To receive the award Mr Sudhakar Rao, Director, Branding, ICFAI Group and Dr S P Gupta, one of the Vice Chancellors in ICFAI Group represented the Institute. While receiving the award Mr Sudhakar Rao thanked the Brands Academy and exulted that it has been presented by non other than Grand Master Viswanathan Anand. He further said “ICFAI is one of the largest groups of Universities in India and therefore truly deserves this recognition.”

“As you are all aware Brands Academy is the only organization in India to offer an unparalleled platform to provide recognition and exposure to the efforts of institutions, professionals and organizations in contributing towards the economic growth of the country and making the Indian youth more employable and generating employment for them” explained Mr S K Sahu, Vice President, Brands Academy.

About Brands Academy: Brands Academy is a premier brand management consultancy in India. The Portfolio of Brand Academy includes design and development of brand strategy and brand architecture, name development, market research and implementation of brand positioning and repositioning campaigns to win the hearts of different target audiences.

Educational Excellence Awards were conceptualized in the year 2010 by Brands Academy in association with renowned media partners, with the aim to felicitate people who have and are dedicating their skills and themselves in the noble cause of imparting education to the society. We recognize the deserving candidate, group or institute across the country on various parameters and from a diverse categories, and acknowledge their contribution in the growth of the education sector. The market research study was conducted by Brands Academy to select the winner in the month of March 2014. ICFAI Universities: ICFAI has set-up 11 Universities across India at Hyderabad (ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, which is a Deemed University) Tripura, Dehradun, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh (Baddi) and Raipur. The ICFAI Universities offer various Bachelor’s and Master’s Programs in Management, Science and Technology, Law, Hospitality & Tourism Management, Information Technology and other areas.

The ICFAI Group has been recognized as a “Great Place to Study in India” on June 24, 2014 at the House of Commons, London, United Kingdom. The award has been presented by Bob Blackman, Member of Parliament, UK to ICFAI Group represented by Sudhakar Rao, Director, Branding. SkillTree Knowledge Consortium constituted these awards which in its communication said, “With true sense, your institute is a great place to study not only for Indian students but also for global students. Your vision and excellence practice have allowed us to count you as face of Indian higher education”.

While receiving the award Sudhakar Rao said, “On behalf of the ICFAI University, I am deeply honored to receive the prestigious award especially presented at the House of Commons. This award will no doubt increase our commitment towards quality education benchmarks and is a befitting reward to the several innovative steps the University has taken to achieve quality higher education. The University offers a balance between academic, co-curricular, extracurricular and social activities to help the students become well-rounded persons with concern for the society”.

“Skill Tree Great Place to Study is an international academic auditing and research wing that studies, recognizes and creates great institutions of international standard. It is a bi-annual recognition and India’s only international award and felicitation platform. It has a thorough scrutinizing process of rigorous research and auditing, & a dedicated jury that goes about its task scrupulously. To ensure that the credibility of the process is not compromised, there are also in place high-end transparent benchmarks for the selection of institutions. The objective is to highlight institutions that offer excellent world class education. This was our first certification ceremony,” elaborates Shekhar A. Bhattacharjee, Founder, SkillTree Knowledge Consortium, on the aims and aspirations of ‘SkillTree Great Place to Study’.

The high-profile gathering saw senior representatives from over 20 of India’s most prominent colleges and universities interacted with esteemed UK Public personalities, business leaders and academicians from education sector.

About the event: To showcase India’s prowess as a global-leader in education attainment as well as to demonstrate the country’s vast potential as a hub of learning and development. SkillTree Knowledge consortium, India’s first syndicate of private universities and institutions in the country, has launched this unique initiative. The event was organized in association with the international communications and brand consultancy “Sterling Media” and is powered by “Lavasa Corporation Limited”, a subsidiary of HCC (Hindustan Construction Company).

Another example that is a testimony to the culture of innovation is the introduction of Case Study methodology at IBS. The Case Research Center at IBS, has become a center of excellence and has won several accolades across the world.

ICFAI Group has 2 Strategic Institutional Units, the ICFAI Universities and the ICFAI Business Schools. In all the programs offered across these units, the emphasis is on adherence to academic rigor and differentiated curriculum that bridges the industry – academia gap

ICFAI Group focuses on learning rather than instruction. In addition, the institute is engaged in important areas of research covering environmental sustainability, agricultural economics, health policy, financial economics, banking, intellectual property rights etc. There have been path-breaking research and good quality publications in these areas.

Flexible and tech enabled learning also plays an important role in ICFAI’s teaching methodology. The delivery takes place with the use of hi-tech learning management system at campus programs and content delivery for distance learning through online medium.

ICFAI Group practices the value of academic integrity at all levels. As a policy, admissions are purely based on merit and there is nothing like capitation fee et al. The fee payable is published in the application material and that remains unchanged.

The ICFAI Group’s culture of teaching and learning supports and fosters intellectual and personality development among its graduating students. They carry an attitude of ownership of their work. ICFAI Group strives to make the students - DOERS. The programs are designed such that the students & professionals graduating from the institution have the ability to take risks, make decisions and own the work. ICFAI Group strongly believes in developing an ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ among its graduating students.

At ICFAI, students inculcate research and analytical orientation due to its institutional strength and support for the research and development activities. Holistically, the student undergoes a transformative change. The alumni of ICFAI Group are working in renowned companies world-wide. Collectively, ICFAI Group alumni contribute significantly to the growth story of India.