Vice Chancellor
Prof. Alok Kr. Rai is Professor of Marketing at Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University and currently Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lucknow where he is spearheading the development of the University’s policies and programs to establish extraordinary standards of education, enrich the experience of learning and reinvigorate the connection between learners and the society. A champion of Customer Relationship Management, Prof. Rai has centred his focus upon building a culture of student centricity across various Departments, Institutes and Associated Colleges of the University, and transforming the face of higher education. Aligned with the University’s ambition of serving the society as the harbinger of economic, social and spiritual progress, Prof. Rai is leading this illustrious institution towards creating an impact bigger and better than ever before.
His key priority is to enhance the educational framework at the University and streamline it with the expectations of modern learners. With the introduction of choice-based credit system of global standards and new Ph. D. ordinance with several innovative augmentations, the university has progressed towards an effective and flexible platform of education where students are empowered to cocreate their experience of learning and gain an edge in an increasingly competitive workforce. He is committed to creating the opportunities of international exposure for the students and has been encouraging organization of interactive sessions with foreign delegations, virtual classrooms, visiting faculty from international partner institutions and student exchange agreements. To expand its reach to diverse strata of learners, the university, under the direction of Prof. Rai has introduced several innovations in education and experiences of students such as part-time Ph.D. program, ‘Student’s OPD’ (Our Pupils’ Day), programme of “GarbhSanskar”, ‘Swasti Scheme’ for students’ scholarship, ‘Departmental YouTube Channel Scheme’, etc. With these initiatives, Prof Rai seeks to foster a swift and agile system in the university through a lean decentralized structure and innovation.
Prof. Rai recognizes the enormity of the university’s social obligations and is persistently working towards creating a culture of conscientiousness in the university. One of his inceptive initiatives, “Carbon Footprint Reduction Assessment” was widely lauded in the academic circles. Being an ardent scholar of management, Prof. Rai is resolute to create value for all the stakeholders of the university in an academic system that offers sustainable and socially responsible solutions in higher education.
Before joining University of Lucknow:
Before joining the University of Lucknow as Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rai served the Institute of Management Studies at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in different capacities. He had held several administrative responsibilities in the institute besides contributing as Member of Policy and Planning Committee, Faculty Council, Departmental Council and Departmental Research Committee.
Prof. Rai holds expertise in the areas of Customer Relationship Management, Marketing Management and Entrepreneurship Development. His research interests revolve around Customer Relationship Modeling, Customer Loyalty Engineering, Service Quality Architecture, Customer Satisfaction Portfolio Design, etc. Having presented his scholastic perspectives and research products in over 75 publications that include 6 authored and 4 edited books and numerous book chapters, articles and research papers in the leading academic journals of consequence. Prof. Rai has long been inspiring the pivotal and profound inquiries in the realms of Customer Relationship Management, Customer Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Business Ethics and Management Education. He is credited with standardizing the curriculum content of Customer Relationship Management in India with his bestselling title ‘Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Cases’ published by PHI Learning that brought his pioneering work on devising a formula for the computation of constructs viz. Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Satisfaction to the fore. Prof. Rai also laid the foundation of Customer Loyalty as an academic discipline with his oeuvre - ‘Customer Loyalty: Concept, Context and Character’. Published by McGraw Hills Ltd., this was the first book on the subject of customer loyalty in the country. He holds 5 IPR in the field of his research.
As an avid academician, Prof. Rai has continued to be a prominent presence in sundry provinces of management education. As a NAAC expert for assessment and accreditation, MHRD expert for different committees, expert chairman/member of different committees for several regular and technical universities, Prof. Rai has long been dealing with diverse administrative responsibilities. He has also been on the Faculty Board/ Board of Studies/Curriculum Development Committees of several leading universities and management colleges of the country.
Prof. Rai has delivered a large number of keynote addresses and invited lectures at various FDPs, Conferences, Seminars and Workshops in different parts of the country. He has been actively involved in providing professional training and consultancy services to different government departments such as Ministry of Defence, Department of Post and Telegraph, Central School Board etc., leading PSUs like BSNL, NTPC, ECGC, UPPCL, REC. etc. and several private companies. He has organized 3 International conferences, 8 National Conferences, 5 National level FDPs and holds membership on various professional bodies like Association of Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA), CRM Academy of Asia, ISOL Research Foundation, etc.