Dr. Neeraj Saxena has joined JIS Group as Pro-Chancellor of its JIS University – Kolkata.
Dr. Saxena has served as an Adviser at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Education (Government of India), where he headed the Scholarships & Grants (SAG) Bureau. He pioneered the AICTE-IDEA Lab Scheme (Idea Development, Evaluation & Application) and AICTE-SPICES (Scheme Promoting Interests, Creativity & Ethics among Students). He also led key departments such as the Institutional Development Cell (IDC), Prime Minister’s Special Scheme for Students for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh (PMSSS Cell), Policy & Academic Planning (PAP) Bureau, and the Skill Development Cell (SDC) between June 2018 and 2023.
Previously, he was a Scientist with Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC), India’s technology think-tank, where he contributed to the creation of Technology Vision 2035 and the Technology Roadmap for Education.
As a team member of the Technology Vision 2020 initiative led by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Saxena played a key role in Mission REACH (Relevance & Excellence in ACHieving new heights in educational institutions), an initiative aimed at reorienting higher science and technical education in India. In 2006, he was selected by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to attend an Executive Education Program on “Science, Technology & Innovation Policy” at the JF Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
He also underwent training in Project Management for World Bank funded projects at the International Training Center of the ILO, Turin (Italy) in 2008. Dr. Saxena was instrumental in developing the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for several national initiatives including the National Innovation Program (NIP) and the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). He also served as Member-Secretary for the Working Group on “S&T in SMEs” for India’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2007–2012).
Before his association with TIFAC, Dr. Saxena was a CSIR research fellow and post-doctoral fellow at the CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, where he specialized in “Acoustic Remote Sensing & its Application to Air Pollution.” He was involved in establishing India’s first indigenous Doppler SODAR system for remote profiling of wind and turbulence in the lower atmosphere.
With a strong background in Technology Foresight, Dr. Saxena is deeply invested in advancing higher education and research. He has conceptualized several innovative schemes to promote academic excellence. He also regularly writes on education and shares his insights via his blog: nrj2000.blogspot.com.
