Assistant Director / Senior Assistant Director - Higher Education

Overview and Candidate Profile

We seek candidates with an academic background of MBA, MBE, MSW, MA in Economics, Social Sciences, or other related fields, equipped with 4 to 12 years of pertinent experience. Preference will be given to those with prior exposure to education or social sectors.

Key Competencies

• Deep understanding of the higher education landscape including policies and regulatory environment.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with mid to senior-level stakeholders such as government officials, regulatory bodies, universities, and industry representatives.
• Expertise in both primary and secondary research methodologies.
• Skilled in organizing and managing events, delegations, and conferences.
• Proficient in analytical report writing and project management.
• Strong presentation capabilities with extensive use of MS Office Suite including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Forms, and Teams.

Principal Responsibilities

• Lead thought leadership and policy advocacy initiatives in higher education by collaborating with committee leadership to identify critical topics and produce insightful publications such as papers, reports, and articles.
• Maintain active engagement with regulatory institutions, Ministry of Education, other ministries, and state governments to contribute to reports and provide feedback on government notifications and policy documents.
• Forge strategic partnerships with university leaders, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and key higher education stakeholders.
• Oversee the functioning of the FICCI Higher Education Committee and associated Taskforces, including organizing meetings, setting agendas, preparing minutes, and facilitating specialist groups to address specific sector challenges.
• Guide the development of task force outputs including research reports, project implementations, surveys, events, webinars, masterclasses, and program execution.
• Drive membership growth and engagement activities for the committee.
• Plan and manage the annual global FICCI Higher Education Summit, including program design, partner identification, coordinating masterclasses, workshops, closed-door industry-academic interactions, and post-event reporting.
• Spearhead revenue generation efforts through sponsorships and delegate participation for department events.
• Administer social media branding and communication related to the Summit and related activities.
• Identify and execute collaborative projects to strengthen industry-academia partnerships, reconnect with National Knowledge Functional Hub (NKFH) partners, and initiate activities aligned with the NKFH framework.
• Organize capacity-building programs targeting faculty and higher education leaders.
• Collaborate with global agencies such as the World Bank and government institutions to explore joint initiatives.
• Conceptualize and implement webinars, workshops, masterclasses, and delegations on topics of relevance, engaging senior government officials and committee leadership where appropriate.
• Continuously monitor government announcements on policies and regulations, preparing timely inputs and recommendations.
• Partner with knowledge collaborators to provide secondary research for the annual FICCI Knowledge report released at the Higher Education Summit.
• Contribute to a bi-monthly sectoral newsletter "FICCI Eduwrap," curating news and articles for a broad audience, including faculty, industry, students, and MSMEs while identifying opportunities for advertisement revenue.