PRO-CHANCELLOR

Dr K. Ramnarayan was the fifth Vice-Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) from 2010 to 2015. After completing his tenure as Vice Chancellor, he was Vice President - Faculty Development, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and Chairperson, Manipal University Jaipur before taking up the responsibility of Pro Chancellor-Sikkim Manipal University. In addition, he is the National Coordinator DTH (Direct to Home) SWAYAM Prabha for Medicine Content Development.

He has been with the Manipal group for over four decades in different academic and leadership positions. His experience and expertise are in higher education, academic leadership and curriculum development. During his stint as the Vice Chancellor of MAHE, the focus was on strengthening the academic processes in the university, be it the functioning of the Senate and the Boards of Studies or the enrichment of the curriculum. Various people empowerment initiatives were launched such as SMILE (Synergic Manipal Integrated Leadership Engagement) programme to nurture future leaders, leadership programmes for the Heads of Institutions and Heads of the Departments. As the first Chairman of the Manipal Education System Vice Chancellors Council (MESVCC) he created a vibrant forum for inter-campus deliberations and set in place the norms for sharing the best practices among the Manipal group institutions. He was instrumental in establishing of MU-FAIMER Leadership International Institute for Interprofessional Education. He established the Manipal Centre for Professional & Personal Development (MCPD) for the in-service training of academic and non-academic staff of the university. He has conducted pedagogic and personal effectiveness workshops for faculty in the Manipal group campuses in Jaipur, Sikkim, Melaka and Dubai, apart from those for the Indian Society of Periodontology and the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Architecture.

In the process of enhancing education and research, he has steered the implementation of the Dr. T.M.A. Pai Endowment Chairs and full time PhD scholarships, reframed the research incentive policy and set up the portal for e-prints (repository for research publications). The Centres of Excellence in Philosophy & Humanities and Natural Sciences, the Research Directorate in MAHE were ushered in during his tenure. The renovation of Manipal Museum of Anatomy & Pathology was a project he was deeply involved in. MAHE’s rankings (85th in BRICS countries, 186th in Asia, 1st among private deemed universities in India) were offshoots of his relentless efforts to get more visibility for the university.

Dr Ramnarayan is an MBBS from Stanley Medical College, Chennai and an MD (Pathology) from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. He also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). He was one of the early recipients of the ECFMG Foreign Faculty Fellowship in Basic Sciences, which initiated him into medical education in the US. He was subsequently awarded the Short-Term Exchange Fellowship in academic leadership by the Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), USA. He was the first Dean of the unique Melaka Manipal twin campus MBBS programme with Malaysia. He has conducted over 600 faculty development workshops, nationally and internationally, over the past 30 years. He was a member of the UGC Expert Committee to review regulations for deemed universities and private universities. He was the recipient of the Bloomberg UTV Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education. He has guided several PhD students and has over 100 research publications, most of them pertaining to higher education. He has been an International Advisor for six successive editions of Underwood's textbook of Pathology. An academician to the core, he enjoys teaching and is passionate about people empowerment and mentoring.

'Technology should supplement, not supplant the living, loving teacher,’ he says.

His comfort with ever-evolving methods of pedagogy is characteristic of Dr.Ramnarayan: he constantly examines how teaching can be improved, how teachers can continue to hold the attention of students in a hyper-connected world, and how teachers can cause more learning to happen.

• Watch Dr Ramnarayan speak on ‘Celebrating Teacherhood’ and the ‘Vanishing Art of Lecturing’

Celebrating Teacherhood

Vanishing Art of Lecturing: Part 1

Vanishing Art of Lecturing: Part 2

Vanishing Art of Lecturing: Part 3