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
- Prof. Achyuta Samanta — Founder, KIIT & Former Member of Parliament
- Dr. Abhilasha Gaur — CEO, IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council, nasscom
- Ambrish Sinha — CEO, UNext Learning
- Dr. Annie Jacob — Director, KCG College of Technology
- Anshuman Mohanty — Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Head of Digital Infrastructure & Technology, Manipal University Jaipur
- Dr. Anurag Batra — Chairman, BW Businessworld
- Dr. Ashwin Fernandes — Chair, QS India & VP, Strategic and International Engagement
- Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar — Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal
- Chris Whittle — Founder and Executive Chairman, Baret Scholars
- Harinarayan Sharma — CEO, Manipal Foundation
- Dr Jayasankar Variyar — Vice Chancellor, IILM University, Greater Noida
- Krutarth Shah — Member, Governing Body & Board of Management, FLAME University
- 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)
- Prof. (Dr.) Madhu Veeraraghavan — Pro Vice Chancellor, MAHE Bengaluru
- Manoj Madhavan Kutty — Director of Admissions & Outreach, SRM Group
- Prof. (Dr.) N. N. Sharma — President, Manipal University Jaipur
- Dr. Nikhil Agarwal — Managing Director, FITT, IIT Delhi
- Dr. Palak Sheth — Project Director, Jio Institute
- Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan — Former Minister - Finance, Information Technology and Digital Services, Tamil Nadu
- Pratham Mittal — Founder, Masters Union
- Rajdeepak Das — Chairperson, Leo Burnett India
- Rajiv Tandon — CEO, BITS Pilani Digital & Industry Research Partnerships
- Dr. Santosh S. Sonavane — Vice Chancellor, Pimpri Chinchwad University
- Shri Satya Prakash (S.P.) Singh — Chief General Manager, SIDBI
- Prof. (Dr.) Suman Bhattacharya — Director, KIIT Kareer School & Next-Gen Learning
- Syed Sultan Ahmed — Founder, LXL Ideas
- 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. Ananth Padmanabhan — Vice-Chancellor, Sreenidhi University
- Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Raina — Vice Chancellor, MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
- Dr. Madhu Chitkara — President and Co-Founder, Chitkara University
- Ms. Pratibha Jain — Head of Strategy & Group General Counsel, Everstone Group
- Mr. Pratham Mittal — Founder, Masters' Union
- Mr. R. Janardhan — Pro Vice Chancellor, Dayananda Sagar University
- Srikanth Venkatraman — Chief Executive Officer (i/c), ICT Academy
- Dr. Kokil Jain — Dean, Research & Outreach, FIIB
- Dr. Arvind Sahay — Director, MDI Gurgaon
- Ashutosh Pathak — Chief Technology Officer, Navodaya Education Trust
- Raghu Panicker — Chief Executive Officer, Kaynes SemiCon
- Abhay G. Chebbi — Pro-Chancellor, Alliance University
- Vishal Chatrath — Co-Founder & CEO, QuantrolOx
- Gaurav Jain — Partner, Kaizenvest
- Dr. Praphul Chandra — Dean of Research & Director (AI CoE), Atria University
- Dr. Neeraj Saxena — Pro Chancellor, JIS University
- Madhavi Shankar — Co-Founder & CEO, SpaceBasic
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