Creating highly charged teams to take on challenges

Dr. Kamlesh Misra, Vice Chancellor – Ansal University

Born in a remote village of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, North India, Dr. Kamlesh Misra had early schooling in a school under a large tree, the ancient practices in most villages in India. Most of the teachers, he recalls were from the local villages. Opportunity gave him a new life to move out to the city and start convent education. This is the time when he realized that life could have been as good for all of his village friends, had they got the same opportunity – to get out of the ocean of poverty. As luck would have, he went on to complete his University education at Allahabad University and then moved on to the United States for Ph.D in Economics.

Having been in academics for over 30 years, Dr. Kamlesh finds this profession as a very rewarding one in life. His career started off in the United States as Lecturer at Northeastern University, Boston after which he moved to University of Pittsburgh. Finally in 1994, he returned to India and since then has held several positions in Academic Administration including Director of Several Institutions. Dr. Misra was the Founder Vice Chancellor of Auro University, Surat before taking up the position of Vice Chancellor of Ansal University, Gurgaon.

“I firmly believe that whether it is a business organization or a university, the key to achieving success is its people. I am very passionate about transforming individuals into effective Human Resource who can think from their brain but act from their heart. Every single individual has something that I can use in building something larger than life. Sometimes even the said individual may not know what that is. It is then my responsibility to ensure that I get the best out of that individual” says Dr. Misra

He strongly feels that people skills are very important part of any management practice. He loves creating highly charged teams to take on any challenge, based on his belief in creating success stories out of ordinary people. “Ability to hear others, compassion, love, and fairness are other attributes that are close to my heart”, says Dr. Misra. He enjoys painting, pottery, photography, and collecting coins and currency as a hobby.

Read the interview below with team ABT, to know more about Dr. Kamlesh Misra and his journey.

What led you to choose Education as a profession?
I hail from a family of agriculturists, but my father got educated and moved out of the village. Most of the members of our family have been in education. My father was a professor and then worked for United Nations and then went on to become Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University in India. So now we are a family of second generation educationalist. My wife was a school teacher for quite some time before she gave up to raise children. It has been a family tradition now to do something beyond self for the society we live and have got so much from.

As a student at Allahabad University from 1977 to 1983, I did prepare to get into the Indian Administrative Services and had already crossed the major hurdles but then decided to do my Ph.D from the United States instead. As my father had done his Ph.D from University of Maryland the impact on my thinking to go to the United States for studies was always there. I had the feeling that education will give me a life where I will not have to compromise the basic principles of life.

Teaching to me has always been and hopefully always be a people oriented profession. I believe that one must care a great deal about students to achieve excellence in our profession and this what excited me the most about the profession of higher education.

Who is your greatest inspiration? Why?
My ideology and thinking has been shaped by different people at different stages of my life and career. I was highly influenced my teachers in the village in my early upbringing. They taught the basic principles of human values such as love, truth, compassion, and Non-Violence. In my teenage years, I was influenced by some of my friends who taught me the true value of friendship and relationships.

In my professional career I have learnt a great deal about administration from my father Interestingly, I have been highly influenced by some of my own students who through their own discussions showed me the value of a real teacher and that changed me as a person.

There are several people who would qualify to be in the list as each has influenced me in some way or the other.But if I were to pick one that everyone can relate to would be Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of the Nation. He is one man who did what he asked other to do, he was a leader who carried his people with him and gave up everything for the cause of humanity.

Seldom are such people born, who inspire such a large number of people worldwide. What I like the most about him is the concept of Non-Violence which is a value system that can save the world for so much misery that we are facing today in all parts of the world. I have too much to learn from this great soul and I hope that the next few years will be a good time knowing him more closely through his writings.

Tell us about Ansal University & your plans to enhance the institution’s contribution.
Ansal University, Gurgaon is one of the fastest growing private Universities in India. It has made a mark in just four years of its existence. The University currently has six Schools: (1) Sushant School of Art & Architecture (2) School of Design (3) School of Engineering (4) School of Management (5) School of Law (6) School of Entrepreneurship Skill Development. Ansal University is a quality focused university which places great importance to students learning and provides them a great environment on the campus to grow as individuals. The University believes in total transformation of the student within the duration of their degree programs. Although students has focus on specialization the push is always to provide them with holistic education. We also believe that all students need to become aware of their cultural heritage, history, and diversity of India.

