Krea University

Krea University is an Indian state private university located in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The Institute for Financial Management and Research was formally integrated under the aegis of Krea University. Krea University houses two schools, School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS) and IFMR Graduate School of Business (IFMR GSB) and pioneers Interwoven Learning.

It was founded in 2018 by a team of professionals from academia and beyond including Raghuram Rajan, N Vaghul, R Seshasayee, Kapil Viswanathan, Sajjan Jindal, Anand Mahindra and many more. The existing IFMR Graduate School of Business was brought under the umbrella of Krea University.

History
The university was established in 2018 under the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2018.

‘Krea’ means ‘an action-oriented approach’ in Sanskrit. The university follows a homegrown pedagogy of ‘Interwoven Learning’. It was officially inaugurated on November 18, 2018.

Leadership
As of August 16, 2022, Professor Nirmala Rao took charge as Vice Chancellor of Krea University. She was preceded by Dr Mahesh Rangarajan (July 2021 to February 2022). He was preceded by Dr Sunder Ramaswamy (2017-2021). Lakshmi Narayanan, former CEO and Vice-Chairman of Cognizant, and past Chairman of Nasscom, is the Chancellor, with effect from October 16, 2023. He was preceded by N Vaghul.

The Governing Council includes Raghuram G Rajan, Anand Mahindra, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Aditya Mittal, Dheeraj Hinduja, Sajjan Jindal, Anu Aga, John Etchemendy and Vishakha Desai. Dr Tara Thiagarajan, former CFO of TCS S Mahalingam, founder of Ramco Group PR Venketrama Raja, Vice Chairman of TVS Capital Funds D Sundaram, EY chairman and CEO Rajiv Memani, Professor and Head of the Department of French and Director Centre for European Studies at the University of Mumbai, Dr Vidya Vencatesan, and Nobel laureate Esther Duflo are also on the council. C Srinivasa Raju, S Ramadorai, Raghu Sundaram and Kalpana Morparia are other distinguished members of the Krea Governing Council.

Campus


Located 50 km north of Chennai, the Sri City space was planned as a ‘Circular Campus'. Campus tour videos by students reveal an open air amphitheater in the heart of the campus.

Residence halls have a common room on each floor. These feature study carousels, board games, televisions, refrigerators and microwaves. Students also have access to a dedicated convenience store within the campus.

In 2022, Union Minister of State for Education Dr Subhas Sarkar inaugurated a new academic block at the Sri City campus. Spread over 25,000 sq ft, it houses laboratories for physics, bio-sciences and chemistry departments.

The HT Parekh Library located on the campus was recognized as a World Bank repository. The 10,000 sq ft library houses over 28,500 books that also include 50 Indian and international journals in print and over 60000+ e-journals.

The main academic block at Krea University is called the JSW Academic Building. The building was inaugurated in 2023 by Sangita Jindal, Chairperson, JSW Foundation and Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and Managing Director, JSW Group of Companies. The JSW Academic Building is a built up area of  110,000 sq ft. The ground +3 floors of sustainably built space houses classrooms, faculty cabins, PhD workstations, admin workspaces, meeting rooms, seminar halls, tutorial halls, media lab, science labs, dance studio, and a student lounge.

Sports facilities include a basketball court, futsal field, football field, and cricket nets. Indoor games like badminton, table tennis, pool, and foosball are also available.

There are separate air-conditioned dining spaces for faculty and students. The campus also has standalone shops in the canteen, a coffee shop, and a cafe.

Undergraduate
Krea University offers four-year residential undergraduate programmes in the liberal arts and sciences leading to BA (Honours) and BSc (Honours) degrees, with an option to pursue a three-year BA and BSc course at the School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences.

For students fresh out of school, IFMR GSB offers a five-year Integrated BBA+MBA course.

Postgraduate
IFMR GSB offers a two-year MBA programme where students can choose from eight different specializations. Capstone Business Simulation is part of the MBA programme.

IFMR GSB has curated an Executive MBA programme with specialisation in finance, supply chain, human relations and industry relations for executives of L&T Construction.

Doctorate
IFMR GSB offers PhD programmes from Madras University, including Organisational Behaviour & Human Resource Management, Strategic Management, Finance, Information Systems & Data Science, Economics, Marketing, Operations and Management.

SIAS at Krea University offers a PhD programme in the Humanities and Sciences.

Certificate Courses
The Executive Education Programme at IFMR GSB also offers Certificate Programmes in Data Science, Blockchain Management and Leadership and Fintech.

The Data Science certificate courses have been ranked amongst the “Top Ten Data Analytics Programs” in the country.

Partnerships
Krea University partnered with the University of Bristol to collaborate in the area of Sciences and Humanities at both student, faculty and research level. It also includes a 3+1 progression partnership for students at Krea, in flagship programmes offered by the University of Bristol.

Researchers from the Yale Economic Growth Center work closely with Inclusion Economics India Centre at Krea University.

