Edupreneurship:AnAnalysis of Factors Contributing to Success of Vignan Educational Institutions

Abstract

With successful entrepreneurial ability and corporate enthusiasm, an edupreneur Dr. Lavu Rathaiah, an eldest son of a poor farmer with rural background was a pioneer in promoting Vignan educational institutions in the A.P. Vignan Educational Group is a popular and one of the largest education providers of A.P. Dr. Lavu Rathaiah has started his career as lecturer in Chemistry in one of the junior colleges in Guntur in the year 1977. He has started a coaching centre in Guntur for Engineering and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) appearing students of A.P in the Year 1978 with a modest strength of 150. By the year 2012 student strength has shot up to 60,000 with an annual turnover Rs 200 crores, catering to the needs of engineering , pharmacy and general education (KG to PG) at different locations in A.P. One the milestones of Vignan group are that its first engineering college, which started in the year 1997, is transformed into deemed to be a university in the year 2009. The Vignan Group is providing direct employment to 2000 people (including teaching and non-teaching) and indirect employment to 500 people. The Vignan Group is a forerunner in starting residential education at +2 levels (Intermediate) in A.P. It is providing quality education in all the fields of its operations. Factors contributing to the success of this group are adhered of academic schedules, student counseling, seasoned staff and state-of- the art infrastructure. To sustain its progress many best practices are reported in the areas of curriculum planning, deliver of contents, participant evaluation, faculty motivation efforts and measuring programme effectiveness continuously are discussed in this paper. Other innovative practices adopted by the Vignan Group are like student counseling convening parents meet, remedial classes to the slow-learners. Faculty Induction Programme (FIP) for newly recruited staff members, Faculty Development Programme (FDP) for existing faculty members to keep abreast of emerging trends are conducted on regular basis. Apart from these other innovative practices that are lead to the success of Vignan are also discussed in this paper.