Shubham Purandare is the Founder and CEO of Studium, an Institutional Intelligence company helping universities and colleges manage quality assurance, accreditations, rankings, strategic planning, and institutional performance through one integrated technology platform.
A Computer Engineering graduate from VIIT Pune, Shubham started his entrepreneurial journey with the belief that technology could solve some of the biggest challenges facing universities and colleges.
The original idea for Studium emerged during engineering while observing how universities managed accreditation manually.
Working with frameworks such as NAAC, NBA, NIRF, AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA, and BGA, the company combines data, AI, benchmarking, and predictive analytics to help institutions achieve long-term excellence. The vision is to build the global operating system for Institutional Excellence.
A Problem Hidden in Spreadsheets
Shubham was inspired by a problem he observed during his engineering days. What began as an observation gradually became a spark. The more he interacted with faculty members, the more he realised that institutions were investing enormous time in collecting and organising data instead of using it to improve academic quality. He believed technology could eliminate this inefficiency and allow institutions to focus on continuous improvement rather than paperwork.
Although he had secured a stable role at Barclays as a software engineer, the problem never left him. Building a startup meant walking away from financial security, a clear career path, and the certainty of corporate life. Yet he believed the opportunity to solve a meaningful problem was worth the risk. He reveals,
“After graduation, while working in the corporate sector as a software engineer, I kept thinking about this problem. The more I explored it, the more I realised that higher education had embraced digital learning but had largely ignored digital quality management.”
The idea led him to leave a stable corporate career and launch Studium. As a first-generation entrepreneur, he spent years earning the trust of Vice Chancellors, Directors, and academic leaders despite being a young founder. The company initially focused on simplifying accreditation management. However, as Shubham worked closely with university leaders, he realised that accreditation was only one symptom of a much larger challenge. Institutions needed a single source of truth for quality assurance, rankings, strategic planning, and institutional decision-making. That insight transformed Studium from an accreditation management solution into a comprehensive Institutional Excellence Platform built to support long-term institutional performance.
One Institution. One Data.
At the heart of Studium is a simple philosophy — One Institution. One Data. What sets Studium apart is its integrated approach to institutional excellence, unlike most education technology platforms that function either as ERPs or focus on a single accreditation framework.
Instead of asking institutions to maintain separate data for every framework, the platform enables them to collect data once and use it across multiple quality standards.
Another key differentiator is its focus on intelligence rather than documentation. Studium helps institutions identify performance gaps, forecast ranking outcomes, and make data-driven decisions. He asserts,
“Rather than simply storing information, our platform helps institutions benchmark themselves against peers, identify performance gaps, predict ranking outcomes, and recommend actionable improvement strategies using AI and analytics.”
Building Trust Before Building Scale
As a young founder selling to highly experienced academic leaders, credibility could not be demanded—it had to be earned through deep domain understanding, product quality, and consistent execution.
Shubham also acknowledges that one of the biggest challenges was introducing a completely new category of technology to the higher education sector.
When Studium was launched, many institutions still managed accreditations manually and were hesitant to adopt digital quality management systems. As a young founder, he also had to earn the trust of Vice Chancellors, Directors, and senior academicians with decades of experience, making credibility one of the company’s biggest hurdles.
From an Idea to Institutional Impact
“Revenue measures the business; institutional transformation measures the impact.”
Over the years, the company has grown from an idea into a trusted technology partner for 50+ higher education institutions, including leading universities, engineering institutions, and business schools across India.
With a 35-member team and a presence across multiple cities, the platform supports both national and international quality frameworks, enabling institutions to improve institutional excellence.
Along the way, Studium has built proprietary intellectual property, developed a team committed to transforming higher education, and enabled institutions to make more informed, data-centric decisions.
Building the Intelligence Layer
Shubham’s future plans are focused on making Studium the global technology platform for institutional excellence. The company aims to strengthen its presence across India while expanding into international markets. Shubham also notes,
“Alongside technology, we are building a strong knowledge and community ecosystem through conferences, research, workshops, and communities where institutional leaders can learn from one another and collaborate on best practices. We believe that the future of higher education will belong to institutions that look for improvement, and we aspire to become the trusted technology partner enabling that transformation.”
Lessons from the Journey
A young software engineer noticed that while higher education had embraced digital learning, institutional quality management remained fragmented and manual. Shubham left a successful corporate career to solve that problem, earned the trust of academic leaders across the country, and today is building a new category of Institutional Intelligence that enables universities to move beyond compliance toward continuous excellence.
A crucial lesson Shubham has learned is that building a successful company is about people as much as technology.
While he began his journey believing every problem could be solved through technology, he realised that lasting businesses are built by understanding customers, empowering teams, earning trust, and creating value consistently. He also says,
“Resilience is often more important than brilliance. Every startup faces uncertainty, rejection, setbacks, and moments of self-doubt. What separates successful founders is not the absence of problems but the willingness to keep moving forward while continuously learning.”
Lastly, as he signs off, he shares,
“Solve a real problem, stay close to your customers, think long term, and never stop learning. Don’t build a company just because entrepreneurship is fashionable. Build one because you genuinely believe the problem deserves to be solved.”
