Former director of IIT Guwahati Prof TG Sitharam assumes charge as AICTE chairman

Guwahati: Former director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati Prof. T.G. Sitharam assumed charge as the chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on 21 December. Prof. Sitharam took over from Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar, chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC), who had the additional charge of AICTE since September 2022. Prof. Parameswar K. Iyer took charge as the officiating director of IIT Guwahati from Prof. Sitharam on 20 December.

While assuming charge as the AICTE chairman, Prof. Sitharam said, "I will work with every stakeholder in the education domain to transform higher education into large, well-resourced, vibrant multidisciplinary providing high-quality teaching, innovation, entrepreneurship, research, and community engagement hubs."

Prof. Sitharam added, "With more advanced research at all institutions, AICTE can create many innovations and new start-ups as an excellent job creator." The new AICTE chairman shared his action plan that aligned with the long-term goals of the government of India underlined in the National Education Policy 2020.

In his previous roles, Prof. Sitharam has worked on multidisciplinary problems addressing diversified societal challenges with many administrative positions at institutions such as IISc, IIT, and CIT. He was involved in many boards and has more than six years of interaction with AICTE. As a result, he has rich leadership and administrative experience in managing academic units, programs and research centers, and start-up and entrepreneurial activities.