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, the 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 PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle, the 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 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," said Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairperson NIIT University.
"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," said Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman NIIT and Founder NIIT University. "It is both an honour and a privilege to lead NIIT University, which is focused on 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," said Dr Prabhu Aggarwal, President, NIIT University on the appointment.
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. Conceptualized as an institution of excellence, NU provides exceptional education based on the four core principles that make learning industry-linked, technology-based, research-driven, and seamless. NU is well poised for meeting the emerging needs of the knowledge economy through its focus on building strong industry linkages and a research-oriented approach.
With more than 600 industry partners, NU is dedicated to forging strong industry linkages as one of its core principles. This ensures that the University is connected with the best organizations and institutions. The Centre for Industry Collaboration (CIC) assists students in their endeavors to enrich their education, careers, and lives and make lifelong contributions to society.
