Maverick Educator And A Doyen Of The Society

Dr Madhu Chitkara is listed amongst “India’s finest and fiercest academicians”. It has been the good fortune of all those who came under the chieftaincy of Dr Madhu Chitkara, the doyen of teachers and the living example of a true academician. A woman, whose journey is not only stunning, but also conveys, how human beings can realise their exceptional abilities and be a winner. A woman of substance who looked at the bright side of life, and stoically endured the lows.

An entrepreneur, an educator and a philanthropist who built Chitkara, India’s most outstanding educational Institutions with grit, passion and with vast & illustrious experience spanning 47 years. She got her Bachelor’s degree in 1975 and subsequently studied education. She was honoured with State Award of ‘Teacher of Outstanding Merit’ in 1987. She met her life partner during this journey. They together pursued M.Ed. and M.Sc. (Maths). She earned a Ph.D. in education and became a college instructor. After earning his Ph.D., her spouse joined as University faculty.

She along with her husband started Chitkara Institute of Competitions to train students for competitive exams. Students noted their skill as instructors, and CIC’s reputation expanded. Her husband had great intellectual capital to educate, and she was enterprising. In India, only a registered Trust or Society may create a formal educational institution. They formed Chitkara Educational Trust in 1998.

India was traditional at that period, and women entrepreneurs were rare. Thus, verifying her qualifications to the bureaucracy and banks was a headache. When they risked their careers to start PTU - affiliated Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology (CIET), their children had yet to finish school. For a woman, it was definitely twice as hard. But her passion of teaching kept her going. For ethical reasons, she ensured all CIET admissions were merit-based. Early on, the Trust gave up Management Quota Seats. She received 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is the first woman in her family to work in education, first as an employee and then as an entrepreneur. In 2008, she and her colleagues toured top US institutions to understand their pedagogy. She received ‘International Achiever’s Award 2009 for Women Entrepreneur’ in education.

With over 25000 students & 3000 professors, Dr Madhu is the spirit of all her campuses. She helped create over 90 industry-relevant graduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes. Chitkara University is the only university in the world with 67% female employees and women in most leadership positions. In 2013, Washington School of Business published her entrepreneurship case study, and she won the South Asian Women Entrepreneur Award. Her work includes developing student incubators with over 100 incubating start-ups. Her vision has led the University to form partnerships with over 200 educational institutes worldwide. Former Lt. President Sri Pranab Mukherjee named her a Visionary Educator of India at the 2017 Rethink INDIA Fifth Estate Summit.

Dr Madhu created the Global Week, a footprint of Global Engagement to internationalise student learning. BRICS International Forum awarded her with ‘Award of Honour for International Digital Leaders’ at ‘Vision For Future-2019’. Her story is included in IFEES’ third edition of “Rising to the Top”. She adopted 12 villages with her university campuses spearheading her philanthropy initiatives for two decades now.

She has always mentored her team to look for opportunities in challenges. In pandemic, with the robust technological setup, Chitkara had the efficacy to move completely online in a very short time. Chitkara received the 2020 E-Learning Excellence for Academic Digitisation Certification for its readiness and excellence in online education, for “Technological Innovation of the Year” for the prestigious Times Higher Education Asia Awards 2020.

Dr Madhu Chitkara advises women worldwide to take risks. Avoid cynics and critics. Think and remember what occurs when history favours one person. One person can be you. You should be that. You must be it. Game rules will change. Make sure you change the game. Create the future.