Dr. Ram K Sharma

Dr. Ram K. Sharma is an accomplished higher education leader. He joined UPES as the Dean of Academics in February 2020 and became the Pro Vice-Chancellor in February 2022. He has expertise in setting-up green field universities as well as transforming brownfield institutions and has held leadership roles across organisations such as Plaksha University as the Founding Director, Shiv Nadar University (SNU) as Director - International Relations, Associate Dean - Academics and Student Welfare, and at Amity Group of Institutions as Deputy Director, Academics. He has also been a higher education subject matter expert with KPMG India. He helped these institutions establish and transform verticals across curricular design, development, new program launches, teaching and learning, research, entrepreneurship and innovation, e-learning, and quality assurance including strategic interventions for rankings, and accreditations. He also successfully led the efforts to prepare a comprehensive application for SNU for Institution of Eminence (IoE) scheme of the Government of India.

Dr. Sharma has been a Chevening Gurukul Fellow at the University of Oxford and also a Fulbright Nehru Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley where he worked on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). A PhD in Experimental Physics, he has been driving academic transformation and innovation, internationalisation, use of technology to solve access, quality and equity related issues and STEAM and experiential education across the higher educational organisations.

Dr. Sharma is passionate about integrating research into classroom teaching-learning process especially at the undergraduate level. His key competencies include managing and driving strategies and cultural change, influencing people and ecosystems to lead the organisations, policy making at national and global levels, external relations and brand/perception building, and a deeper understanding of various national and global rankings and accreditations.

He likes to describe himself as a seeker, life-long learner, explorer and traveller. He believes in an open work environment that is built on empathy and trust. He enjoys learning online, discovering new cultures and geographies and is fascinated by the philosophies of Advaita and Buddhism.

Dr. Sharma is an outstanding leader with a vision to take UPES to greater heights, build upon the university’s strengths, motivate the staff, and inspire the students to greater success.