Vineet Joshi, an IIT Kanpur, IIFT Alumnus gets Additional Charge as a Chairperson of UGC

After the recent retirement of ex-UGC Chairman, Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Vineet Joshi, the present Secretary of the Higher Education Department. The Ministry of Education has given this additional responsibility to him and a full-time appointment is yet to come until further notifications come.

Who is Vineet Joshi?

Vineet Joshi, born on 2nd November 1968 in Uttar Pradesh. He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur (B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering) and IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, from where he earned an MBA in International Business). He was a gold medalist in the MBA program. He later went to get a PhD in Quality Management from IIFT. He even cracked UPSC in 1992 by becoming an IAS officer in the Manipur Cadre. Before his tenure in Ministry of Education, Joshi served as the Chief Secretary in the Government of Manipur.

He has also led the National Testing Agency (NTA) as a Director General from December 2019 to November 2020. During his tenure he supervised important entrance exams such as JEE Main/Advance, NEET, and UGC NET. He standardized and centralized these tests across the country. 

Formerly he has also been the Chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) from February 2010 to November 2014. During his period he introduced the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) System and expanded the Board’s Operational Efficiency. He even had the position of Secretary at CBSE, and had an important role in planning and implementation of policies in the School Education.

Previous Chairman, Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar had a great role in reforming the current higher education system. His term in UGC was marked by several historical activities like starting the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) for both the undergraduate and postgraduate admissions. He was also in the process of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 implementation. NEP helps integrate its policies into the University's Functioning and Framework.