Brief bio:

Professor N.V. Varghese is currently the Vice Chancellor of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. He is also the Founding Director of Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE, NIEPA). He holds a doctoral degree in Economics with specialization in educational planning. He was Head of Governance and Management in Education at the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP/UNESCO), Paris till October 2013 and Head of its Training and Education Programmes from 2001 to 2006. He was responsible for designing and introducing the IIEP Master’s programme in educational planning and management. In the 1990s he was a Professor and Head of the Educational Planning Unit at NIEPA, New Delhi. He has been closely associated with educational planning at the federal and decentralised levels and with the design and development of externally funded education projects in India. While in NIEPA, he was responsible for managing an Asian regional network - the Asian Network of Training and Research Institutions in Educational Planning (ANTRIEP) and was editor of its Newsletter. While in IIEP, he was the Secretary General and responsible for the Secretariat of the International Working Group on Education (IWGE), which is a network of funding agencies in education.

Brief bio:

Prof. K. Ramachandran, Professor, NIEPA is an eminent educationist. He is, at present, working as Advisor, India-Africa Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (IAIEPA), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. During the period 1990-2008, he worked with UNICEF as Senior Education Specialist and Senior Programme Coordinator. Prior to this, he was a member of faculty of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi (from 1975 to 1990)". He has contributed in preparing many reports on state of education in India including “India : Education for All – Towards Quality with Equity” and “Teachers in Indian Education System – How We Manage Teacher Work Force in India”.

Brief bio:

Dr Tshering Chonzom Bhutia has a PhD in Chinese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr Bhutia has completed a major ICSSR research project comparing India and China’s minority policies and has travelled several times to China for field research. She has been a recipient of several international fellowships including the China India Scholar-Leaders Initiative (CISLI) Fellow, a Teaching Fellowship at the Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, and the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) funded by the U.S. Department of State, among others. Dr Bhutia has published her research in book chapters and has also written long and short articles in the China Report, South China Morning Post, the Diplomat, Hindustan Times, Firstpost, ICS Analysis, World Focus, etc.

She has a rich work experience in research, editing and programme coordination since 2004. Her last stint was as Associate Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies. Prior to that she worked as Programme Coordinator at the India office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. She was with both organisations for a period of about 5 years each. Prior to that, she was Programme Coordinator, Assistant Editor and Assistant Fellow at the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. Her first work assignment was with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies as a Research Officer.

She is currently also Associate Editor of India Quarterly, a journal of international affairs. At the Unit for International Cooperation (UIC), Dr Bhutia is responsible for activities related to India's cooperation in the field of education with countries in the Asia Pacific region comprising of Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, and the Pacific. She is also responsible for all cooperation activities concerning the multilateral groupings BRICS, ASEAN, IBSA and ACD. The topic of her ongoing research is “India-ASEAN relations: Leveraging Education for enhanced partnership”. She is also interested in the role of regional networks in higher education cooperation in the ASEAN region.

Brief bio:

Dr. Anamika oversees UNESCO and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) at the Unit for International Cooperation, NIEPA. She was the exclusive point of contact for Government of India’s two ambitious/high profile schemes: Study in India and SPARC. She was a recipient of Taiwan Government’s Scholarship for Ph.D. in Education at the National Chengchi University, Taipei (2006-2009). She was a visiting scholar at the Department of Education, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Dr. Anamika has taught undergraduate and post-graduate courses in teacher education at the Department of Education, University of Delhi, Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Jamia Millia Islamia. She is on the International Editorial Board of Human Rights Education Review. Dr. Anamika’s publications on the pedagogy of human rights education have appeared in international journals. Currently, she is working on a research project entitled “Cross-cultural Experiences of Internationally Mobile Faculty Members/Students/Staff Member in Higher Education Institutions”. At UIC, Dr Anamika is responsible for UNESCO and ASEM.

Brief bio:

Gaurav Jha, formerly a financial journalist with the Economic Times and Hindustan Times holds MPhil from the U.S. Studies Division at Jawaharlal Nehru University. As a journalist, he extensively covered impacts of US led global economic meltdown both in the United States as well as in India.

Mr. Jha has written several research papers (total 14), chapters in books as well as he is regular columnist with regional dailies like Kashmir Times and Deccan Chronicle. He has presented several papers in national and international seminars and conferences as well as participated in various academic programmes, including at Harvard University (U.S.), University of Lancashire (U.K.) and University of Turin (Italy).

At the UIC, he’s responsible for the Americas region, G20 grouping and E9 countries. Apart from these, his other areas of interests include research in International Relations (U.S.’s domestic politics and foreign policies towards southern Asia and Asia Pacific region), Economic, Political and Developmental issues.

Brief bio:

Eldho Mathews holds MPhil degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His dissertation examined the functional relationship between higher education and economy in China during the period of “reform and opening up.”

Eldho previously worked as Head, Internationalising Higher Education (South India) at the British Council; senior researcher with US-based management consulting firm–Sannam S4; full-time consultant with the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s National Higher Education Mission (RUSA); and the Education Division of the Planning Commission.

Eldho started his career as a research officer with the Kerala State Higher Education Council in 2007. Eldho’s "research papers and articles" (single and co-authored) had appeared in International Higher Education (Boston), Times Higher Education (London), Economic and Political Weekly, The Hindu, The World View of Inside Higher Ed, European Association for International Education’s FORUM, etc. At the UIC, Eldho is responsible for work related to bilateral cooperation in education with countries in Africa.

Brief bio:

PhD in Latin American Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His area of research includes Latin American diplomatic history, and he has conducted extensive archival research in India and in Brazil.

At UIC, Dr Prasad is responsible for activities related to India's cooperation in the field of education with the Europe region, as well as European Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). His research theme is "Internationalisation of European Higher Education Area (EHEA): Experiences of non-EHEA countries and the Bologna Policy Forum".

Brief bio:

PhD from Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Mr Ranjan has completed an ICSSR research project on ‘Socio-Economic Dynamics and States Response in Jammu & Kashmir’ and was also associated with the trans-national BCIM Economic Corridor Joint Study Group (Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India). His areas of academic interest include Borderland Studies (with special focus on Jammu &; Kashmir and North East India), Society and Politics in South Asia, Regional Cooperation in South Asia and Cross-border Cooperation in Tertiary Education.

At UIC, he is responsible for India’s cooperation on education with countries in South Asia, Central Asia & Caucasus and West Asia region including regional multilateral organisations namely SAARC, BIMSTEC and the SCO. His research theme at UIC is ‘Internationalisation of Higher Education and Models of Institutional Mobility: A Study of Select Academic Centres/Teaching Sites of Foreign Universities in India.