You can now study Mechatronics (a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering) at the private TeamLease University in Baroda. ITM Skills Academy now has a year-long postgraduate programme in Aadhar housing finance. Liberal Arts subjects are compulsory if you’re doing a BTech or BBA at the Great Lakes International University, Sri City. Free to frame their own course structures and syllabi, private universities are thinking out of the box, offering courses and combinations that are based on today’s industry needs rather than on templates set in the 1990s. This means niche specialisations, tie-ups with industry for apprenticeships and updated subject pairings. “Interacting with Indian engineers abroad, I learned that they cannot socialise and adapt to different cultures as well as they should be able to, because there is a huge gap in their knowledge of cultural binders such as art and films and often a lack of ability to communicate as well,” says Parag Diwan, founder and chancellor of GLIU. “So we have made it compulsory for tech and management students to take at least eight courses in liberal arts subjects such as art appreciation and film appreciation throughout the four-year course tenure.” There’s a realisation that the ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work anymore, says educational entrepreneur Sudhanshu Sinhal, founder of the Sinhal coaching classes. “Students too want their learning experience to fit their lifestyle; it must be relevant, collaborative, personalised, engaging, and accessible.” For private universities, this kind of innovation on campus is easier because they are not governed by authorities that resist change, adds Dhiraj Mathur, partner (Education) at PwC India. “They also have better interaction with industry and are funded well, so they are able to provide personalised, tailor-made courses — at a cost, of course.” For students who can afford it, this is good news. Parth Shah, 23, for instance, says he picked mechatronics at TeamLease because he was excited by the c