Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has won the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia Award for its outstanding contribution to environmental leadership. At the heart of this recognition is Amrita University’s ground-breaking initiative Live-in-Labs, an internship programme in rural India. The students live in impoverished villages across the country to collaborate with the community and find sustainable solutions for the challenges faced by the people in their daily lives. Since its beginning in 2013, Live-in-Labs has reached more than 1 million beneficiaries across 25 States. The university is the only Indian institution to receive the award this year.
”Innovative efforts mobilise much of the brain power of the university in service of environmental sustainability while helping students to develop essential competencies to become sustainability stewards: empathy, humility, compassion”, observed the judges.
Maneesha V. Ramesh, Amrita’s Provost & Dean of Amrita School for Sustainable Futures, said: “Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is extremely honoured to be selected for our contribution to Environmental Leadership by THE Awards Asia 2024. When our Chancellor, Mata Amritanandmayi envisioned Live-in-Labs over a decade ago, Amrita was one of the first universities in the world to provide an opportunity for students to experience village life and codesign sustainable solutions for solving the challenges in the community. There is more to do and we shall remain steadfast in our mission to offer sustainable solutions.”
