Brief Profile of Prof. Arun Nigavekar

Born in 1942, Professor Arun Nigavekar is a well known Physicist and Educationist with 40 years of experience to his credit. His special interests are application of technology to the enhancement of utility and quality of higher education and its internationalisation. He was educated in Pune and Uppsala in Sweden where he held SIDA fellowship. He was also a Dakshina Fellowship holder of Rajaram College in Kolhapur.

A moving force behind formulation of strategies for development of higher education, he worked as Vice Chairman and Chairman of UGC between 2000 and 2005. During the same period, he was a member of Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet. Before moving to Delhi he was Vice Chancellor of the University of Pune. Under his stewardship the University attained the status of a University with Potential for Excellence.

Basically a Professor of Materials Science in Pune University since 1977, he established the Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics in Pune in 1980 and Communication Science Department in the University in the nineties. He was Visiting Professor in the University of York, UK and the University of Western Ontario in Canada in the eighties. He was a member of UGC in 1993-96 and initiated several reforms. He was also founder Director of National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an autonomous body of UGC. He developed instrument and methodology for judging quality in the complex Indian higher education system, which is endorsed by International Network for Quality Assuring Agencies in Higher Education. He was a member of Distance Education Council, and is advisor to Commonwealth of Learning in Canada.

He has visited 35 countries, and has been awarded Honorary Doctorate by many Indian Universities. He has won several awards, notably Phia Foundation Award, UNESCO, Swami Vivekanand Award, Advocate D R Nagakar Award, Shiromani Award and Delhi Ratan Award.

He has 70 research publications to his credit. His contributions in Science education, as founder editor of Physics Educational Journal, are globally acclaimed. He is a permanent member, and former Vice Chairman, of Asian Physics Education Network, a UNESCO organization. He has numerous professional involvements, which are ongoing, but finds time to interact with several companies for initiation of use of ICT in education.