CHANCELLOR'S MESSAGE

Dr. Neeraj Saxena has joined JIS Group as Pro-Chancellor of its JIS University- Kolkata.

Dr. Saxena has been an Adviser with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Education (Govt of India) and headed its Scholarships & Grants (SAG) Bureau. He pioneered AICTE-IDEA (Idea Development, Evaluation & Application) Lab Scheme; and AICTE-SPICES (Scheme Promoting Interests, Creativity & Ethics among Students). He also headed Institutional Development Cell (IDC); Prime Minister’s Special Scheme for Students for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh- PMSSS Cell; Policy & Academic Planning (PAP) Bureau; Skill Development Cell (SDC) of AICTE, during his 5-year beginning June 2018.

Dr. Saxena served as a Scientist with Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC), India's technology think-tank, from April 2000. He was a member of the team that scripted Technology Vision 2035 for the country and deeply involved in development of Technology Roadmap for Education.

As a part of the team implementing projects emerging out of Technology Vision 2020 prepared under the guidance and leadership of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Saxena piloted the activities of Mission REACH (Relevance & Excellence in ACHieving new heights in educational institutions), a major initiative to reorient the higher science & technical education. He was selected by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to undergo Executive Education Program on “Science, Technology & Innovation Policy” at the JF Kennedy School of Government at the Harvard University in 2006.

Dr. Saxena was trained in ‘Project Management for World Bank funded projects’ at the International Training Center of the ILO, in Turin (Italy) in 2008. He was part of the team that worked on Detailed Project Report (DPR) for National Innovation Program (NIP) for India in 2008; was Member-Secretary of the Working Group for “S&T in SMEs” for the 12th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) of the Govt. of India; and, developed the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) launched by DST.

Prior to his association with TIFAC, Dr. Saxena was a CSIR research fellow and post-doctoral fellow in the CSIR- National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi. He specialized in the area of "Acoustic Remote Sensing & its application to Air Pollution" and was involved in establishing country's first indigenous Doppler SODAR. capable of remotely profiling wind and turbulence in the lower atmosphere.

Having a background in Technology Foresight, he has deep interest in the area of higher education & research and has crafted several innovative schemes for their promotion. He has been writing articles on education and also blogs regularly [nrj2000.blogspot.com]