Prof. Alok Kumar Rai is Professor of Management at Institute of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University and currently Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lucknow in his second term. He has been Vice-Chancellor (additional charge) of Dr. BR Ambedkar University in Agra, Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya in Varanasi, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow.
In the role of Institutional leader, Prof. Rai is spearheading the development of the University’s policies and programs to establish extraordinary standards of education and enrich the experience of learning through academic, administrative and financial reforms and reinvigorate the connection between learners and the society. A champion of Customer Relationship Management, Prof. Rai has centered his focus on developing an innovative and learning ecosystem through nurturing mutual relationships amongst the stakeholders. Aligned with the University’s ambition of serving the society as the harbinger of economic, social and spiritual progress, Prof. Rai is leading this hundred and two years-old illustrious institution to excel in higher education and create a sustainable future.
Under his leadership, University of Lucknow became the first institution in the country to have implemented National Education Policy 2020, got ranked in various prestigious rankings such as QS, Nature Index, TIMES Higher Education, EduRank, UniRank, SCImago and NIRF Ranking since he took over. Leading the university towards academic excellence through reforms, research indices, projects and consultancy went up significantly since he initiated decentralised and inclusive governanceinthesystem. He also introduced several student centric schemes, use of information technology in creating hybrid learning, increased automation for e-governance, and social inclusion addressing concerns of the changing times and paved way for excellence through holistic development of students and establishment of sustainable and innovative ecosystem for teaching and research.
His persistent effort and consistent endeavour for internationalization of higher educationhas marked up the international student applications for various programs in the university. 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, mentoring schemes such as ‘Student’s OPD’ (Our Pupils’ Day), programme of ‘GarbhSanskar’, ‘Swasti Scheme’ for students’ scholarship, ‘Departmental YouTube Channel Scheme’, and many financial support schemes like Karmyogi, Karmodaya, Chatra Kalyan, ShodhMedha, Arpan, VC Care Fund. With these initiatives, Prof Rai addressed diversity and inclusivity concerns in the university.
Further, his foresight fostered a swift and agile system in the university through a lean decentralized structure embedding good governance and hybrid teaching-learning through digitalization of university administrative functions and state-of-the-art LMS SLATE.
Prof. Rai recognizes the enormity of the university’s social obligations and has been persistently working towards creating a culture of conscientiousness in the university. One of his inceptive initiatives, “Carbon Footprint Reduction Assessment” was widely lauded. 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 the 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, amongst others. Having presented his scholastic perspectives and research outputs 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 higher education and policy making bodies of center and state. He is the Chairperson of Central Zone NEP Implementation Committee, member of other policy making bodies of UGC, and Member of diverse governing bodies of namely General Council (GC) NAAC, Member of University Council of University of Jammu, Member of Executive Council of RML Awadh University, Nominated Member of Academic Council of MMMUT Gorakhpur, UP College Varanasi, Jaipuria Institute of Management Studies Lucknow, Board member of Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow. He is also Member of BOS of Sikkim University and many more. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, he is an eminent person in the domain of higher education standard setting and decision-making bodies such as Chairperson of State Ranking Development Committee and more. 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, and others.