Established with a vision to bring about innovation in higher education and learning in emerging areas of the knowledge society, the not-for-profit NIIT University (NU) announced the appointment of Dr Prabhu Aggarwal, as the next President for NU. He succeeds Prof VS Rao, whose tenure ended on June 30, 2020.
Dr Aggarwal comes with extensive global expertise in the fields of engineering, process management, education and leadership development spanning over three decades, a substantial part of which was at the Mason School of Business, College of William & Mary, Virginia, USA where he led the Center for Professional Development Programs for working professionals.
He graduated from IIT Kanpur with a major in Mechanical Engineering and then went on to do his MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA in Operations Management.
Since his return to India in 2012, he has been the founding Vice-Chancellor of OP Jindal University (Raigarh) and thereafter Academic Advisor to the National Rail and Transportation Institute, among other engagements.
Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairperson NIIT University said, “Dr Prabhu Aggarwal brings three decades of academic experience to the University. His unique blend of experience will help advance our mission of building innovation in higher education.”
Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman NIIT and Founder NIIT University said, “We welcome Dr Prabhu Aggarwal to NU. We are certain that his diverse and comprehensive experience both in the field of engineering and management development, will further strengthen the Four Core Principles of NU.”
Speaking on the appointment, Dr Prabhu Aggarwal, President, NIIT University said, “It is both an honor and a privilege to lead NIIT University, which is focused towards building a model of higher education that fosters critical thinking, innovation and a research mindset. I look forward to the opportunity to guide the future of NIIT University; particularly given the enormous challenges posed by current uncertainties and therefore new prospects that higher education is faced within the present times.”
Dr Aggarwal’s research has been published in leading academic and practitioner journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, IIE Transactions, Journal of International Technology and Information Management, and International Journal of Production Economics.
