Advisory Board - Higher Education Digest

Associate Professor Dr.Varughese K.John, PhD, MBA, MPhil, MCom, LLB.

Former Program Director, MS in Management Program, GSATM – AU.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Varughese K. John, has got more than 35 years of teaching and research experience in the domain of commerce and management. He was a full-time faculty member of the Graduate School of eLearning (MS Program in Management and Ph.D. Program in eLM), Assumption University of Thailand. Also, he was a visiting professor of another university in Vietnam and also was an adjudicator of Ph.D. dissertations of many other Universities. His specializations are financial management, banking, and managerial accounting. He did his Ph. D. on ‘Non-performing Assets of Indian commercial banks’. He has got a number of publications in world class journals and used to publish research articles in the daily ‘Bangkok Post’. He has contributed many research papers in the international conferences in Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and India – has been honored with the best paper presentation award in IPN Conferences, 2018 at Perth, Australia. He started his teaching career in the year 1983 in the colleges under the management of Malankara Syrian Catholic colleges in Kerala, India and eventually became the Principal of Pazhassiraja College, Pulpally, Wayanad, Kerala during the period 2011 to 2015. He served as a member of the Faculty of Commerce, University of Kerala for three years (2004-2007). He got industrial experience by serving in different companies in the middle-east. His educational qualifications include – Ph.D., MBA, M.Phil., M.Com. and LL.B.

Shanthi Rajan (MSHRM, FHEA, AMCILT)
Director, Institution Development, University of Stirling, RAK Campus, UAE.

Shanthi RAJAN is a senior HR professional with 17 years of HR corporate experience and has worked predominantly in MNCs handling senior HR roles. Shanthi is the Director – Institution Development of University of Stirling, RAK campus and SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) Diplomas. She moved to academia in 2009 and has taught in many reputed international universities namely University of Wollongong, London School of Economics, Middlesex and University of Bolton’s campuses in Ras Al Khaimah, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

During the years she has developed her communication skills and ability to build effective relationships across the board and with various stakeholders and have a strong ability to lead teams as well as highly developed skills in detailed analysis and problem-solving situations. Apart from teaching, Shanthi facilitates, design, and deliver need based trainings and workshops in India, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Sudan which include in house and public programs as part of Management Development programs for senior executives in areas such as OB, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. She translates her 17 years of Corporate experience into classroom knowledge through her teaching and communication skills. She uses the edifice of emotional intelligence based education system as the core concept in classroom teaching. She is a good team player with her colleagues and her students – an emotional intelligence approach that reflects in her disposition in workplace and beyond.

She holds a Master’s degree with specialization in Strategic Human Resources Management from the University of Wollongong, and is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Education Leadership (USA). Her core areas of specialization and research interest includes Strategic HRM, OB, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. She is an affiliate member of CILT (UK) and a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK). She is a certified S+EI coach from the Institute for Social and Emotional Intelligence (ISEI), Denver, Colorado and also certified in using Positive Psychology for coaching S+EI. She is an Advisory Board Member for Higher Education Digest, an independent information portal with a digital and print-on-demand and also an Academic Advisory Board member of DMTIMS, Navi Mumbai. She has completed her Postgraduate certification (PGCert) in teaching and learning from University of Bolton (UK) and her Higher Education Teaching Certification from Harvard, Derek Bok Centre of Teaching and Learning, Harvard University.

Dr Ajay Shukla, Ph.D, MBA, BE.
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Higher Education UAE

Dr. Ajay has the unique distinction of bringing several global universities and institutions to the UAE such as University of Birmingham (UK), Babson College (Boston US), Inscape Education Group (South Africa) etc. through his efforts in building the market landscape knowledge, business case and supporting the local licensing, accreditation, institutional set-up and operations.

He supported the establishment and growth of international student enrollments at several universities in UAE including SP Jain Institute of Business Management, Manipal Institute, Amity University, University of South Wales, Heriot Watts University, Hult International Business School, Ajman University, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Middlesex University Dubai to name a few.

Dr. Ajay has built his credentials with regulators and education investors through his high quality authoritative and ethically sound work and understanding of transnational higher education deeply.

Prior to his current role, Ajay served as the CEO for one of UAEs leading higher education holding company with a significant investment from the world largest private education provider, GEMS Education/Varkey Group. During his 29-year career, he has worked in direct-to-consumer business as well as B2B businesses at leadership level roles.

In his early career at American Express (1989-2001), he was the head of marketing and business development for the consumer card business in India and was a significant contributor to launching a locally billed card business in India. He was awarded the Chairman’s Award for Quality for this contribution.

Ajay was the founder Vice President of ABN AMRO Bank Credit Cards (2011-2004) where he built the bank’s credit card business in India from scratch to become one of the top multinational credit cards brands within two years of the launch.

He has also headed Reader’s Digest (2004-2005) business in India as CEO. He was recognized by the Indian media industry as the ‘Best Media Marketer of the Year’

At McGraw-Hill Education (2005-2014) Ajay led the digital transformation of the business. For his efforts in growing the McGraw-Hill business, he was chosen from over 10,000 employees and awarded the company’s highest individual honor Excellence in Leadership Award.

Ajay is passionate about education and the impact this sector has on society and economies.

He is an Engineering graduate from the renowned Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and a top-ranked from one of India’s leading business schools – Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University. He has received the prestigious National Talent Scholarship (NTS) from the Indian government throughout his secondary school and college education.

Ajay serves on the advisory board of mediciinstitute.org India’s think tank for mission-focused governance. He has served as a trustee on the board of National Book Trust of India, for three years, to promote literacy and reading as a Ministry of Human Resources development nominee. Ajay has also advised National Skills Development Corporation of India to transform skills training for the youth. He was also the general secretary of the Association of Publishers in India (API) and intellectual property and copyright committee at American Chamber of Commerce.