Chandigarh University Hosts 3rd Edition of 'CU Scholars' Summit 2026', 3000 CUCET 2026 Toppers from 22 States & UTs Felicitated

India’s youth should focus on generating employment opportunities for others instead of looking for jobs themselves. There are several programs like Start Up India, Stand Up India, Skill India, Digital India, PM eVIDYA, SWAYAM, National Digital Library, Atal Innovation Mission, and PM Vidya Lakshmi which have been initiated to help young people achieve self-reliance. Young people should help develop India by working here rather than moving abroad, said Governor and Administrator of Punjab and Chandigarh, Gulab Chand Kataria while speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of the third edition of the 'CU Scholars' Summit 2026' organized by Chandigarh University.

The Summit was inaugurated by Governor and Administrator of Punjab and Chandigarh, Gulab Chand Kataria as the chief guest, along with Deepinder Singh Sandhu, Senior Managing Director, Chandigarh University and Prof (Dr) RS Bawa, Advisor to Chancellor of Chandigarh University among others. The CU Scholars' Summit 2026' was inaugurated with an event felicitating top performers of its entrance exam for admission and scholarship, Chandigarh University Common Entrance Test 2026 (CUCET 2026).

The CU Scholars' Summit 2026 has gathered together the CEOs, Vice Presidents, industry heads, Bollywood celebrities, and famous artists to give their views to the students to get prepared for the new employment opportunities arising in this dynamic industry. There are about 3000 students belonging to different streams chosen from 22 States and Union Territories like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, etc., attending the Summit. In all, 7000 top performers of CUCET 2026 will be awarded by Chandigarh University during the two phases of CU Scholars' Summit 2026.

Some of the key speakers for the 3rd CU Scholars' Summit 2026 include the motivational speaker and comedian actor Kiku Sharda, Chunky Pandey actor, Mandeep Singh, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Hitachi Systems India, Sushil Kumar Tripathi, Vice President of Technology, Kellton Tech Solutions Ltd, Dr S Mangesh, GM (Satellites), NSIL/ISRO, Rajveer Gambhir, Deputy Director General, SIA- India, Subi Chaturvedi, Global SVP, Chief Corporate Affairs & Public Policy Officer, InMobi, Air Vice Marshal (Dr) Devesh Vatsa VSM, Advisor, DSCI NASSCOM, Prof (Dr) YVN Krishnamurthy, former Director- IIRS, NRSC, NARL and IIST, Dev Tripathy, CFO, Philips India, Dr Sachin Gulati, Director, Talent Acquisition, American Express, Preeti Chaudhary, Founder, Harvest Global SSP, Dr Gaurav Raina, Chief Scientist at CHAI Lab, Rajat Bedi, Indo-Canadian Actor-Producer, Sushil Khosla, Head Operations Management & CSR, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Ankit Jhamb, Chief Learning Officer, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP and Rishi Seth, GTM, Products, Growth & Strategy – APAC & GCCs, Fractal.

Addressing the summit, the Governor of Punjab, Kataria, stated, India's youth should not focus on the West only for acquiring education and conducting research. Rather, it is imperative that they connect themselves with the deeply entrenched roots of India's knowledge tradition as well. You are the proud successors to the great intellectual and scientific tradition of Aryabhatta, Charaka, Sushruta, Panini, and Chanakya. In each one of you lies hidden that great ingenuity of researching and probing that would once again help India achieve its rightful place at the pinnacle of global dominance, as the Vishwa Guru of the 21st century.

This year again, approx INR 200 crore worth scholarships are being awarded by Chandigarh University. None in the history of India has ever provided such merit-based scholarship system in their universities. Out of a total of around 7,000 meritorious students being felicitated on this occasion, 2,800 of them are daughters. This is roughly 40% of all scholarships being awarded. In the last 13 years, approximately 2 lakh scholarships have been awarded by Chandigarh University in various categories, out of which over 82,000 of them are our daughters, he added.

While speaking, Prof (Dr) YVN Krishnamurthy who was formerly a Scientist ISRO, Director-IIRS, NRSC, NARL and IIST stated, When we were asked about the mission of Chandrayaan mission, they told us that India was late as many countries had already reached the moon. However, what was the goal of the Chandrayaan Mission? Our goal was to look for water which is a necessity to sustain life while the other big countries had forgotten the reason behind this mission. India has been the first country to discover the presence of hydroxy on the moon. This is what makes India different from the rest of the world.

During an event in the International Astronautical Federation, Buzz Aldrin who is the second person to set foot on the moon, told the press that if mankind has to create its own habitation on other planets like the moon or Mars then they will need the help of ISRO and there would be no way the rest of the world can do it without ISRO. The strength of India lies in that very fact.

Chandigarh University has always worked towards removing financial barriers in front of deserving but poor students. Therefore, CUCET-2026 Scholarship will help in motivating the deserving students and ensure a promising future ahead. With the scholarships, Chandigarh University will be able to make contributions towards the dreams of the students. One of the prominent features of the Summit was that of a campus tour of the vast campus of Chandigarh University, enabling students to witness state-of-the-art laboratories and other facilities.