Prof. Ganesh Kannabiran, an educationist, has been chosen to serve as the National Assessment and Accreditation Council’s (NAAC) new director. NAAC made the news on Friday, stating that as of July 28 Prof. Kannabiran is in charge as director.
He has more than 30 years of expertise in teaching, research, and administration. He is a graduate of the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchy and a senior professor of information systems there. He places a particular emphasis on skill development and entrepreneurship.
Along with serving as Director-in-Charge of NIT Trichy and NIT Puducherry, he was also the Dean of Research and Consultancy. Along with three master’s degrees in computer science & engineering, business administration (MBA), and mathematics, he has a PhD in management information systems.
From 2018 to 2023, Prof. Kannabiran served as the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Andhra Pradesh’s founding director. He had made important contributions to the National Education Policy’s execution at the institute and to encouraging the adoption of nearby communities during his tenure as director.
Prof. Kannabiran has received three fellowships: a British Council Study Fellowship (Huddersfield University, UK, 1997), a Commonwealth Professional Fellowship (Edinburgh Napier University, UK, 2015), and two Fulbright Fellowships (Education Administrators Programme, 2011; Fulbright Visiting Lecturer at Oklahoma State University, 2015). He served as the National Expert for a global research project on measuring productivity in higher education that was funded by the Asian Productivity Organisation.
Additionally, he has worked on numerous projects for the Department of Science and Technology, the Government of India, UNESCO, the All India Council for Technical Education, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
His areas of interest include business analytics, IT consulting, IT project management, and software engineering, among others. His enthusiasm in entrepreneurship led him to start two businesses that encourage aspiring businesspeople, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and Incubation (CEDI) at NIT Trichy and Gyan Circle Ventures at IIIT Sri City.
