Educationist Prof. Ganesan Kannabiran has been appointed as the new Director of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
Making the announcement on Friday, NAAC stated that Prof Kannabiran has taken charge as director from July 28 onwards.
An alumnus and senior professor of Information Systems at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchy, he has over 30 years of experience in teaching, research and administration. He has a special focus on entrepreneurship and skill development.
He was also the Dean of Research and Consultancy and Director-in-charge of NIT Trichy and NIT Puducherry.
He holds a PhD in MIS along with three Masters Degrees- Computer Science & Engineering, Business Administration (MBA), and Mathematics.
Prof Kannabiran was also the founding director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Andhra Pradesh, from 2018 to 2023. During his time as the director, he had made significant contributions towards the implementation of the National Education Policy at the institute, and in promoting the adoption of neighbouring villages.
Prof. Kannabiran is a recipient of the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship (Edinburgh Napier University, UK-2015), Two Fulbright Fellowships (Education Administrators Programme-2011, Fulbright Visiting Lecturer at Oklahoma State University-2015), and British Council Study Fellowship (Huddersfield University UK-1997). He served as the National Expert for an international research study supported by Asian Productivity Organization on Measuring Productivity in Higher Education.
He has also carried out several projects for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Department of Science and Technology, GoI, and UNESCO.
His area of interest lies in software engineering, software project management, IT consulting, and business analytics among others. He has also had a special interest in entrepreneurship, starting two companies - Center for Entrepreneurship Development and Incubation (CEDI) at NIT Trichy and Gyan Circle Ventures at IIIT Sri City – which focus on supporting up-and-coming entrepreneurs.