A multiple national and international award winning education innovator and leader, Professor Pradeep Nair is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Chief Academic Officer of Taylor’s University, Malaysia. 

Under Pradeep’s leadership, Taylor’s University is ranked the best private university in Malaysia in the 2020 QS Graduate Employability, 4th in the world for graduate employability, is the most trusted brand for Private Education in Malaysia for 10 consecutive years, awarded QS 5 Stars in 6 categories and is ranked No 2 in Asia and No 14 in the world for hospitality and leisure management subject ranking. 

Focussing on innovation in higher education, Pradeep led numerous institutional turnarounds and pioneered the first dual award degrees in Asia, introduced the award winning SHINE Award & the 2nd Transcript, Microcredentials, X-Space Classrooms of the Future, ReWIND Lecture Capture System, Learning Analytics and the first Faculty Track System in Malaysia. He has pioneered new concepts and ideas to embed “Whole Person Education” in university curricula. In 2018, he successfully implemented the Taylor’s Curriculum Framework (TCF), a bold initiative to transform 56 undergraduate degrees to be broad-based, flexible and personalized.

Pradeep is the co-founder of the Tourism Educators Association of Malaysia (TEAM), Founding President of the ASEAN Tourism Research Association (ATRA), member of the National Curriculum Board for Polytechnics in Malaysia and currently the Deputy President of the Malaysian Association of Private Universities and Colleges. 

Pradeep is highly decorated for his contributions, in 2012 winning the World Education Congress Leadership Excellence Award for Exemplary Leadership in HE, and also being selected as one of the Top 100 Personalities in Hospitality by Hospitality Asia Magazine (2008). For his contributions to the setting up of the National Hotel Industry Apprenticeship Scheme, he received the PATA Gold Award for Education and Training and, later, the title KMN (Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm) by His Majesty, the King of Malaysia. He is the first Asian to be made a Fellow of the International Centre of Excellence (THE-ICE) in Tourism and Hospitality Education. In 2015, he awarded the National Outstanding Educator Award (University Category) for his contributions to private higher education in Malaysia. In 2016, he was made Officer for the l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, by French Government. This is a national order of France for distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education.