“I think the need of the hour is more cross-functional education": Kumar Mangalam Birla

Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chancellor of BITS Pilani, anchored the convocation for the 2025 batch of the engineering college. 

Kumar Mangalam Birla speaks at 2025 convocation of BITS Pilani

Talking about the institute's degree programme, which allows one to pursue engineering at BITS Pilani and a master's in management from BITS School of Management (BITSoM) simultaneously, he said, “I think that is the new focus area, and that is how the real world works.”

Birla stressed the need for cross-functional education to keep up with technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI).

He explained that cross-functional curricula meant pursuing multiple courses at different campuses simultaneously.

“I think the need of the hour is more cross-functional education. The curriculum of many subjects needs to be revised or supplemented with courses that are transeducational,” Birla said to The Mint at a press conference held at Birla Institute of Technological Sciences (BITS), Pilani.

The Chairman of Aditya Birla Group further announced a ₹1,000 crore investment to set up a campus in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh, specialising in AI and other advanced technologies.

Birla shared that this “AI+ campus” will enrol its first batch by 2027.

“The focus of this campus will be to prepare Indian talent for leadership in the defining technologies of our time. This future-ready campus will specialise in AI, data science, robotics, computational linguistics, and cyber-physical systems,” the billionaire businessman said.

“The undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes have been designed with global best practices in mind, offering industry internships, joint PhDs with top international universities, and hybrid twinning models that give students true international exposure,” he added.

Besides this new campus, Birla made two other critical announcements, one about the expansion of its campuses—Pilani, Hyderabad, and Goa—focused on building “capacity at scale”, named ‘Project Vistaar’.

Under this, an investment of over ₹1,200 crore is dedicated to constructing new academic blocks, cutting-edge research facilities, student hostels, and faculty residences, alongside a broad range of amenities designed to cultivate a holistic, future-ready learning environment. [Source: Live Mint]

The industrialist further announced the launch of BITS Pilani Digital, an edtech platform that will offer 32 programmes, including 11 degree and 21 certificate courses, in the next five years.

The platform will reach over 100,000 learners from high schoolers to undergraduates to college students to working professionals.

“While expanding campuses is vital, India’s education challenge also demands scale, flexibility, and inclusivity. India is one of the world’s youngest nations. Nearly 65% of our population is under 35, but the stark reality is that too many of our bright, ambitious minds still lack access to the kind of high-quality, flexible education that transforms lives,” Birla said, about the edtech programme.

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