Ken42 announces inaugural edition of 42 Degrees, an invite-only Higher Education Summit

Designed as a private, invitation-only gathering, 42 Degrees will convene a select group of university leaders, institution builders, policymakers, investors, industry leaders and technology experts. The inaugural edition is being presented in association with BW Businessworld and BW Education.

Built around the theme “Building Globally Relevant Institutions for the Next Decade,” the summit will explore how higher education institutions can respond to changing learner expectations, advances in technology, evolving workforce needs, increased global mobility and the growing importance of research, innovation and long-term institutional resilience.

“Universities are being called upon to think beyond the next academic cycle and make decisions that will shape their relevance for decades. Through 42 Degrees, we want to bring together leaders who are building institutions with the ambition, adaptability and long-term perspective required for the future,” said Ganesh Raju, Founder, Ken42.

Six Priorities for the Decade Ahead

The summit agenda will be organised around six pillars:

• Building Institutions That Endure
• The Future of Learning
• Driving Research and Innovation
• Industry–Academia Collaboration
• Capital, Systems and Sustainable Growth
• The Lifelong University

Together, these pillars will examine how institutions can strengthen their academic models, expand research capacity, build meaningful connections with industry, create sustainable systems for growth and develop relationships with students and alumni that extend well beyond graduation.

The speaker line-up includes Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, former Minister of Finance, IT and Digital Services, Tamil Nadu; Prof. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT and KISS; Prof. (Dr) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University; Dr Madhu Chitkara, President and Co-Founder, Chitkara University; Chris Whittle, Founder and Executive Chairman, Baret Scholars; Prof. S. Sadagopan, former Director, IIIT-Bangalore; Luis Miranda, Chairperson and Co-Founder, Indian School of Public Policy; Rajiv Tandon, CEO, BITS Pilani Digital and Industry Research Partnerships; Krutarth Shah, Governing Body Member, FLAME University; and Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld, alongside other leaders from higher education, industry, policy, technology and capital.

Across the three days, the programme will combine keynote addresses, focused conversations, panels and participant-led discussions, with each session examining a specific choice or challenge facing higher education institutions.

“42 Degrees brings together leaders who have built, governed and transformed institutions in very different contexts. The value lies in exploring those experiences honestly: the choices that worked, the trade-offs involved and the decisions institutions now need to make for the decade ahead,” said Nikita Sivakumar, Co-Founder, Ken42.

A Continuing Higher Education Forum

The summit will also introduce the 42 Degrees Forum, a year-round thought-leadership platform bringing together perspectives from university leaders, education entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, industry leaders and technology specialists.

The Forum will feature selected interviews, essays, briefings and insights ahead of the summit, with further reports and editorial outputs emerging from the inaugural edition. BW Businessworld and BW Education will engage with participating leaders to bring wider attention to the ideas and issues shaping the future of higher education.

Attendance at 42 Degrees is limited and by invitation. Higher education and ecosystem leaders interested in participating may request an invitation at:

https://42degrees.ken42.com/

About Ken42

Ken42 is the AI-native operating system built for higher education. It brings institutional data, workflows and intelligence together across the complete learner lifecycle, from the first enquiry through graduation and beyond.

Designed for complex and multi-campus institutions, Ken42 helps universities replace fragmented systems with connected operations, real-time decision support and more personalised experiences for students, faculty and administrators.