Rajasthan: Schools, medical education on JECRC’s radar

JAIPUR: Call it a rite of passage or boot camp, the 72-year-old Krishna Cloth Store in Johri Bazaar was more than a pit stop for the Agarwal family of JECRC University. It was here both Amit and Arpit had their brush with the business world, like their uncle and father OP Agarwal, who later became a CA.

When the state government in 1998 decided to open up higher education to private players, OP Agarwal saw an opportunity. “He told us, both Arpit and me, to study the policy and decide what we can do. I was about 26-year-old then and Arpit was five years junior to me, when we made a blueprint for setting up a college. Our father listened to the idea and gave the go-ahead. That’s how JECRC (Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre) was born in 2000,” recalls Amit.

It was a challenging environment as government degrees were perceived to be more valuable, credible than private ones, despite the latter offering better pedagogy. Amit says the college did attract good students, growing from 152 admissions in the first year to 4,000 now.

For Amit and Arpit, the decade that ensued after was a phase for learning and growing the college both in number of programmes and quality. They had gained enough insights and acumen in the sector that it was not possible to overlook the state government’s new policy for allowing private universities.

“Business somehow runs in our blood. The Krishna Cloth Store in Johri Bazaar, in a sense, just baptized us into that world. When we started college, we did not have experience, but were successful. When the opportunity came, we went ahead to set up JECRC University in 2012 in a brand new campus spread over 40 acres,” says Amit.

From three disciplines and 650 students in 2012, JECRC University has expanded its programmes to 32, offering engineering, computer science, business management, law, mass communication, humanities, fashion design, etc. “The admissions have increased by over 22% this year to over 6,000. Together with the college, we have over 10,000 students. Our hostels with a capacity of 1,600 beds are almost full,” says Amit. The pandemic had its share of impact. But Arpit says that they tried to salvage as much as they can from the situation while taking care of its employees.

“We did not lay off even a single staff, nor cut their salaries. Even increments due last year were honoured. I worked from home to ensure students are not deprived of placements. Over 430 students found placements in a time like that. Finally, we ended 2020-21 with 2,016 placements with 89 companies,” says Arpit.

JECRC is now looking at entering school education on an asset-light model by taking over management of existing facilities on lease or revenue sharing basis. Similarly, it is also looking at opening a medical college. “Over the next three to five years, we would like to venture into both medical and school education. We are coming across schools which look for management takeover. As to the medical college, the discussions are at the primary level now,” adds Amit.