In a rare academic crossover, professor Alok Kumar Rai, Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University (LU), has been appointed Director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta.
This makes Rai not only the first vice-chancellor from LU to helm a premier central institution but also among the few non-IIM faculty members to take charge of such a post, Hindustan Times highlighted. The appointment comes after nearly two years of IIM-C operating without a regular full-term director.
Rai's selection was formalised through a letter from the Ministry of Education, following approval by President Droupadi Murmu in her role as the Visitor of IIM-C under Section 16 (2) of the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017 (amended in 2023).
As per protocol, IIM-C’s Board is to issue the official appointment letter, with Rai’s acceptance to be sent back to the ministry for records.
Before taking charge at LU, Rai served as a professor of management at Banaras Hindu University. He has also contributed significantly through roles on various high-level committees and panels.
Under Rai’s leadership, LU underwent a remarkable transformation — becoming the first university in Uttar Pradesh to secure an A++ accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), earning Category-I status from the University Grants Commission (UGC), and achieving a slot among the top 100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), where it stood 32nd among State Public Universities. The university also implemented the New Education Policy (2020) during his tenure.
LU expanded its global footprint by hosting one of the largest international student cohorts in India until last year. The period also saw the establishment of LUCODE (Lucknow University Centre for Online and Distance Education) and the university’s own digital learning platform, SLATE.
Notably, new faculties in Pharmacy, Management and Agriculture were started, and groundwork laid for a third campus, as Hindustan Times reported. Rai also oversaw significant infrastructure upgrades while steering LU through its centennial celebrations. Attempts by the publication to reach Rai for comments went unanswered.
