Page 42 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

Cover Story

ed with supreme self-confidence and
vision, to prove all doubters wrong.
Raj is an entrepreneur in the most
fundamental sense with uncanny abil-
ity to project the future, and then build
an institutional structure for achieving
that vision. His sheer physical energy
and stamina and also his personal
magnetism are the defining char-
acteristics behind his extraordinary
achievements,” says Prof. Peter H.
Schuck, an alumnus of Harvard and
Cornell universities, former deputy
dean and currently professor emeri-
tus at the prestigious Yale Law School,
who first met Raj Kumar when the
latter was a research scholar at New
York University. Years later, Schuck Wilkins: extraordinary success story Rajan Gupta: great heights prediction
was persuaded to teach for a year at
the Jindal Global Law School after it on August 7, 2009, I had the honour that they were a part of one of the
admitted its first batch in 2009. of speaking at the inaugural Founder’s most extraordinary success stories in
U NDOUBTEDLY, INDIA’S Law School and O.P. Jindal Global given Raj’s visionary leadership, I
Day ceremony for the Jindal Global
the history of higher education. And
have no doubt that JGU’s next decade
University. But this accomplishment
youngest university vice
chancellor has developed
done since that day. In a little more
Mukesh Ambani-style pales in comparison to what Raj has will be even more remarkable,” says
Dr. David B. Wilkins, Lester Kissel
project implementation capability, than a decade, under Raj’s inspired professor of law, and faculty director
rare in academia. Within a decade of leadership, JGU has grown into a of the Center on the Legal Profession
admitting its first batch of 112 students full-fledged university, rated among at Harvard Law School.
into its law school, JGU has matured the world’s best with world-class fac- According to Raj Kumar, some im-
into a full-fledged multidisciplinary ulty and student body befitting its portant commitments were made by
university with 12 constituent schools aspiration to become a truly global Naveen Jindal when the final decision
of business, international affairs, gov- institution of higher learning. Along was taken to launch JGU. “Mr. Jindal
ernment and public policy, liberal arts the way, Raj also found time to write not only endowed a corpus of Rs.500
and humanities, journalism, commu- several important books, and to play crore to roll out the project, but also
nication, architecture, banking and fi- a leading role in promoting the devel- committed that the university would
nance, business management among opment of legal education and legal be run as a not-for-profit institution
others promoted in quick succession. practice in India and around the world of higher education, with full aca-
Simultaneously the number of stu- as a key collaborator in the Project on demic freedom and total institutional
dents on its fully residential campus Globalisation, Lawyers, and Emerging autonomy. He kept his word and en-
in infrastructurally ill-served rural Economies that I direct. When I had sured his commitments were fulfilled
Sonipat has increased to 8,200 men- the privilege of addressing Jindal’s in letter and spirit. Mr. Jindal’s only
tored by 910 highly qualified faculty, graduating students on August 7, 2019 condition was that the first school of
including 100 full-time international at the tenth anniversary of the univer- the university — the Jindal Global Law
faculty from 41 countries. sity’s founding, I told the assembled School — should be up and running
“Dr. Raj Kumar is a force of nature. students, faculty and administrators within a year. I was appointed the
When Raj, who I had known as a star founding-vice chancellor on February
student in Harvard’s LLM program, 18, 2009. Working flat out 24x7 with
came to see me in 2008 to tell me that Undoubtedly, India’s the excellent engineers of Larsen &
he had persuaded Naveen Jindal to youngest vice chancellor has Toubro, we completed the 100,000 sq.
make an unprecedented endowment ft main building of JGLS in six months
to establish a world-class law school developed Mukesh Ambani- and admitted our first batch of 112
in India, I thought it would take him style project implementation students and ten faculty on Septem-
several years of planning and develop- capability, rare in academia ber 30, 2009. I believe this is a proj-
ment. Instead, less than a year later ect implementation record in Indian

42 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2021