Universities snap up CXOs, expats in rankings race

Top private colleges and universities are snapping up seasoned executives and professors with global pedigrees in a race to ascend rankings and attract funding, heralding a new era of competitive internationalization.

- Mansi Verma & Devina Sengupta

Universities are tapping search firms to recruit c-suite level executives and expat academics for the roles of dean, vice-chancellor, business administration head and provost, multiple industry officials said, with the hiring spree already yielding key appointments.

"Colleges are recruiting expensive and top talent for these posts so that they are able to increase their funding, get quality research papers done, improve their rankings and up their collaboration with international academic partners and industry as well," said Suchindra Kumar, partner and leader for education at consulting firm PwC India.

According to Kumar, a vice-chancellor is today a "brand unto himself/herself and responsible for building the university culture and able to attract faculty from other good universities".

Some of the top posts in universities now include chief operating officer, chief technology officer, chief people and culture officer, and outreach and marketing head, designations more common in corporates.

In January, the University of Southampton appointed Vishal Talwar, former director of IMT Ghaziabad, as COO of its "These are exciting times in the Indian higher education space, and I look forward to working with colleagues in the UK and India to establish the University of Southampton's globally benchmarked campus in Gurugram, Delhi NCR," Talwar wrote on LinkedIn.