PATNA: Harsha Sanyukta, a native of Ara, has secured admission to Oxford University’s prestigious Saïd Business School with a full tuition scholarship worth £78,510 (Rs 85 lakh). Saïd Business School is consistently ranked among the world’s top business schools and is renowned for its focus on developing socially responsible leaders. The Laidlaw scholarship, awarded to Harsha, is a highly competitive honour offered by the Laidlaw Foundation, aimed at supporting future women leaders with exceptional leadership abilities in top global B-schools.
Harsha, 27, the daughter of retired state government officers Anil Kumar Sinha and Rosy Rani, was raised in Patna. Her academic journey began at DPS Patna, where she excelled, achieving a 10 CGPA in Class X in 2013 and 96.4% in Class XII in 2015, making her the school topper in the humanities stream. She also scored a perfect 100 in history in her board exams, placing her among the top 0.1% of candidates nationwide, as recognised by CBSE.
Driven by her interest in social work, Harsha chose the humanities stream, defying the general trend of opting for science. During this period, she taught at Nari Gunjan, a school for underprivileged girls, under the guidance of Padma Shri recipient Sudha Varghese. This experience, she says, deepened her commitment to the development sector, leading her to pursue history at St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.
While in college, Harsha gained hands-on experience in social impact work by interning with organizations like Teach for India, Goonj, Unicef, National Commission for Scheduled Caste and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Harsha’s career in social impact began with PwC’s government advisory team, where she worked with central ministries on large-scale development projects and public policy initiatives. She later joined Sattva Consulting, an impact consulting firm, focusing on projects in education, livelihood and health. Most recently, she led a project with a key education non-profit that enabled over 10,000 rural girls in Rajasthan to return to school and complete their education.
This September, Harsha will head to Oxford for her MBA. “I plan to use this opportunity to build the skills and network needed to develop large-scale solutions for India’s pressing education challenges, particularly for underserved communities,” Harsha told TOI on Monday.
