A private summit for leaders shaping higher education’s next decade
Ken42 Annual Higher Education Summit 2026
By Invitation Only · Udaipur, India · August 2026
- August 12–14, 2026 — Wednesday to Friday
- Limited group — By invitation only
- Udaipur, India — Private destination
Venue: Fairmont Udaipur Palace, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Behind 42 Degrees.
Perspectives across education, technology, capital, and culture.
42 Degrees will bring together vice chancellors, institution builders, operators, investors, and technology and skilling leaders who can add perspective to the future of Indian higher education.
Confirmed voices
- Mr. Abhay G. Chebbi — Pro-Chancellor, Alliance University
- Dr. Abhilasha Gaur — CEO, IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council, nasscom
- Prof. Achyuta Samanta — Founder, KIIT & Former Member of Parliament
- Dr. Ajit Parulekar — Director, Goa Institute of Management
- Dr. Aman Mittal — Vice President, Lovely Professional University (LPU)
- Ambrish Sinha — CEO, UNext Learning
- Amrit Singh Chawla — Trustee, SGT University
- Dr. Ananth Padmanabhan — Vice-Chancellor, Sreenidhi University
- Anshuman Mohanty — Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Head of Digital Infrastructure & Technology, Manipal University Jaipur
- Dr. Anubhav Singh — Pro Vice Chancellor, Future University
- Dr. Anurag Batra — Chairman, BW Businessworld
- Ashutosh Pathak — Chief Technology Officer, Navodaya Education Trust
- Dr. Ashwin Fernandes — Chair, QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) India and Vice President, Strategic and International Engagement
- Atul Khosla — Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University.
- Prof. (Dr.) Basavaraj G. Katageri — Pro Vice Chancellor, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru
- Prof. Bharat Bhasker — Director, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
- Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar — Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal
- Chris Whittle — Founder and Executive Chairman, Baret Scholars
- Devarajan Chinnusamy — Chairman & Managing Director, URC group of companies
- Dipit Sharma — Vice President, Shoolini Online, Shoolini University
- Gaurav Jain — Partner, Kaizenvest
- Dr. Godwin Tennyson — Director (In-charge), Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli
- Harinarayan Sharma — CEO, Manipal Foundation
- Jai Daga — Chief Technology Officer & Director – IT, South Indian Education Society (SIES)
- Dr. Jayasankar Variyar — Vice Chancellor, IILM University, Greater Noida
- Dr. K. N. Selvakumar — Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University
- Ketan Hajarnavis — Member, Board of Governors, Goa Institute of Management
- Dr. Kokil Jain — Dean, Research & Outreach, FIIB
- Kopal Chaube — Lead, Research Collaborations and Partnerships, South Asia, Western Sydney University
- Krutarth Shah — Member, Governing Body & Board of Management, FLAME University
- Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Raina — Vice Chancellor, MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
- Luis Miranda — Co-Founder, Indian School of Public Policy
- Dr. M P Chandran — Chairman, ASIA Charitable Trust and President JG University
- Dr. M Venu Gopal — Vice President, Sona Centre for Advanced Learning & Entrepreneurship (SCALE)
- Madhavi Shankar — Co-Founder & CEO, SpaceBasic
- Dr. Madhu Chitkara — President and Co-Founder, Chitkara University
- Prof. (Dr.) Madhu Veeraraghavan — Pro Vice Chancellor, MAHE Bengaluru
- Manoj Madhavan Kutty — Director of Admissions & Outreach, SRM Group
- Mudith Kumar — Co-Founder, Ideabaaz
- Mukesh Joshi — Director, Technology – Information Systems, CTO (Integrator), FLAME University
- Dr. Neeraj Saxena — Pro Chancellor, JIS University
- Dr. Nikhil Agarwal — Managing Director, FITT, IIT Delhi
- Shri P. Sriram — Chairman, Chennai Institute of Technology
- Dr. Palak Sheth — Project Director, Jio Institute
- Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan — Former Minister - Finance, Information Technology and Digital Services, Tamil Nadu
- Dr. Praphul Chandra — Dean of Research & Director (AI CoE), Atria University
- Pratham Mittal — Founder, Masters Union
- Mr. R. Janardhan — Pro Vice Chancellor, Dayananda Sagar University
- Rajdeepak Das — Chairperson, Leo Burnett India
- Rajiv Tandon — CEO, BITS Pilani Digital & Industry Research Partnerships
- Rishabh Verdia — Strategic Advisor, Turbostart
- Dr. Ruchi Agarwal — Assistant Professor, Strategy and Management at Management Development Institute Gurgaon
- Dr. S. K. Binu Siva Singh — Registrar, Jeppiaar University
- Dr. Santosh S. Sonavane — Vice Chancellor, Pimpri Chinchwad University
- Shri Satya Prakash (S.P.) Singh — Chief General Manager, SIDBI
- Satyam Roychowdhury — Chancellor, Sister Nivedita University; Founder & Managing Director, Techno India Group
- Prof. (Dr.) Saurav Dixit — Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Chitkara University
- Dr. Shankar Subbanarasayya Mantha — Chancellor, RB University, Nagpur
- Prof. Siva Sankar Yellampalli — Director of Admissions, SRM University-AP
- Srikanth Venkatraman — Chief Executive Officer (i/c), ICT Academy
- Srimathi Shivashankar — Corporate Vice President and Global Head, EdTech Business, HCLTech
- Sudhakar Rao — Director, Branding, The ICFAI Group
- Prof. (Dr.) Suman Bhattacharya — Director, KIIT Kareer School & Next-Gen Learning
- Dr. Sunil Rai — Vice Chancellor, UPES
- Dr. Suresh Ramanathan — Chief Executive Officer, IMI (International Management Institute)
- Tejas Patani — Member, Board of Management & Academic Council, FLAME University
- Thyagu Valliappa — Founder & Chief Mentor, SONA SCALE
- V M Muralidharan — Chairperson, Ethiraj College, Chennai
- Dr. Varun Suthra — Director, International Relations, KIIT and KISS
- Varun Yadav — Chairperson and Co-Founder, Shri Khushal Das University (SKDU), Hanumangarh, Rajasthan
- Dr. Vidya Shankar Shetty — Pro Vice Chancellor, Presidency University
- Ms. Vinita Rohera — Vice President and Managing Trustee, Gandhinagar University
- Vishal Chatrath — Co-Founder & CEO, QuantrolOx
- Prof. Ashok Banerjee — Director, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur
Six pillars for the decade ahead.
A focused agenda for the pressures, possibilities, and decisions that will define how institutions lead, grow, and endure.
- Building Institutions that Endure: How universities remain relevant across generations, leadership transitions, and waves of disruption.
- Future of Learning: Redesigning curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and experience for a new generation of learners.
- Driving Research & Innovation: Turning discovery into intellectual property, startups, industry collaboration, and economic impact.
- Capital, Systems & Sustainable Growth: Scaling institutions through capital, expansion, governance, digital systems, and operating discipline.
- Industry, Talent and the Future of Work: Rethinking how all talent is developed, applied and valued in a changing world of work.
- The Lifelong University: Building university relationships that continue beyond graduation through alumni, careers, mentorship, giving, and community.
We'd love to have you in the conversation.
Share a few details and the Ken42 team will be in touch about the first edition.
Request an invitation