For a 3-year comprehensive development program for 225 meritorious girl students under the Kotak Kanya Scholarship program
The Center for Thinking, Language and Communication (CTLC) at Plaksha University, a technology university reimagining higher education and research in India, signed a MoU with Kotak Education Foundation (KEF) - the CSR implementing agency of Kotak Mahindra Group. This collaboration aims to deliver impactful training programs designed to equip 225 meritorious girl students under the Kotak Kanya Scholarship Program with essential life and career skills.
Plaksha’s CTLC is focused on enhancing communication skills and professional development for students and professionals, both within and beyond the Plaksha community. CTLC is committed to social impact through strategic partnerships and collaborations with governments, industries, and academic institutions. These alliances enable the delivery of effective training programs designed to build essential skills.
Dr. Ganesh Raja, CEO, Kotak Education Foundation said, "At Kotak Education Foundation, we believe that empowering young women goes beyond financial aid—it’s about fostering holistic development. Our partnership with Plaksha University's Center for Thinking, Language, and Communication is a significant step in this direction. By focusing on communication, professional development, and career readiness, we are preparing our Kotak Kanya scholars to become confident, capable leaders who will thrive in an ever-evolving world."
Commenting on this initiative Dr. Brainerd Prince, Director, Centre for Thinking, Language and Communication, Plaksha University said, " At CTLC, we are dedicated to empowering the next generation of engineers, particularly women engineers, by equipping them with essential cognitive, linguistic and communication skills and resources. Our collaboration with the Kotak Education Foundation represents a significant step toward bridging the gender gap in STEM fields in India thus creating social impact. We set up the ProACT initiative at CTLC with the vision of providing talented students like the Kotak Kanya Scholars with self-development and market-facing skills and resources. We pride ourselves in offering personalised training to each student in order to foster a community of innovative leaders and problem solvers, driving a more inclusive and forward-thinking future."
The Kotak Kanya Scholarship program aims to empower 225 meritorious girl students from financially challenged backgrounds pursuing graduation courses from top ranked NIRF institutions by providing them with financial support across 4 – 5 years, enabling them to pursue their higher education without financial constraints. Besides financial assistance, the scholarship facilitates holistic development of the scholars through intensive student engagement and finishing school activities. Keeping the focus on holistic development of each scholar, Plaksha's CTLC will focus on enhancing communication skills and professional development of these Kotak Kanya Scholars enrolled in premier engineering colleges across the country. A comprehensive program spread over three years will be provided featuring a three-course structure with six modules over 18 sessions. In the first year, students focus on self-learning and setting goals to build a strong career foundation. The second year enhances interpersonal skills and boosts confidence for effective public communication. In the final year, students prepare for the job market by learning to craft compelling CVs, conduct market research, network, and refine their interview skills. This robust program equips scholars with essential competencies for future career success.
About Plaksha University:
Founded by a global community of more than 100 technology and business leaders, Plaksha envisions reimagining technology education and research for India and the world. With strong partnerships with UC Berkeley, Purdue, UC San Diego, IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore, Plaksha aims to nurture and empower a generation of catalytic leaders and create an ecosystem of research and innovation. The university collapses the traditional boundaries of engineering and promotes interdisciplinary learning by combining technology, design and entrepreneurship.
Plaksha is guided by an eminent academic board including Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, University of Pennsylvania; Prof. S Shankar Sastry, Thomas Siebel Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Venkatesh Narayanamurthi, former Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Sriram Rajamani, Managing Director, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research India; Julia Ross, Dean of Engineering, Virginia Tech; Krishna Palepu, Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Sanjay Sarma, Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT; and business leaders such as Neeraj Aggarwal, Chairman – Asia Pacific, BCG; Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises ;Hitesh Oberoi, Co-promoter & CEO, Info Edge (Naukri.com); Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder, Fractal Analytics; Manas Fuloria, Co- Founder, Nagarro; Navin Chaddha, Managing Director, Mayfield Fund; Sujeet Kumar, Co-founder, Udaan.com; Dalip Pathak, Special Limited Partner, Warburg Pincus LLC; CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra; Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, Clix Capital among others. Corporate donors include companies like Bharti Foundation, Havells, HT Parekh Foundation, Mphasis, Axis Bank and Motilal Oswal. The global community of business leaders who founded Plaksha can be seen here.
About The Center for Thinking, Language and Communication (CTLC)/ ProACT:
The Centre for Thinking, Language and Communication (CTLC) was established in the spring of 2022 at Plaksha University. It aims to enhance the thinking, linguistic and communicative capacities of the university’s community members particularly the engineering students through a variety of initiatives.
The Centre’s unique stemX courses with their innovative pedagogies seek to equip students in academic, personal, research and business communication capacities. The CTLC offers personalised tutorials and an experiential learning approach which scaffold Plaksha’s commitment to building an ecosystem of academic and professional excellence. Through its writing mentorships and editorial services TextUS trains to effectively participate in crafting technology narratives and having conversations about grand challenges with a variety of stakeholders. This year, the Centre also established the LearnED initiative to offer personalised alternative learning experiences to Plaksha community members and the ProACT initiative to undertake social impact projects.
Kotak Education Foundation:
It has been a rewarding sixteen years since we embarked on our mission to equip economically disadvantaged children and youth with education and foundational skills, galvanizing them towards a better future. Our ‘Inch Wide Mile Deep’ approach, home-grown projects focused on quality education for the low-income segment have been instrumental in shaping the success of our projects across India. KEF’s approach is primarily three-pronged –
a) holistic interventions with children and educators in school,
b) equitable scholarships for higher studies, and
c) vocational education and skills training for livelihood.
KEF launched Kotak Kanya Scholarship in 2021 to offer financial and academic support to meritorious girl students for the pursuit of higher education from all across India. Kotak Junior Scholarship supports meritorious students from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for pursuing 11th and 12th Standard. KEF’s Unnati project upskills unemployed youth from economically weaker sections of society and coaches them in the basics of IT and spoken English, life skills and personality development. It ensures placements for all eligible participants so they can stride with confidence into any professional sphere.
KEF is now at the cusp of change as it prepares for the next chapter in its journey toward empowering the youth with quality education and livelihood. Armed with its vast experience and expertise, the organization now aims to scale its depth as well as the breadth of its reach. KEF’s philosophy is evolving from a ‘school as a unit’ to working toward district/state level education transformation. As KEF expands its ambit, it will help drive systemic reform and state education transformation to create long-term Impact at Scale. Strengthening school leadership and teacher capacity building, creating a digital ecosystem and learning environment in schools, equipping middle school students with confidence and skills of communicative English, upskilling teachers to provide Foundational Literacy
& Numeracy skills through Kshamata project and supporting districts in building and running Model Schools through these key projects. KEF is expanding to new geographies through the capacity building- Kshmata project beyond Maharashtra, supporting schools in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
Kotak Education Foundation is the primary implementing agency for the CSR initiatives of Kotak Mahindra Group in Education. Kotak Karma is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) identity of Kotak Mahindra Group Companies.