing Director at Harley-Davidson (India).
To know more about the list the reader can log on to the YIFP Website and listen to Narayana Murthy talk about the programme. In fact, he “laments the fact that his kids had to study outside India in the absence of a course like YIFP”. He says, “If such a programme was around at that time they would surely have applied for the fellowship.” Video over, get back to finding out how the YIFP was put together.
The Seed of the Idea
What led to this never-before-heard-of innovation in Indian higher education?
Like many other innovations, the seeds of the YIFP germinated in a simple conversation between friends. Reminiscing about their college days and aspirations, they recalled how they had wanted to make a “difference”. The discussions concluded with them deciding that though there were many issues plaguing society, investing in higher education would probably have the most long-term impact.
Troubled by the fact that India did not boast of a world-class university, they decided to set up one and thus change the way higher education was viewed in the country.
While on the one end Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chaiman, InfoEdge and Ashish Dhawan, Co-founder and Senior Managing Director of ChrysCapital Investment Advisors, were thinking about starting a Liberal Arts school, on the other end Vineet Gupta, Managing Director at Jamboree Education and Director at Parabolic Drugs and Rakesh Jaggi, VP at Reservoir Production Group, Schlumberger were talking about setting up a high quality technology institute. They were also talking to Pramath R. Sinha, Founding Dean of ISB, who mooted the idea of bringing the two concepts together in a multidisciplinary university. They concluded that in all this time enough technology and business institutes focused on producing professionals had cropped up, but liberal and general education had been neglected. Over time the circle of friends who believed in the idea grew to include Ashok Belani, CTO Schlumberger; Arjun Bhagat, Chairman and CEO of Calibrated Group; Pranav Gupta, Managing Director at Parabolic Drugs; Vinati Kastia, Partner AZB and Partners; Ashish Gupta, COO and Country Head at Evalueserve; Sunish Sharma, Managing Director, General Atlantic; Saurabh Srivastava, Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur and N.V. “Tiger” Tyagarajan, President and CEO, Genpact. In fact, they found that a collective conscience existed on the issue in their immediate social circle.
Putting together the YIFP
Now that there was force behind the idea, together they set up a foundation — the International Foundation for Research and Education (IFRE). Each individual contributed to the shape and vision of what they wanted their world-class university to be like. They also realised that establishing a university of this kind would take time. In the meantime, they decided to start something that would showcase the core principles of the broad-based multi-disciplinary university that they wanted to build.
The result of the many rounds of brainstorming and ideating sessions was a flagship programme that could be the kernel for the university and its core philosophy. They all agreed on one fact: “We may be successful today, but we have a deep regret that we could not pursue what we really wanted to study when we were students here. If we can now give our youth the opportunity to follow their passions, instead of being pushed into socially desirable and defined career roles, we would have achieved our goals. If we had pursued the dreams that made us really happy, just imagine how things would have changed. Perhaps we would have been more original in our thinking, more innovative and excelling in our chosen fields. We would all be able to think differently.”
It was the idea of helping the youth get in touch with their passions and rethink or even reconfirm their choices by exposing them to myriad subjects and fields, that made the basic structure of the programme multidisciplinary. The course had to be broad-based and world class, and to ensure this they required world class faculty. The tie-up with UPenn thus followed.
It is not that world-class education has been denied to Indian students. But the talented, but less affluent, Indians missed out on it for pecuniary reasons. The founders decided to focus on this group and help them take that leap of passion. To ensure this, the programme was made a fully-funded course which would take in students who were path-breakers with a passion to excel.
A programme of this nature and scale would need funds. The founders were convinced, though, that they did not want corporate donors, as they wanted to avoid any undue influence by a single company or person. Instead, they invited individuals who believed in the idea to fund the programme.
In stepped 45 donors that included big industry names such as Rithankar Pal, MD, Barclays Capital (New York); Jerry Rao, Founder MphasiS; Uday Shankar, CEO of STAR India; Analjit Singh, Founder and Chairman of Max India and Ayesha Thapar, Director of India City Properties.
Next on board were mentors who could share real-life enriching experiences and guide students even after they finished the course. Mentors included some of the top names across industries — Sanjeev Aga, Managing Director of Idea Cellular Limited; Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor at Infosys Technologies; Deepak Parekh, Chairman at the Housing Development Finance Corporation; Rajendra Pawar, Chairman and Co-Founder of the NIIT Group and Anoop Prakash, Managing Director at Harley-Davidson (India).
