Ashoka Alumnus joins as its youngest Founder

Ashoka University is pleased to welcome its youngest Founder – Jairaj Bhattacharya. Jairaj is from the founding batch of the Young India Fellowship, Class of 2012. He is also the first alumnus to be a Founder of the University. Previously, he supported two Young India Fellows through need-based scholarships.
 
Jairaj is the Founder of ConveGenius, an edtech startup that delivers personalised and affordable adaptive learning solutions and educational assessment services. The company has a presence in India, Singapore and Vietnam with 35 million users.
 
Welcoming Jairaj to the Founder group, Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder, and Chairperson, Board of Trustees at Ashoka, said, “This is a significant milestone in Ashoka’s journey to be one of the top universities in the world. Globally top-rated universities are ultimately governed and funded by their alums. As a new university, Ashoka is fortunate to have a YIF founding batch alum lead and pave the way to this ultimate goal for Ashoka.”

“Founders need to come from students giving back to Ashoka and creating that cycle. It is very important for us to understand why we are doing so – we are giving to create a sustainable institute which can drive quality. I urge all alumni to give back, even if it means funding a student. We should have 100 alumni Founders in the next few years.”
Jairaj Bhattacharya

Jairaj added, “I hope my contribution can help other students to go through a similar experience and become leaders and changemakers. To succeed today, you don’t just need technical skills but also be exposed to diverse perspectives. A liberal arts degree helps open up one’s thinking.”

Jairaj holds a BTech in electronics and communications engineering from IIT Hyderabad. Before founding ConveGenius, he worked with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and NASA, USA. He was named the global student entrepreneur of the year in 2013-14.

“It is not too often that we see an alum come back as a Founder in just over a decade. We are hopeful that Jairaj’s generous contribution will inspire the Ashoka alumni community in carrying forward this virtuous cycle of giving.”

Akriti Asthana
Manager, Alumni Relations Office
Ashoka University

The Alumni Relations Office was established in 2018. It currently supports over 4,000 alumni spread across the world. The Office aims to strengthen the Ashoka community by facilitating interactions, encouraging lifelong connections, support, and a culture of giving back. It welcomes contributions from alumni to support scholarships.