Bhopal: Jagran Lakecity University (JLU), the leading University of central India, has commenced the JLU Carnival. JLU is naming this six-month-long virtual fest as the longest fest ever conducted by any university, which was kicked off in April and will go on till September 2021. By hosting this longest planned virtual fest, JLU aims to reinvent the way university events are occasioned and attended in the wake of the pandemic-induced restrictions while keeping in mind the social distancing norms on physical gatherings, for the safety of the audience, staff and performers.

JLU Carnival is an ‘open for all’ event and will host six celebrities, the first session of which commenced with students interacting with renowned Kochi-based band ‘When Chai Met Toast’. The organizing team received an overwhelming response from students in central India, garnering more than 500 registrations within 2 days of sending out the registration link. For the next sessions, celebrities across various domains such as stand-up comedian Devesh, actor Ranvijay, comedian Gaurav Kapoor, singer Shilpa Rao, and Anand Bhaskar will perform for the students at the JLU carnival in the coming months.

“In the pre-pandemic era, students used to wait excitedly for college fests to take place. But in the current scenario, hosting in-person (Live) events is neither safe nor practical. Therefore, we had two options in front of us: either forego every college fest this year or hold it virtually, we chose the latter and are really excited by the positive response and support expressed by our students,” Abhishek Mohan Gupta, Pro Vice Chancellor, JLU commented. “The organizing committee of JLU Carnival consisting of student representatives, faculty members, and university admins, unanimously agreed in favour of organizing a virtual carnival.”

A string of alternate student engagement activities is being planned by JLU to give the students a break from the monotony of studying at home. JLU’s in-house digital radio station, ‘Lakecity Live’, which is completely managed by the students is hugely popular and has gained a dedicated following among the students. The organizing committee is geared to host celebrities on this platform as well as to engage with students every second Saturday. On the academic side, JLU; an I-Gauge E-Lead certified university, was the first in central India to move all its classes, curriculum, and testing online, as early as April 2020. Following its ‘Student Centric Approach’, the academic events like ‘JLU Knowledge Series’, ‘Igniting Mind Lecture Series. ‘Alumni Speaks’ (alumni podcast) and lectures of industry experts for the students, all have been calibrated to the digital mode and are being successfully conducted for over 10 months now.

“JLU is the crucible where future innovators and leaders are forged. In light of this, we realized that a change in perspective was in order. Instead of indefinitely postponing our plans on account of the adversity which cannot be said with certainty that it will let up anytime soon we decided that we will consider the pandemic led challenges as a trial by fire for us and our students,” Prof. (Dr.) Yogendra Shrivastava, Dean, Faculty of Law, Dean, Student Welfare, Jagran Lakecity University, added.