To know more about the list the reader can log on to the YIFP Website and listen to Narayana Murthy talk about the programme. In fact, he “laments the fact that his kids had to study outside India in the absence of a course like YIFP”. He says, “If such a programme was around at that time they would surely have applied for the fellowship.” Video over, get back to finding out how the YIFP was put together.
Focus on Faculty
With the basic structure in place, the founders went around scouting for the “right faculty”, even before they finalised the infrastructure. “When we look back on our student life, what do we recall the most? It is the professors who inspired us, not the course content,” points out one of the YIF founders, Dr Sinha. He rates infrastructure as secondary to faculty, citing the example of how the YIFP has started off from a campus that it does not own. In recognition of the primary role that faculty plays, the founders emphasised getting the right people on board first. Ashish Dhawan, one of the founders, goes so far as to say that the founding team faced the choice of putting together the most coherent curriculum or inducting appropriate faculty members, and ruled in favour of the latter: “In going after the right people, we had to compromise on some of the courses we would ideally have liked to be a part of the programme. We will be looking to fill the gaps in the curriculum as we go forward.”
Designing the curriculum may have been a major challenge because of the toss-up between faculty and range of subjects. But the final outcome seems to have worked out well. Thanks to the illustrious faculty that the founders focussed on, they became convinced that the multidisciplinary approach with a liberal arts core would work really well.
The Liberal Arts Approach
According to YIFP faculty member, Prof Béteille, who is also Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, “Studying useful sciences such as information technology and management, has an immediate influence on building a career. To the contrary, being exposed to social and political thought has a delayed impact on the student – certainly, it helps mature you but it is not like studying (say) inorganic chemistry, where you imbibe knowledge and techniques and can apply newly gained skills to a job. The employment opportunities for liberal arts students are not apparent, and yet the liberal arts give students a general grounding for life and help them become good citizens. If the whole purpose of education is to prepare you for life, then the liberal arts further this aim a great deal by helping a person adopt a broader vision of the world around.”
YIFP founder Dhawan, an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and Yale University, has himself experienced the benefits of a liberal arts approach. Dhawan went to study Maths at Yale; somewhere midway he discovered his love for literature and history and ultimately graduated with a major in Economics. “Our higher education system focuses on depth, even though we all know that for most people too much specific knowledge is not valuable beyond a certain point. A liberal arts education is critical in building a strong sense of inquiry, a lifelong reading habit and strong written/oral communication skills — all of which are key skills to get through life in the 21st century,” he adds.
The curriculum has been designed to specifically prepare students for life. Professor Béteille elucidates, “The subjects in my area of expertise are not completely unrelated to the lives of fellows. Politics, religion, and caste/class inequalities, for instance, are subjects we grow up hearing and knowing about, even if we tend to hold mistaken beliefs about some of their aspects. By sharing insights sociologists bring to such subjects with students, I aim to help them understand aspects they were not aware of.”
Faculty member Radha S Hegde is an associate professor in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. Over the past decade, she has been teaching and researching subjects such as globalisation, migration and global media flows. Endorsing the liberal arts approach, Hegde notes: “If we are preparing students to work and participate in the global moment; then they must be able to think broadly about social issues and their inter-connections. The opportunity for students to engage intellectually with the big picture is what makes this an interesting project.”
The Launch
It was only when the founders had got on board illustrious faculty and firmed up the curriculum that they decided to test if the fellowship, which sounded fabulous, would actually find takers. Young India Fellow Srishti Sardana from Presidency College, Madras, first heard about the programme in college. She says she was ”impressed that such senior people (the founders) behind the programme were making presentations in colleges and sharing information about the fellowship.”
But those behind the fellowship were clear about the need for face-to-face contact while creating awareness about the fellowship: “That was essential to swing attitudes and opinions in our favour,” says Dhawan. “After all, the fellowship represents a novel concept. India has no similar programme, be it in terms of course content or scale. So we realised that we would have to educate potential fellows about the usefulness of the programme and excite them into applying. The fellows give themselves up for a year of pure learning, as the programme is not a degree course. In a world where students are so acutely focussed on their next step in life, in terms of earning or learning that directly enhances their earning prospects, there was no other way that potential applicants could be made to understand the value behind our approach and how inquiry or writing or oral communication skills make a difference.”
