Shiv Nadar Foundation was established in 1994, with a primary focus to create iconic institutions of excellence in learning across the education spectrum. The Foundation was conceived and created by Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman of HCL - a $ 7 billion global technology and IT enterprise. Mr. Nadar refers to himself as a product of education and strongly supports the vision that education empowers individuals and is vital to reap our demographic dividend.
For the last 18 years the foundation has endeavored to promote inclusive education; make higher education effective that caters to the specific needs of the job market, enhance focus on research and contribute to areas of global and national relevance. Today the Foundation is reaching out to students at both the school and university level across urban and rural India. The objective is to leverage the power of inclusive education and make measurable high impact to the lives of children and youth.
The Foundation aims to achieve this through the route of creative philanthropy, whose potential impact is envisioned as - if it impacts 10,000 students in the next 10 years, each one of them has the power to touch several other lives. Such a force multiplier will impact millions of lives – individuals, communities and the nation at large. The aim is to create “spirals of inspiration” that can drive real inclusive growth for the future. The Foundation is unique in its creative rather than corrective approach and has a more focused outreach rather than the mass-based approach. This is a conscious decision bearing in mind that Foundation is committed to creating leaders, who in turn will become the change agents of tomorrow.
The Initiatives of Foundation in the field of education other than the Shiv Nadar University are:
VidyaGyan is a leadership academy, designed for the economically underprivileged, meritorious students of rural India. Established in 2009, VidyaGyan envisions bridging the urban-rural divide by creating leaders from India’s rural hinterland who can act as catalysts of change for their communities, villages, and the nation.
Shiv Nadar School is the K-12 urban education initiative of Shiv Nadar Foundation and is based on the core philosophy that preparing students for what would probably be a very different tomorrow means that they need to be educated differently.
SSN Institutions Established in 1996, SSN Institutions are one of the premier centers of learning in India, with the mission to pursue excellence in higher education and research. Located in Chennai, SSN offers a distinct combination of some of the finest undergraduate, graduate, and research programs. SSN institutions include - SSN College of Engineering; SSN School of Management; SSN School of Advanced Software Engineering; SSN School of Advanced Career Education; SSN Research Centre.
Shiksha Initiative is a technology-driven literacy and enhanced learning program. It focuses on primary education (grades 1-5) and is being implemented in rural Uttar Pradesh as a mass intervention initiative.
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) is India’s first private philanthropic art museum exhibiting modern and contemporary works from India and the subcontinent. Established in 2010, KNMA envisions instilling a deep appreciation of art, by making art visible and accessible to all strata of the society in one of the world-class museums.