New genre community university

Within record time, the greenfield Martin Luther Christian University of Meghalaya has blossomed into a full-fledged professional education institution offering 25 undergrad and postgrad programmes to 4,000 students Dr. GLENN KHAEKONGOR (formerly Christo) is a man with a mission; he™s also a man in a hurry. During a long and successful career (1986-2004) as senior vice president (planning and development) of the 55-institutions-strong Bangalore/Manipal-based Manipal Education and Medical Group, he played a major role in the transformation of this provincial private  university into India™s premier higher education multinational with campuses in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and  Antigua (West Indies). But in 2006 Kharkongor returned to his roots in the  North-east state of Meghalaya to take charge as  founder-vice chancellor of the newly-promulgated  Martin Luther Christian University of Meghalaya (MLCU-M), established by a special Act of the state legislative assembly in 2005. Since then, well before the university moves to its own 42-acre campus in 2016, Kharkongor has kick-started this institution founded with the mission statement œto contribute to the sustainable development of Meghalaya and Northeast India, while upholding and preserving its cultural heritage, by providing knowledge and skills that will enable our students to become global citizens ” and which holds classes in rented buildings scattered across the state™s administrative capital, Shillong (pop. 230,000) ” into a full-fledged professional education university offering 25 undergrad and postgraduate programmes to 4,000 students mentored by 130 faculty . Not an individual to let the grass grow under his feet, Kharkongor has thus far affiliated 26 colleges and 12 community colleges as far afield as Karnataka and Kerala with MLCU-M. œDespite its name which suggests an institute of divinity studies, MLCU-M is essentially a professional higher education institution offering employment-oriented, career advancement and livelihood study programmes such as English and communication, allied health sciences, management and commerce studies, tourism, social work, computer science, counseling psychology, fine arts and environment and ecosystem studies. We don™t offer conventional arts, science and commerce degree programmes. Within eight years since this in many ways, unique varsity was promoted, we are well on our way to establishing MLCU-M as a full-fledged inter-disciplinary careers and livelihoods university. I believe we have got off to a good start because all the 1,600 graduates and postgrads we have certified since 2009, have been placed with average start-up remuneration of Rs.12,000 per month, and there is strong demand from industry and service institutions for MLCU-M graduates and even short-term diploma holders, says Kharkongor, an alum of CMC, Vellore and the Linda Loma University, California, and currently chancellor of MLCU-M. The unique sales proposition of MLCU-M, which could serve as a model for education entrepreneurs, is the speed with which the university has got off the ground and the methodical and intelligent manner in which it has developed its proprietary syllabuses and curriculums to meet local needs and development. According to Dr. Robert Lyngdoh, an alum of NEHU (North Eastern Hill University) and XLRI, Jamshedpur, and former home and education minister of the Meghalaya state…