Focus on Faculty
With the basic structure in place, the founders went around scouting for the “right faculty”, even before they finalised the infrastructure. “When we look back on our student life, what do we recall the most? It is the professors who inspired us, not the course content,” points out one of the YIF founders, Dr Sinha. He rates infrastructure as secondary to faculty, citing the example of how the YIFP has started off from a campus that it does not own. In recognition of the primary role that faculty plays, the founders emphasised getting the right people on board first. Ashish Dhawan, one of the founders, goes so far as to say that the founding team faced the choice of putting together the most coherent curriculum or inducting appropriate faculty members, and ruled in favour of the latter: “In going after the right people, we had to compromise on some of the courses we would ideally have liked to be a part of the programme. We will be looking to fill the gaps in the curriculum as we go forward.”
Designing the curriculum may have been a major challenge because of the toss-up between faculty and range of subjects. But the final outcome seems to have worked out well. Thanks to the illustrious faculty that the founders focussed on, they became convinced that the multidisciplinary approach with a liberal arts core would work really well.
The Liberal Arts Approach
According to YIFP faculty member, Prof Béteille, who is also Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, “Studying useful sciences such as information technology and management, has an immediate influence on building a career. To the contrary, being exposed to social and political thought has a delayed impact on the student – certainly, it helps mature you but it is not like studying (say) inorganic chemistry, where you imbibe knowledge and techniques and can apply newly gained skills to a job. The employment opportunities for liberal arts students are not apparent, and yet the liberal arts give students a general grounding for life and help them become good citizens. If the whole purpose of education is to prepare you for life, then the liberal arts further this aim a great deal by helping a person adopt a broader vision of the world around.”
YIFP founder Dhawan, an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and Yale University, has himself experienced the benefits of a liberal arts approach. Dhawan went to study Maths at Yale; somewhere midway he discovered his love for literature and history and ultimately graduated with a major in Economics. “Our higher education system focuses on depth, even though we all know that for most people too much specific knowledge is not valuable beyond a certain point. A liberal arts education is critical in building a strong sense of inquiry, a lifelong reading habit and strong written/oral communication skills — all of which are key skills to get through life in the 21st century,” he adds.
The curriculum has been designed to specifically prepare students for life. Professor Béteille elucidates, “The subjects in my area of expertise are not completely unrelated to the lives of fellows. Politics, religion, and caste/class inequalities, for instance, are subjects we grow up hearing and knowing about, even if we tend to hold mistaken beliefs about some of their aspects. By sharing insights sociologists bring to such subjects with students, I aim to help them understand aspects they were not aware of.”
Faculty member Radha S Hegde is an associate professor in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. Over the past decade, she has been teaching and researching subjects such as globalisation, migration and global media flows. Endorsing the liberal arts approach, Hegde notes: “If we are preparing students to work and participate in the global moment; then they must be able to think broadly about social issues and their inter-connections. The opportunity for students to engage intellectually with the big picture is what makes this an interesting project.”
The Launch
It was only when the founders had got on board illustrious faculty and firmed up the curriculum that they decided to test if the fellowship, which sounded fabulous, would actually find takers. Young India Fellow Srishti Sardana from Presidency College, Madras, first heard about the programme in college. She says she was ”impressed that such senior people (the founders) behind the programme were making presentations in colleges and sharing information about the fellowship.”
But those behind the fellowship were clear about the need for face-to-face contact while creating awareness about the fellowship: “That was essential to swing attitudes and opinions in our favour,” says Dhawan. “After all, the fellowship represents a novel concept. India has no similar programme, be it in terms of course content or scale. So we realised that we would have to educate potential fellows about the usefulness of the programme and excite them into applying. The fellows give themselves up for a year of pure learning, as the programme is not a degree course. In a world where students are so acutely focussed on their next step in life, in terms of earning or learning that directly enhances their earning prospects, there was no other way that potential applicants could be made to understand the value behind our approach and how inquiry or writing or oral communication skills make a difference.”
Striking a Chord
While most ideas sound good at the ideation level, it’s the introduction and execution which ultimately test these notions and establish them. So what was it that struck a chord with the diverse group of 58 fellows who came from institutions like IIT Madras, LSR, IIT Bombay, BITS Pilani, NLSUI Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, SRM University, NID, NIFT, St Xavier’s Mumbai, Symbiosis Law School and Jamia’s Mass Communication Research Centre?
