Mahindra University

Summary

Mahindra University is a private, interdisciplinary university established in 2014 in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Founded by the Mahindra Group and sponsored via Mahindra Educational Institutions—a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra—it encompasses schools of Engineering (through its École Centrale partnership), Management, Law, Education, Media, Life Sciences, Hospitality, and Design. Led by Chancellor Anand Mahindra and Vice-Chancellor Dr Yajulu Medury, it operates on a 130-acre campus featuring cutting‑edge facilities—including a NVIDIA DGX‑1 supercomputer—and dedicated Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Infrastructure.

History

The origins of Mahindra University date back to 2014, when it began as Mahindra École Centrale, an institution developed in collaboration with École Centrale Paris. The idea was to create an engineering school in India that could combine the strengths of global technical education with a strong focus on humanities, ethics and leadership. This partnership reflected Mahindra Group’s commitment to raising educational standards in India by offering international exposure and academic rigour within a local context.

The institution operated successfully as an engineering college in its early years. On 24 July 2020, it was officially reconstituted as Mahindra University, broadening its scope far beyond engineering. This transition represented a strategic step towards building a multidisciplinary university that could integrate science, technology, design and liberal studies, while also nurturing socially responsible leaders.

The campus in Hyderabad spans 130 acres and was developed to international standards. From its inception, the infrastructure was designed to support advanced research and innovation. Among its notable facilities is the NVIDIA DGX-1 supercomputer, which supports computational research in artificial intelligence, data sciences and other emerging technologies. The university also created Centres of Excellence in innovation and sustainable infrastructure, with plans for future centres in areas such as computational mechanics and optics.

Sponsorship of the university comes from Mahindra Educational Institutions, a subsidiary of Tech Mahindra. This link to one of India’s largest industrial groups gives Mahindra University both credibility and the resources to attract high-quality faculty, students and industry partners. Anand Mahindra’s leadership as Chancellor has been central to its identity as a forward-looking institution committed to creating a new paradigm in education.

In the years following its establishment as a university, several new schools were added to broaden academic offerings. These include the School of Management, School of Law, School of Education, School of Media, School of Hospitality Management, School of Design Innovation, and Life Sciences. This expansion reflects the Mahindra Group’s vision of creating an institution that embraces multiple disciplines while retaining its core strength in engineering and technology.

Mahindra University’s approach to education is multidisciplinary and experiential. Students are encouraged to combine technical learning with exposure to liberal arts, ethics and design, ensuring they graduate with well-rounded knowledge and leadership skills. This philosophy is designed to address the changing demands of global economies, where innovation, adaptability and ethical responsibility are critical.

The vision was clearly articulated by its leadership. Anand Mahindra described the institution as a new paradigm of education for India, while Vineet Nayyar stressed the importance of producing engineers who also understood business and humanities. Vice-Chancellor Yajulu Medury emphasised the balance between reflection, innovation and ethics. These guiding principles continue to shape the development of Mahindra University.

Today, Mahindra university has undertaken alliances with research institutions, partnerships with government and other agencies, thus leaving no stone unturned to ensure the quality of their academic programs and excellence of our teaching, learning and research. The four schools, Mahindra École Centrale School of Engineering, Mahindra University School of Management, Mahindra University School of Law, The Indira Mahindra School of Education, are uniquely placed and equipped with the understanding that is expected to propel the students to attain their best.

Top Creative Courses

Mahindra University’s School of Design Innovation is a paradigm shift in design education focusing on collaborative innovation and foundation courses ranging from engineering to Humanities. Among the leading programmes at Mahindra University, B.Des in Design Innovation stands out.  Mahindra University (MU) Hyderabad’s newly established School of Design Innovation is offering interdisciplinary Four-year Bachelors in Design degree pracademic year 2024-25. Sponsored by Mahindra Educational Institutions, a subsidiary of the flagship IT company of the Mahindra Group, Mahindra University’s purpose is “To educate future citizens for and of a better world’. Mahindra University’s School of Design Innovation is experiential and practice oriented and hence the students can either start their own companies or can work for industries around their specialization. They also can pursue their post-graduation at Mahindra University: it offers a MOU with

Mahindra University’s Bachelor of Journalism and Communication is offered by the School of Digital Media and Communication. Special emphasis will be laid on digital media and a graduating student enters the industry digital-first. Competency-building is the fulcrum of the collaborative interface between the School of Digital Media and Communication and the student. The elements of these competencies perform a critical role for a student in the commitment to their role and exercise of responsible agency. Exposing students to eclectic voices is an important part of their learning. The main career focus between these degree programs will be in news, film and television industries. However, we expect a significant percentage of graduates to be entrepreneurial, as recent trends have shown.

The B.Tech Computation and Media is a four-year, rigorous and complex interdisciplinary program involving a matrix of courses from Computer Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, Journalism and Mass Communication, and general engineering. It prepares the students to be engineers who can enter the news, entertainment, and related industries while being fully equipped with the skills and competencies required for the application of these new technologies. An example of a carefully curated interdisciplinarity is when students learn language models, writing, media production, and the psychology of human-computer interaction so that they can adopt it in newsrooms, game development, film production, and advertising strategy.

News broadcast has particularly benefited from the new technological ecosystem. For example, the sociological ramifications of technology were particularly on display when The New York Times used the XR technology to place the viewer in the middle of a refugee camp in Syria to experience war first-hand. By highlighting the horrors of conflict that are usually a distant and detached reality, the media consumer is suddenly involved in change-making. This is a journalistic function, and it comes with ethical concerns. Similarly, the United Nations has evolved the UN VR App, which highlights urges citizens at large to take action to highlighted urgent concerns. A student in this B.Tech. Computation and Media course will straddle this complex journey of tech-enabled mediated communication with sociological, cultural and ethical considerations.

Job Integration Rate

Mahindra University has recorded strong outcomes in student placements, reflecting its close ties with industry and its emphasis on experiential learning. For the 2024 graduating batch, approximately 90 per cent of eligible students received job offers. More than 125 companies participated in campus recruitment, offering internships and full-time positions across multiple sectors. The highest salary package offered reached ₹40 lakh per annum, while the average stood at around ₹9.1 lakh per annum.

Over the period of 5 batches, more than 200 recruiters have participated in on-campus & off-campus for full time and internship processes and selected 90% of the interested and eligible students. There is an addition of 35+ organisations every year over different sectors who are invited to the campus for recruitment. Reputed firms from banking, consulting, IT and retail participate, underlining the university’s reputation as a provider of industry-ready graduates.

References

• “State Private University Telangana”. University Grants Commission (India). 
• “Mahindra Group launches university for interdisciplinary learning”. Livemint. 
• “Mahindra Group launches university in Hyderabad for interdisciplinary programmes”. Business Today. 
• “Anand Mahindra commits over Rs 500 cr for Mahindra University”. MSN.