M Jagadesh Kumar Retires As UGC Chairman After Almost 2 Years – News18

Last Updated:April 08, 2025, 08:12 IST

In an official statement, the Commission expressed gratitude and wished M Jagadesh Kumar success for the next chapter of his life.

Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar has officially retired as Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), a position he had been holding since February 2022. In an official statement, the Commission expressed gratitude and wished him success for the next chapter of his life.

“The University Grants Commission bids a heartfelt farewell to Chairman Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. His tenure was marked by a series of unprecedented student-centric reforms and far-reaching institutional changes across higher education in the country. He also shifted many aspects of the functioning of the regulatory body,” the Commission said in a post on the microblogging site, X.

“His dedication to academia and his ability to connect with people from all walks of life will be fondly remembered. The entire UGC family wishes him the very best in the next chapter of his life,” it further added.

A native of Telangana’s Nalgonda district, Kumar holds an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras. He served as the 12th Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) from January 2016 to February 2022. As per the official website, he held the NXP (Philips) Chair Professor established at IIT Delhi by Philips Semiconductors, Netherlands. He received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Teaching (in large class category) from IIT Delhi.

He works in the area of Nanoelectronic Devices, Nanoscale Device modeling and simulation, Innovative Device Design and Power semiconductor devices. Prof. Kumar has published extensively in the above areas with three books, four book chapters, and more than 250 publications in refereed journals and conferences. Several patent applications have been filed based on his research.