For Mrudula N.S. from IIT Madras, it was quite simply the stellar faculty and the huge exposure to liberal arts. “The way the faculty here leave you with more questions than you had at the beginning of the course, never giving you answers on a platter, more than justifies my being here,” says Mrudula. For Tanvi Jain from Lady Sri Ram, Delhi it was just the possibility of being inspired. She says, “I possibly went to some of the so-called best institutions in India. I did my schooling at Modern School, Delhi and then went to LSR. However, I always felt that there was something missing. I studied to score, not to learn. I always missed that feeling of being inspired in the classroom. I wanted to take this chance and academically I have got exactly what I yearned for.”
For Tulasi Prasad from NID it was an opportunity to be among people who, like him, did not believe in stereotyping. A painter, Tulasi had to forgo his desire to pursue art and even education when his family was struck with a tragedy and had to flee from Orissa to Bengaluru, where he sold samosas and wafers on the streets along with his father and brothers. It was pure chance that he was part of a crowd at Jawahar Kala Kendra “sketching spontaneously” when his talent was recognised and he was able to go back to studies. Tulasi says, “I wanted to expand my vision and the fact that I could get a glimpse of all possible subjects that I may want to pursue in the future at no expense of my own was a big draw.”
Rishabh Kaul from BITS Pilani says that it was the opportunity to follow his passion and learning for the joy of learning that drew him in.
Think Different
So what does it take to make the cut to the final 58 (the fellowship had received 3,800 applications in the first batch)? What is it that stands out as the one common streak in a Young India Fellow? When put the question, fellow Sanjog Sahu, from Symbiosis Law School ventures, “We desire to make sense of the world by inquiry and approach problems with creativity and zest. While it is not as if all the fellows know what they want to do, it is clear that the intention is to do something meaningful, something that will make a difference.”
Sahu’s sketch resonates with founder Vineet Gupta. “We chose students who have demonstrated leadership, who are willing to stretch themselves beyond the normal routine, and who genuinely want to make a difference to society,” he says.
So does that mean that you must dream of setting up an NGO to be a fellow? Oh no. The fellows will tell you that “all you need is belief in yourself and a passion in any field that you enjoy.” To borrow a term from Steve Jobs it’s that ability to “Think different”. In that sense all the fellows are pathbreakers.
Programme mentor Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson India, and a Stanford University and Harvard Business School graduate, says, “Though each fellow I have met has a unique set of skills and aspirations, they are united by a commitment to ethical leadership and making an impact in their chosen field.”
Fellowship Founder, Vinati Kastia, Partner, AZB & Partners, describes the programme as designed to open up young minds. She is especially thrilled at the number of girls selected in the founding batch; she adds, “I have no doubt that they will be excellent change agents.”
Rooted in Reality
One of the stated objectives of the YIFP is “to groom young women and men who will lead India through the 21st century”. In a way, the YIFP is looking for pathbreakers who can become pathmakers. One of the most common criticisms of a course like the YIFP is that it is good to dream, but unfortunately, when you wake up you will be hit hard by reality and you will be forced to join the same old rat race. But the founders have thought it through.
Professor Béteille explains: “Liberal arts give students a greater awareness of what they can do and what they cannot, which is important because youth tend to have unrealistic expectations about changing the world. I think this programme will help them understand that they can do their bit, but not at their will and pace – you can’t change anything overnight.”
When sports enthusiast and former professional football player, Adhiraj Sarmah signed up for the fellowship, his life’s goal was to pursue an MBA and then join Laureus, the company behind the Laureus World Sports Academy, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Awards. Together, these establishments aim to harness the power of sport to promote social change and celebrate sporting excellence by awarding the achievements of sporting heroes who symbolise the very best in sports. Although this BCom (honours) degree holder, with a major in marketing management from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, had been working with Nestle India Ltd for 18 months before being selected for the fellowship, he had also been toying with the idea of starting a similar foundation that would work across India.
Barely a few months into the programme, Sarmah acknowledges that he is viewing things differently now: “I was very restricted in the way I comprehended things. The programme has given me a reality check. It has shown me how much there is to learn. So, although I would still like to pursue my dream, I have become more realistic about how to go about it. I would like to work for a few years to get more experience and do an MBA to learn management skills.”
Striking a Chord
While most ideas sound good at the ideation level, it’s the introduction and execution which ultimately test these notions and establish them. So what was it that struck a chord with the diverse group of 58 fellows who came from institutions like IIT Madras, LSR, IIT Bombay, BITS Pilani, NLSUI Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, SRM University, NID, NIFT, St Xavier’s Mumbai, Symbiosis Law School and Jamia’s Mass Communication Research Centre?
