A New Home for India’s Campus Changemakers: Better Campus by The Better India

If you have ever walked back from class and noticed a group staying behind, you already know what Better Campus is about.

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You might have seen students carrying kitchen waste to a compost pit because the campus has a system now. You might have seen a professor make room for a real project that helps people beyond the classroom. You might have seen a club meet after hours because someone needed support and they wanted to show up.

Better Campus is a home for these stories. It is The Better India’s latest storytelling series that gathers campus-led work from colleges across India and puts it in one place, so people can find it, learn from it, and build on it.

Browse the growing archive here. 

A place where good work does not get lost

Colleges and universities hold some of the most hopeful work in the country. Many efforts stay within gates because teams graduate, schedules move fast, and the people doing the work rarely get the time to document it properly.

Better Campus exists so these efforts are seen with care and told with detail. We want readers to leave with a clear feeling and a clear next step. They should be able to say, “We can do this on our campus too.”

What you’ll find on Better Campus

We’ve organised Better Campus stories into five buckets to make discovery and pitching easier.

1) Sustainability and Environment

These are campus fixes that make daily life greener across waste, water, energy, and biodiversity.

In Bilapura near Bengaluru, students and faculty from Azim Premji University worked with the panchayat to rethink waste management through a decentralised model. The story reports 90% waste segregation, and it carries a line that sounds like something you would hear in a classroom and then see applied on the ground. Professor Anjor Bhaskar says, “We cannot keep preaching sustainability without practising it.”

2) Social Impact

These are initiatives that support people beyond campus through education, health, outreach, and care-led work.

On the Konkan coast, a Pune campus team worked with fishermen on a circular economy model, so used engine oil from fishing boats is collected safely instead of entering the sea. The story tracks how this kept 2,800 litres of toxic oil out of the water, while also creating income for local collectors. A fisherman in the story says, “Whatever we throw into the sea comes back to us on our plate.”

3) Innovation and Entrepreneurship

These are campus ideas that turn into prototypes, research breakthroughs, products, startups, and tools people can actually use.

At NIT Rourkela, a team built a clean-energy microgrid designed for rural realities. The system can power four rural homes at once, and it was shaped by a real visit that stayed with the researchers. It is the kind of work that begins as a campus project and grows into something that can hold up daily life for a family.

4) Culture and Inclusion

These are efforts that make college life safer and more welcoming through equity, accessibility, wellbeing, and belonging.

Gopal Krishna Sharma moved into a university hostel in Himachal Pradesh after retirement because he wanted connection and purpose around students. He says, “I cannot sit idle. The busier I am, the better my life gets.” This is the kind of story that reminds you what campuses can hold. Community, dignity, and the feeling that people still have space for you.

5) Beyond the Classroom

These are clubs and collectives that shape leadership and confidence, from theatre and debate to NSS, Rotaract, and peer communities.

In Ahmedabad, two college students, Heet Doshi and Om Thakkar, started ‘Your Reading Circle’ and began setting up free mini libraries in public parks. People can pick up a book, exchange one, sit for a while, and meet others through stories. It is the kind of initiative that builds a wholesome culture in a city, and it begins with students choosing to create the space they wished existed.

Where your story fits

If you are reading this and thinking of something from your campus, you are already close to a Better Campus story.

It could be a system that reduces waste, saves water, or protects biodiversity. It could be a project that supports a community beyond the campus gate. It could be a purposeful startup, a prototype or a research solution built for real use. It could be something that builds a kinder, more welcoming culture, or simply something inspiring and interesting you’re doing beyond your academic course.

Two simple ways to join Better Campus

Be the Story: If you are building real change on campus, we want to hear from you. Write to us with a short note about what you are doing, who is involved, and what has changed because of it.

Tell the Story: You may not be the one running the initiative, but you’re the one who notices. You’re the writer, the phone filmmaker, the campus documentarian, the person who knows how to listen and capture real work with respect and clarity.

If that’s you, Better Campus is your invitation to help shape a national archive of campus-led change. Write to us and tell us what you like to report, what formats you work in, and what kinds of campus stories you notice first.

Join India’s 1st Campus Impact Network on WhatsApp

If you want Better Campus stories, submission calls, creator opportunities, and early invites to workshops and special drops, join the Better Campus WhatsApp community here. You will get interesting updates!

A small note from us to you

Better Campus is for the people who care about their campuses and act on that care. It is for students and faculty who build, and for storytellers who help that work travel.

If something good is happening where you study or teach, we would love to hear about it.

For submissions, questions, and collaborations: Write to us.