Citation Director of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) — an autonomous unit of the University of Mumbai — for two terms and currently Senior Professor, JBIMS, and Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Management, University of Mumbai (UoM), Prof. (Dr.) Kavita Ramchandra Laghate is one of India’s most respected women higher education leaders with a long and distinguished career in commerce and business management education. An alumna of Nagpur University, Dr. Laghate began her career in 1993 as lecturer in the department of statistics, Nagpur University followed by tenures at the Sydenham Institute of Management Studies Research and Entrepreneurship Education, Jankidevi Bajaj Institute of Management, and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies — all sited in India’s business and commercial capital, Mumbai. In 2011, she was appointed professor at JBIMS, routinely ranked among India’s Top 20 B-schools in all media and government rankings. A year later, she was promoted to the office of Director of this prestigious degree-awarding B-school. In 2015, she was nominated to the Senate of University of Mumbai, and after serving her term was reappointed Director of JBIMS in 2018. Simultaneously, she served as finance and accounts officer of UoM, and Director of its Institute of Distance and Open Learning. In 2022, Dr. Laghate was re-appointed appointed senior professor at JBIMS. During her decade-long innings at JBIMS as Director, Dr. Laghate has played a major role in nurturing and developing Mumbai’s top-ranked B-school respected for producing industry-ready business management graduates. It was during her first term as director that JBIMS was granted autonomous status in 2014 by Mumbai University. Apart from nurturing and developing JBIMS into the commercial capital’s Top 3 B-schools, Dr. Laghate has substantially contributed to contemporising business and commerce curriculums of UoM’s over 700 affiliated colleges. In her capacity as Dean, faculty of commerce and management, UoM, she is shouldering the responsibility of NEP 2020 implementation and preparing its 2024-29 perspective plan. “My career in higher education has been very fulfilling especially the experience of preparing JBIMS for grant of autonomous status. Yet throughout my three decades in UoM, my objective has been to ensure that affordable quality higher education, particularly business management education, becomes accessible to youth from all sections of society,” says Dr. Laghate, who has published 36 research papers in well-known journals and addressed over 38 national and international conferences. In 2014, she was conferred the Best Director Award of the Higher Education Forum, Mumbai. For her extraordinary contribution to the growth and development of higher education in Maharashtra, particularly upgrading commerce and business management education standards, the Board of Directors of EducationWorld are delighted to present the EW Extraordinary Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2023-24 to Dr. Kavita R. Laghate. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp
