CU-UP Orientation 2025 Launching AI-Augmented Futures

The energy level was high at the orientation program at Chandigarh University, Uttar Pradesh (CU-UP), India’s first AI-augmented multidisciplinary university. It was not just another formality; it was an ignition point for academic pathways for hundreds of new students. Students from the Schools of: Applied Science; Legal Studies, Media Studies, and Pharmacy filled the halls with usable curiosity.
CU-UPwas never designed as a traditional campus, but as a catalyst to challenge and inspire the educational experience, offering a model where artificial intelligence was embedded into education and not bolted on, not as an accessory, but as a core driver of educational processes that shapes sustainability and reinvents healthcare and disrupts innovation. This orientation program was not about introductions; it was to reveal and immerse students into the scale of what is possible when education invests a willingness to change the world.

Dr. Thipendra P. Singh, Pro Vice Chancellor of Uttar Pradesh, opened the orientation ceremony with a welcome that was more than just ceremonial. Speaking to students, parents, and guests, he urged the incoming batch to pursue academic excellence with relentless courage and to think of innovation not as a project but as a mindset. He explained the university's outcome-based academic model, a system where everything in the curriculum worked together with intent and every class moved students towards perfection.

Voices of experience at the orientation

• Mr. Manish Nigam, Secretary, District Legal Services Authority (Unnao) discussed legal awareness and civic responsibility, and how it helps to build a stronger society.
• Dr. Naseem Ahmed Siddiqui, Senior Principal Scientist (Scientist F), spoke on how patents, innovation, and research for nation building are closely linked.
• Dr. Amit Shukla, a media practitioner and academic, explored how mass communication and digital media served not as passive channels of communication but served as channels of massive power to shape public consciousness, and how AI made it easier but at the same time, harder to navigate.

Dr. Ajay Kumar Yadav, the Registrar of Chandigarh University, gave an effective presentation entitled “University at a Glance,” which highlighted CU-UP, previously known as the Chandigarh University of Punjab, ties at a global level, the achievements so far, and the growing network of excellence. Dr. Atul Kumar, the head of EGov, presented on integrating technology into CU-UP’s academics, governance, and student services in the most seamless way possible.

Dr. Gurminder Kaur, Associate Dean, Department of Student Welfare & Engagement, spoke regarding life outside of the classroom, what the initiative and support systems look like to ensure students can flourish in not just academics, but personally and socially as well.

Finally, when it was Prof. Om Prakash Dwivedi, Director of Humanities and Liberal Arts to comment on research, it was a call to arms. “Start now,” he said. Look for interdisciplinary projects; find issues that match national priorities but also global challenges.

"Faculty leadership from three different schools - Dr. Rajesh Sinha (Sciences), Dr. Brijendra Kumar Yadav (Legal Studies), and Prof. Dwivedi (Journalism and Mass Communication) - briefed about Journalism and Mass Communication.

The message was straightforward but powerful: Orientation 2025 at CU-UP was not only a welcome but rather a launch into a great experience and career. Students left with direction, motivation, and belonging - a combination that established the tone for not only the coming year but their careers ahead."