Prof. R. Hafeez Basha, an eminent scientist and distinguished academician from Hyderabad has achieved a remarkable milestone by becoming the ‘Youngest Vice Chancellor in Cambodia’ and the ‘Youngest Muslim Vice Chancellor in the World’, attaining this feat at the age of 40. He also ranks among the Top 3 globally in the ‘Indian Origin Abroad’ category and among the Top 4 in ‘Indian Vice Chancellors’ category while also setting several other world records.
His appointment as the Vice Chancellor of Kirirom Institute of Technology (KIT), Cambodia, was made by Chairman Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy Churukanti, an Indian-born entrepreneur and businessman who also serves as Managing Director of Phnom Penh-based Star5 Developers, Emerald Plantations, and Bharat Food. To formally recognize this historic achievement, