Jio Insitute, Mukesh Ambani’s ambitious institute for reshaping the Indian education system is expected to commence operation in 2021. Will the ‘Institute of Eminence’ – Jio Institute get impacted by Covid-19 is uncertain for now.
Jio Institute – Overview
The Shailesh Kumar-led Jio Insitute will start its academic session in 2021. Numerous undergraduate courses will on offer including courses in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, data sciences machine learning, digital media and marketing.
It is also expected that Mulhern of Northwestern University will be facilitating the Marketing Communication program while Kumar would teach Artificial Intelligence courses. The modern Jio Digital Library project will be headed by Keller from Stanford.
Jio Institute of Eminence
Jio institute has also set up a seven-member global advisory board. According to media reports, the board will consist of Jean-Lou Chameau, president emeritus of California Institute of Technology (Caltech); Michael Keller, vice provost of Stanford University; Rick Levin, former president of Yale University; Subra Suresh, president of Singapore’s Nanyang Technology University. Nadhmi A Al-Nasr, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s futuristic habitat project NEOM; Frank J Mulhem and Vinayak P Dravis of Northwestern University.
Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita and daughter Isha will also be on the advisory board. The institute is one of the institutes in the country to be awarded the tag of ‘eminence’ by the Human Resource Ministry even before its completions.
Experts at EurAsian Times believe that the tag of ‘eminence’ was given due to the future prospects of the Institute. As of August 2019, ten institutions have been selected by the Institutes of Eminence, which includes Banaras Hindu Univesity, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, University of Delhi, University of Hyderabad, Anna University and Jadavpur University.
Jio Institute Location & Key Details
Jio Institute, which will be located in Navi Mumbai was to hire university staff and complete the academic curriculum by October this year, however, experts believe that things might get delayed.
Students at Jio institute would not only get an opportunity to study at the sprawling 800 acres campus in Navi Mumbai but could also be taught by professors from prominent universities across the world.
The advanced studies at the institute will also provide merit-based scholarships worth 38 crores during the first academic year.
Mukesh Ambani aims to make Jio University ranked in the top 500 on Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings. To achieve this feat, Jio Institute is in talks with universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Stanford University, Northwestern University and Nanyang Technological University and aims to recruit expert faculty and mentors for the institute.
Reliance Jio and the Telecom Revolution
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd popularly known as Jio in India is a mobile network operator owned by Reliance industries. Jio was the brainchild of Mukesh Ambani and was launched in 2015 in honor of the 83rd birth anniversary of Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance Industries.
Since its launch, the network has become immensely popular with Indians as it made the internet accessible and affordable. The introduction of Jio revolutionized the telecom industry and made 4G data available pan-India at the lowest rate in the world.
Jio Platforms compares with large global digital ecosystem platforms that are largely debt-free like Alphabet, Tencent and Alibaba.
Success at home has caught the eye of investors abroad. With 5 confirmed deals in May and another investment incoming, Jio is now valued at over $65 billion. The investors, all based in the US, include social media giant Facebook, private equity firm Silver Lake, Global investment company Vista, American private equity firm General Atlantic and US-based private equity company KKR.
Collectively, all the deals are worth $10.3 billion or Rs 78,562 crore, which RIL plans to use in order to pay off $44 billion worth of its debt.
Microsoft, the tech giant founded by Bill Gates, is also in talks with Jio to purchase a 2.5% stake at the cost of $2 billion. Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala, another investment company, is also in talks to invest about $1 billion in Jio platforms.
Within a short span, Mukesh Ambani and Jio have achieved what other companies have not been able to for decades. With the establishment of Jio Institute, India’s most influential businessman has ensured that the company he birthed would be looked after by Jio’s very own.
