Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli | 11 July 2025 50 Vice-Chancellors from leading Indian Universities across 15 Indian States gathered for a confluence that was organised by Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence at a remote village, which has gained global acclaim in the small town of Chikkaballapur in Karnataka. Sathya Sai Grama at Muddenahalli village, which is about 30 minutes from the Bangalore International Airport, is an international hub, that shines like a star in a cloudy sky, giving light and love to millions of people from around the world, through its humanitarian services of Nutrition, Education, and Healthcare that are offered completely free of charge to all.
Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence is in fact one of its many shoots that offers the fruit of true education at the higher education level, completely free of charge to its students. True education is defined by this University as that which caters not only to the intellectual growth of students, but also to their mental, emotional, and more importantly their spiritual growth. Thus, the University is founded on the principles of imparting holistic education that caters to the body, mind and soul of every student, only to make them brilliant, competent and compassionate—all at the same time.
It is in this context that the University organises several conferences and events at the national and international levels to galvanize collective momentum to achieve common goals. With an objective of improving the quality of higher education by infusing and strengthening the ‘Values-Based Education’ component in them, the University organised an All India Vice-Chancellors Conference in February 2025 on the theme ‘Values-Based Education in the Indian Context’ under the guidance of its Founder Chancellor, Sri Madhusudan Sai. The conference attracted university leaders from 18 States, including 44 Vice-Chancellors from 50 Universities. Buoyed with the positive feedback and deep appreciation for this Conference from the participants, the University continued its efforts towards revolutionizing the higher education system of the country by launching the second edition of All India Vice-Chancellors Conference that was held on 08 and 09 July 2025, with the theme ‘Humane Education for a Better World.’
An education that not just loads the mind with information, but also nurtures the heart with compassion is the need of the hour. Humans are meant to be humane in the first place, before pursuing progress high up the ladder of achievements and advancements. It is imperative to pause and ponder over this, especially at the crucial junction of higher education, so that the providers of higher education are able to contribute to a better world through its students, who will be sources of strength, character, nobility, respect, kindness and compassion.
This second edition of the All-India Vice-Chancellors Conference 2025 forged a powerful confluence of academic leadership who contributed to the think tank of humane education for creating a better world.
‘Sri Sathya Sai Bharath Samskriti Samman’, a ceremony to honour the vedic tradition of India was held as part of the Inaugural Session of the Conference. The Samman chose the best vedic student, the ideal vedic teacher, and the best vedic pāthaśālā or gurukulam across the country, and awarded them with a cash prize, citation and medal, in an effort to encourage vedic learning and foster vedic culture. The Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence also awarded scholarships worth 25,000 INR to 100 students of the Banaras Hindu University, as part of the collaborative Memorandum of Understanding which was exchanged with Banaras Hindu University’s Bharat Adhyayan Kendra in the year 2022.
Handapangoda Niwathapa Thero, a Buddhist Monk who is renowned for his teachings of Theravada Buddhism, particularly in Sri Lanka, attended the event and addressed the Vice-Chancellors thus: “Dear Vice-Chancellors, you are navigating the world for your students. You have dedicated your life to students and their life. While you have trained so many students, it will make a big difference if you can look at inculcating values and righteousness in them, to create a better world. The youngsters of today are educated, but they are vexed and frustrated. It is only through inculcating values and teaching them humaneness that we can add value to their lives. When Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai met me at Sri Lanka, I felt it was a divine call because we had the same purpose and that is to awaken the world to the ideal of ‘vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam.’ This message will pass through you, the educators, to our children. I am here to help Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai achieve this goal.”
Dr V N Rajasekharan Pillai, the Vice-Chancellor of Somaiya Vidyavihar University said, “The Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence is where I see humane excellence, and not just human excellence. Today’s education is imparting knowledge and skills to the students, but they must also teach them how to apply the knowledge and skills to the society. Learning includes the process of unlearning too. Unlearning means to give up all prejudices. It is only through humane education, that we can achieve human excellence.”
Mr Tejasvi Surya was present for the occasion and he spoke enthusiastically about the purpose of education by saying, “The pursuit of excellence is the hall mark of a civilisation. Education should bring forth the inherent individuality and uniqueness in everyone. Education should free one’s mind from all kinds of conditioning and make it think critically. It must instil in us an insatiable hunger to understand the nature of the world and see things for what they are. Life long learning and life long pursuit of excellence can alone make us thrive and become indispensable in this world. The need for good leadership and integrity have to be fulfilled through higher education institutions.”
Sri Madhusudan Sai, the Founder Chancellor of the Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence said, “At the Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, education is not just for living, but it is for life. It is a journey within, and not without. Character is the end goal of education – it is the ability to do the right thing always – both in good and bad situations. We are in a very poignant moment where it is time to think if we can realign to embrace humane education? Contextualising education to humanise education is very important. He is truly educated who has the heart of Buddha (compassion), the head of Shankara (brilliance), and the hands of Janaka (serving the society). May we work together, flow together and reach together to humanise and divinise education.”