Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO of Luxury Connect Business School, Gurugram, Shares Insights on Education and Skilling

“I would say that skilling has now come into the forefront, and no educational body can survive or do justice without that,” says Abhay Gupta, Founder & CEO of Luxury Connect Business School, Gurugram in an Interview with Pratik Ghosh, Content Writer, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2023’ #ELSANewDelhi #ELSAGurugram

How are you feeling to witness the New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards in Delhi?

In a very short span of time, you guys have grown and it’s getting organized better and better. You have probably the entire education industry being represented, and you have a lot of good sponsors on board as well. So, I think it’s shaping up very well.

The theme of our event is “India Vision 2030.” So, what according to you should be the vision of the education sector?

I think the vision of the education sector has already been defined by the NEP, and now it’s a phase of when somebody on the panel said that before COVID, during COVID, and post-COVID. So, when we are in the post-COVID era, it’s a question of implementing the policy. And while initially, there was a lot of confusion or inhibition about the policy, but now as time has passed, more and more education institutions have realized the importance and the fulcrum of the NEP. So, I would say going forward, traditional universities are moving towards skilling, and the government has also created new skill universities. So, I would say that skilling has now come into the forefront, and no educational body can survive or do justice without that. So, I think that is where the focus needs to be.

What is the vision of Luxury Connect Business School?

The vision behind Luxury Connect Business School was that most people focus only on very generic education, in the sense that you do a normal MBA, which is marketing or HR or B Tech, etc. But I have been a part of the luxury industry’s evolution in India, and I firmly believe that the shortage for servicing the luxury industry is a huge opportunity area which is being overlooked by the normal academicians because they have not witnessed the growth of that particular space. I also firmly believe that the luxury industry services the rich and the famous or the HNI (High Net Worth Individual) population of India. Unless the rich are made to spend within India, the money will not flow down to the economy. So, till now, more and more rich have been going overseas and spending the money. The endeavour is to make them spend within India by giving them services and products at par with the global platform. So, that is where we are creating a unique talent pool which is working across brands. Like our Rolls-Royce downwards into fashion or watches or hospitality or travel, but servicing the HNI community. That’s where our core focus is.

As you can see in this kind of forums where we bring in the education leaders, the industry experts, as well as the government, how does this kind of forum benefit the education sector at large?

I think it really benefits with respect to networking and understanding what is really going on in the education space at large. And then you get the opportunity to network and also collaborate. Academic-industry collaboration is also equally important because every university has its own core strength area. By collaborating with other strength areas, I think we are creating a more diversified talent pool. And when programs can be co-branded, can be co-delivered, and specialty can be passed on from one sector to another, because once you are back into your university, you are too busy with your own operations. You don’t really have the time to understand what’s going outside. So, these kinds of events, I think, are very encourageable.

Any message for ArdorComm Media on its 2^nd anniversary?

I would say, continue the good work, you’ve done a good job in a short span of time. You started post-COVID, and this is the second physical event that I’ve attended here. It was in the same hotel last time also. I was a speaker. So, I think it’s a very good and very encouraging journey for a young group like yours. So, all the best and God bless.