Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangha wins ISTE Best Education Society Award

Dakshayini Avva, president of the Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangha and Chancellor of Sharnbasva University, was presented with the Best Education Society Award conferred by the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) at the 27th ISTE State-level faculty convention held on the university campus here on Saturday.

The award was presented by the national president and office-bearers of ISTE in recognition of the sangha’s contribution to technical and higher education in the region.

Speaking after receiving the award, Ms. Avva dedicated the honour to the eighth mahadasoha peetadhipati of the Sharanabasaveshwar Samasthan, the late Sharnbaswappa Appa, who devoted his life to the educational empowerment of people in Kalyana Karnataka. She recalled that Appa had established a chain of educational institutions and founded the Sharnbasva University, the first private university in north Karnataka. He had also played a pivotal role in setting up the postgraduate centre of Karnatak University in Kalaburagi, which was later upgraded into Gulbarga University, thereby bringing higher education closer to the people of the region.

“This award reflects the lifetime achievements of Appa and the collective dedication of the teaching and non-teaching staff who worked tirelessly to realise his vision,” Ms. Avva said. She added that the educational empowerment initiated by Appa had contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the region, with thousands of educated youth securing gainful employment across the country and abroad. “The recognition makes me more responsible and motivates me to work harder to further improve our institutions and create more educational opportunities for the people of this region,” she said.

Chairman of the ISTE Karnataka section Suresh D.S. paid rich tributes to Appa for transforming Kalyana Karnataka into a major educational hub, and said Ms. Avva was carrying forward his legacy. He emphasised the need for institutions to focus on nurturing entrepreneurship skills among students and described Appa as a fine example of how entrepreneurial vision could drive large-scale educational empowerment.

Mr. Suresh underlined the need to reorient research from purely theoretical approaches to addressing real-world societal challenges, noting that such a transformation was essential to realise the vision of a Viksit Bharat. “Ideas generated in classrooms should take concrete shape and reach society. Transformative ideas should not remain confined within academic walls,” he said. He advised Sharnbasva University to establish a dedicated data centre to systematically document and make accessible information on its resources, achievements, and strengths.

National president of ISTE Pratapsinh Kakasaheb Desai, Secretary of the Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangha. Basavaraj Deshmukh, Vice-Chancellor of Sharnbasva University Anilkumar Bidve, and Dean Lakshmi Patil Maka were among those present.