For the Summer 2022 program, undergraduate students nominated from Krea University participated in the Data and Policy Summer Scholar Program at the Harris School of Public Policy at UChicago.

Krea University has partnered with the Dalai Lama Centre For Ethics and Transformative Values to introduce ethics in its UG curriculum.

WayCool Foods has partnered with IFMR GSB at Krea University to kickstart a leadership development programme called LEAP (Learn. Emerge. Accelerate. Progress).

Krea University has inked a partnership with Kauvery Hospital to operate and maintain a health centre and pharmacy at the campus in Sri City.

Faculty
Some of the faculty at Krea University include:


 * Prof S Sivakumar, Dean of Research and Professor of Physics. He has penned an article on Quantum gates in The Hindu.
 * Professor Lakshmi Kumar, Dean at IFMR GSB.
 * Dr Prithvi Data Chandra Shobhi, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of History.
 * Dr Kalyan Chakrabarti, Associate Dean ( Students) and also Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Chemistry.
 * Dr Panchali Ray, Associate Dean (Academic) and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies.
 * Ramachandra Guha, renowned historian, is part of the faculty.
 * Dr Vinod Kumar Saranathan teaches biological sciences at Krea.
 * Dr. Anannya Dasgupta directs the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy.
 * Dr Sumitra Ranganathan, Dr Srajana Kaikini, Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh and Anil Srinivasan, comprise the Global Arts Programme.
 * Dr Aashique Ahmed Iqbal is the Assistant Professor of history. He has penned a book 'The Aeroplane and the Making of Modern India'.
 * Sayantan Datta, is the faculty teaching associate at Krea Centre for Writing and Pedagogy.
 * V Anantha Nageswaran was Dean at IFMR GSB.

Learning Centres
Krea University is home to the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy. They have conducted various workshops over the years across India.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre conducted various workshops on online writing and writing pedagogies during the pandemic, in academic institutions such as Azim Premji University.

In 2019, they conducted a workshop for teachers titled ‘Script Sound Sense: Teaching Critical Reading and Writing’.

LEAD
A non-profit research organization conducting high-quality scalable action research and outreach in development economics and finance. Programmes enabled include Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE), Inclusive Cashless Payment Partnership (CATALYST) and Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) India.

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
A global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. In South Asia, it has partnerships in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Much of Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo's work on randomized control trials for shaping policy in India was done at J-PAL South Asia.

Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
A Centre of excellence for advanced research in humanities and social sciences. The centre was inaugurated by vice president of India Venkaiah Naidu. It commemorates veteran freedom fighter, Member of the Constituent Assembly, the Provisional Parliament two-time Rajya Sabha member Moturi Satyanarayana.

Sapien Lab Centre for Human Brain and Mind
The centre was inaugurated by K. Vijay Raghavan, former principal scientific adviser to the Government of India. It seeks to track and understand the impact of the changing environment on the human brain, and its consequences for the individual and society. The studies will be used to mitigate risks and enhance outcomes.

Water, Environment, Land and Livelihoods Labs (WELL Labs)
WELL Labs was started in April 2023 as an autonomous centre based in IFMR. Dr Veena Srinivasan, a water expert with 20 years of experience, is the founder. In collaboration with Krea University and other centres at IFMR, the lab will address challenges pertaining to land and water. Their priorities include translating research outputs to measurable societal impact.

Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion (CDFI)
A social enterprise developing and supporting digital innovations for social impact.

Inclusion Economics India Centre
In 2022, IFMR and Inclusion Economics at Yale University signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct policy-engaged research that promotes inclusive economies and societies. The collaboration will focus on data collection, research, close engagement with policymakers, and communication of data-driven insights to inform and encourage evidence-based dialogues on economic and social inclusion. Krea University will provide strategic oversight.

Student achievements
Sai Balaji, a second year BA student of economics and psychology at Krea University, was selected to be part of the Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relationships in February 2022.

Naveen Prasad Alex, A student of biological sciences at Krea University was selected as the junior fellow of New York Academy of Sciences. Naveen is also known for being one of the youngest butterfly researchers from the country. His research on butterflies was well talked about during the 26th edition of the Kerala Science Congress being organized at Kerala Agriculture and Veterinary University (KVASU) at Pookkodu

Divya B, a student of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, cleared the admissions process at Krea University and was supported with a full scholarship for academics and hostel fees.

Naga Satish Pasupuleti, a 19-year-old student of Krea University, became the youngest person in the world to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro twice in two days and eight hours from June 28.

Events
Former Governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, was the chief guest at the 2023 convocation of Krea University. Over 385 students received their degrees.

In 2023, students at Krea University organised and hosted the very first TEDx event on campus which included various eminent speakers and discussions.

IFMR GSB organised the Research Symposium on Finance and Economics (RSFE) 2022. This is an annual event where researchers and academics from all over the globe meet to discuss imperative trends in the field.

Krea University conducted a webinar titled ‘R&D and National Prosperity' as a part of the ‘Krea Science Talks’ series.