SVKM & Institutional Association
A trust founded in 1934,
and the office he holds in it
Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal is a public charitable trust that began by taking over a single school and now teaches more than thirty-five thousand students across several Indian cities. Bhupesh R. Patel is its Honorary Joint President and Trustee, with a recorded responsibility for infrastructure and facilities across every campus.
Origins
From the Rashtriya Shala
The trust’s origin is political as much as educational. In 1921, in the wake of the Swadeshi movement and the wider independence struggle, a school called the Rashtriya Shala was established at Vile Parle. In 1934 the Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal was formed and took it over, with the purpose of providing school-level education to the Vile Parle area.
That founding ethos — described by the trust in terms of patriotic fervour, selfless service and a spirit of indigenous enterprise — still frames how SVKM states its aims: excellence in education, alongside high values, professionalism, social sensitivity and dynamic entrepreneurship.
Growth followed in stages. Mithibai College opened in 1961 and Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics in 1964. In 1981 the trust founded the management institute that would become NMIMS — beginning with a two-year programme, four faculty members and forty students. Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering followed in 1994. NMIMS was granted deemed-to-be university status in 2003 and later designated a Category I university by the Ministry of Education.
What the trust runs
1961
Mithibai College
Arts, science and commerce, Vile Parle, Mumbai. Host of the Kshitij festival.
1964
Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics
Vile Parle, Mumbai. Host of Umang, described as one of Asia’s fastest-growing college festivals.
1981
SVKM’s NMIMS
Founded as a management institute with four faculty and forty students; a deemed-to-be university since 2003, with sixteen schools on the Mumbai campus and accreditation from AACSB, AMBA, the UGC and the AIU. Rated A+ by NAAC with a CGPA of 3.59.
1994
Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering
Vile Parle, Mumbai.
2003
SVKM’s Mukeshbhai R. Patel Military School, Shirpur
A residential school preparing boys and girls for the defence services. One of the Shirpur institutions Bhupesh R. Patel is recorded as having envisioned establishing.
2007
NMIMS Shirpur — Mukesh Patel Technology Park
A fifty-acre residential campus for engineering and pharmacy, with roughly ten lakh square feet of built-up area. He was instrumental in its development.
2017
SVKM’s Institute of Technology, Dhule
Extending the trust’s technical education presence within Dhule district.
2026
Tapanbhai Mukeshbhai Patel Memorial Hospital & Research Centre
A 1,200-bed multi-speciality hospital at Shirpur, approximately seven lakh square feet in its first phase, inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in April 2026.
Also
Bhagubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic, NMIMS Academy of Aviation, SVKM’s Mukesh Patel CBSE School
A polytechnic and college of engineering in Vile Parle; a flying academy operating from the Shirpur airstrip; and a CBSE school at Shirpur. The aviation academy and CBSE school are among the Shirpur institutions he envisioned establishing.
Eight campuses
The infrastructure remit recorded against his name applies across all of them. Shirpur, the second to open and the first outside Mumbai, is the one most closely associated with him.
1981
Mumbai
2007
Shirpur
2008
Bangalore
2010
Hyderabad
2017
Navi Mumbai
2017
Indore
2018
Dhule
2021
Chandigarh
His office, and what it covers
- Honorary Joint President & Trustee
- The designation recorded on the official pages of SVKM’s constituent institutions and in the trust’s published record of elected members. It places him within the Managing Committee — thirty members and nine trustees — described by SVKM as the supreme body authorised to take decisions on all matters, including financial ones.
- Infrastructure and facilities
- His stated remit: the development of infrastructure and facilities at all SVKM campuses across India. In practice this covers academic buildings, laboratories, hostels, workshops and the services that support a residential campus.
- The Shirpur programme
- He is recorded as having envisioned establishing SVKM’s institutions in the rural area of Shirpur, and as having been instrumental in developing the NMIMS residential campus there for engineering and pharmaceutical programmes. He continues to take an active interest in its ongoing activities, presiding over campus events including the January 2026 EduLeaders’ Symposium and the July 2026 opening of the new academic wing.
- Beyond SVKM
- Managing Director of the Shirpur Education Society, established in 1979, which runs schools, junior colleges and professional institutions in Shirpur; trustee of the R. C. Patel Educational Trust; and a member, in the management category, of the governing body of the R. C. Patel Institute of Technology.