Biography

Dr. Ashok K Chitkara began his career where his passion has always resided, in the mathematics classroom. That grounding in teaching, and in the belief that quality education is transformative, led him in 2002 to establish the Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology. It was the first step in building what is today a thriving educational ecosystem spanning two universities, two international schools, and the Chitkara Educational Trust.

Under his leadership, Chitkara University has grown into a multidisciplinary institution offering over 100 undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs, supported by more than 300 academic partnerships with universities across the world. The research culture he has cultivated speaks for itself. Faculty, scholars, and students have filed over 5000 patents and published more than 19,500 research papers. His own scholarly contributions include published research in mathematics and the doctoral guidance of several PhD scholars.

What distinguishes Dr. Chitkara’s leadership is his sustained, personal engagement with the academic community. He continues to teach, conducting modules on leadership, ethics, and values for management students, and more recently introducing sessions on artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok, and the Metaverse for first-year students across both campuses. His initiative, A Day With The Chancellor, brings him face to face with students and faculty each year in an open forum built on dialogue, mentorship, and shared purpose. Few leaders at his level have maintained this quality of direct connection.

His intellectual curiosity extends well beyond his institution. Dr. Chitkara has completed ten levels of French at Alliance Française de Chandigarh and cleared all six levels of the HSK, the international Mandarin Chinese proficiency examination, reflecting a lifelong commitment to learning that he actively models for his students.

Equally committed to the communities beyond his campuses, he has supported rural development by adopting villages in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and has enabled students to run Chitkara 107.8 FM, a community radio station that meaningfully engages with surrounding rural communities.

He is a Life Member of the Indian Mathematical Society, the Indian Science Congress Association, and the Indian Society for Technical Education.

His guiding principle is simple: Faith, Focus, and Follow.