The Ansal University has planned its growth around two strategies: (1) Growth of existing School and (2) Establishment of new Schools. The University is investing in developing new and state-of-the-art infrastructure for all its existing schools over the next three years. The University is planning its growth in the second phase around new schools in the area of Health and Allied Science, Liberal Arts, Biotechnology, and Journalism.

In the years to come the focus of the University is going to be on making its campus highly Student Centric where learning becomes a passion for students and teachers. The university also plans to attract the best of the teachers and administrators from around the world.

What are your views on the current digital wave that is influencing every profession & our lives?
I am a great supporter of technology as tool for human progress. The world is moving at a very fast pace and only technology can carry man to the next dimension of human progress. Digital technology is the future of the world and it is being promoted vigorously in India today. This is likely to bring very high level of transparency in the system and will have a major impact on controlling corruption which is so necessary for developing countries. I support the push given by the Prime Minister of India to go digital and leverage the technological breakthrough that we have witnessed in the last few years.

These technologies are being now used in teaching and learning processes as well. I see a great future for use of digital technologies to reach out to students in remote parts of the country in the next few years.

Tell us about some of the challenges you face, how do you overcome them?
As an academic administrator in the growing private sector education, I face challenges each day. The greatest challenge is to bring a balance between the expectations of all stakeholders (Students, Parents Teachers, Ownership and Society) while ensuring that the best quality education is made available at the lowest cost. I have, however found that if students and teachers are focused on the job of high quality education, it is possible to create a great learning environment.

During my early days, there have been many decisions that I took in my life that changed the course of my life and career. The first decision was to leave my Job in the United States and return to India after 14 years. I started my career in India with a Government job that didn’t pay me high and in two years all my savings were almost gone. This had a major impact of my life style and the ability to take care of family obligations. I was prepared for this risk so I kept going but then had to take my second major decision to leave a secure government job and venture into the private sector education which was just taking root in India. Being fairly adventurous, I took the second risk and have never regretted till today.

Finally some decision which made me what I am today were to stand firm on the basic principles of life no matter what the consequences. I did suffer some setbacks but at the end there are no regrets as I came out as the winner.

Do you recall your most proud moment?
I am very proud that I have been able to make a difference in the life of so many young minds of this country in my career spanning over 15 years in India. I have been able to transform them, change the way they look at life and most importantly made them productive citizens of this Nation. Students have given me more in my life by what they have become and it’s a great joy to cherish their memories.

At a personal level I have been able to bring a fair balance between various aspects of my life from raising a family to leading people. The most satisfying part of my life has been that I do not carry any animosity against anyone, even those that were a barrier to my work. They all did what they think was right. At the end of the day we look at the world in the shade of the glasses we wear.

If you were to change/relive any one moment, what would that be?
As a teacher, sometimes you tend to become very close with your students. They begin to depend on your support for academic and personal problems. My setting up Auro University, Surat was one such moment in my life and more importantly the level of transformation that I was able to bring about among the students was never anticipated by me. It was for the first time I realized the power of a teacher and how we can influence their thinking.

It was a painful transition for me as I was too attached to the students and I was in the middle of an exciting experiment that could have given some very important breakthrough in Higher Education. I would certainly like to create a similar environment for my students where there is value for free thinking and exploring their full potential. I am glad that I have always got such opportunities in my life and the experiment never stops.

What would you like to achieve in the coming years?
Life for me has always been a constant search for truth and my goal in life has always been like a mirage, the closer I have got to it the further it has gone away from me. May be at this point in life I am not enamored by the material possession that one could acquire during their life time. The journey of life has always been an adventure for me and not knowing what is next has created so much of drive to continue to do what is the right thing to do without any expectations.

Holding a position of Vice Chancellor is the highest academic position that one can reach but then it is never the end of it but it is the beginning of a new dream. My work now is focused on creating something larger than life. I want to bring about a gradual revolution in the field of education by creating an island of excellence which can serve as a model for sweeping change. Hoping that every individual who leaves this island of excellence will create another one somewhere else and some day we will have many such islands.