For Mrudula N.S. from IIT Madras, it was quite simply the stellar faculty and the huge exposure to liberal arts. “The way the faculty here leave you with more questions than you had at the beginning of the course, never giving you answers on a platter, more than justifies my being here,” says Mrudula. For Tanvi Jain from Lady Sri Ram, Delhi it was just the possibility of being inspired. She says, “I possibly went to some of the so-called best institutions in India. I did my schooling at Modern School, Delhi and then went to LSR. However, I always felt that there was something missing. I studied to score, not to learn. I always missed that feeling of being inspired in the classroom. I wanted to take this chance and academically I have got exactly what I yearned for.”
For Tulasi Prasad from NID it was an opportunity to be among people who, like him, did not believe in stereotyping. A painter, Tulasi had to forgo his desire to pursue art and even education when his family was struck with a tragedy and had to flee from Orissa to Bengaluru, where he sold samosas and wafers on the streets along with his father and brothers. It was pure chance that he was part of a crowd at Jawahar Kala Kendra “sketching spontaneously” when his talent was recognised and he was able to go back to studies. Tulasi says, “I wanted to expand my vision and the fact that I could get a glimpse of all possible subjects that I may want to pursue in the future at no expense of my own was a big draw.”
Rishabh Kaul from BITS Pilani says that it was the opportunity to follow his passion and learning for the joy of learning that drew him in.
Think Different
So what does it take to make the cut to the final 58 (the fellowship had received 3,800 applications in the first batch)? What is it that stands out as the one common streak in a Young India Fellow? When put the question, fellow Sanjog Sahu, from Symbiosis Law School ventures, “We desire to make sense of the world by inquiry and approach problems with creativity and zest. While it is not as if all the fellows know what they want to do, it is clear that the intention is to do something meaningful, something that will make a difference.”
Sahu’s sketch resonates with founder Vineet Gupta. “We chose students who have demonstrated leadership, who are willing to stretch themselves beyond the normal routine, and who genuinely want to make a difference to society,” he says.
So does that mean that you must dream of setting up an NGO to be a fellow? Oh no. The fellows will tell you that “all you need is belief in yourself and a passion in any field that you enjoy.” To borrow a term from Steve Jobs it’s that ability to “Think different”. In that sense all the fellows are pathbreakers.
Programme mentor Anoop Prakash, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson India, and a Stanford University and Harvard Business School graduate, says, “Though each fellow I have met has a unique set of skills and aspirations, they are united by a commitment to ethical leadership and making an impact in their chosen field.”
Fellowship Founder, Vinati Kastia, Partner, AZB & Partners, describes the programme as designed to open up young minds. She is especially thrilled at the number of girls selected in the founding batch; she adds, “I have no doubt that they will be excellent change agents.”
Rooted in Reality
One of the stated objectives of the YIFP is “to groom young women and men who will lead India through the 21st century”. In a way, the YIFP is looking for pathbreakers who can become pathmakers. One of the most common criticisms of a course like the YIFP is that it is good to dream, but unfortunately, when you wake up you will be hit hard by reality and you will be forced to join the same old rat race. But the founders have thought it through.
Professor Béteille explains: “Liberal arts give students a greater awareness of what they can do and what they cannot, which is important because youth tend to have unrealistic expectations about changing the world. I think this programme will help them understand that they can do their bit, but not at their will and pace – you can’t change anything overnight.”
When sports enthusiast and former professional football player, Adhiraj Sarmah signed up for the fellowship, his life’s goal was to pursue an MBA and then join Laureus, the company behind the Laureus World Sports Academy, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Awards. Together, these establishments aim to harness the power of sport to promote social change and celebrate sporting excellence by awarding the achievements of sporting heroes who symbolise the very best in sports. Although this BCom (honours) degree holder, with a major in marketing management from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, had been working with Nestle India Ltd for 18 months before being selected for the fellowship, he had also been toying with the idea of starting a similar foundation that would work across India.
Barely a few months into the programme, Sarmah acknowledges that he is viewing things differently now: “I was very restricted in the way I comprehended things. The programme has given me a reality check. It has shown me how much there is to learn. So, although I would still like to pursue my dream, I have become more realistic about how to go about it. I would like to work for a few years to get more experience and do an MBA to learn management skills.”
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