International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building

Professor (Dr.) Malabika Sarkar

Professor Malabika Sarkar is Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University, and Professor of English. She joined Ashoka in 2015 as Principal Academic Advisor and was additionally Ashoka’s first Dean of Faculty and Research (2016-2019). She has been Vice-Chancellor at Ashoka since 2019.

She was First Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University in Kolkata (2011-2014), responsible for the transition of the institution from Presidency College (established as Hindu College in 1817) to Presidency University. Earlier, she was Professor of English at Jadavpur University, a member of the University Council (1980-1985), a panel member of NAAC, and member of other UGC committees. An alumna of Cambridge University, later Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, she is now elected Life Member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge. She is also an invited Fellow of the English Association (FEA), UK. Primarily a Miltonist, her academic field is Early Modern Literature and the History of Science. Her other area of interest is Romantic Literature and culture.

Her books include Cosmos and Character in Paradise Lost (Palgrave Macmillan, US, 2012) and Moneta’s Veil: Essays on Nineteenth Century Literature (Pearson, 2009). She is a member of the International Advisory Board of the journal European Romantic Review.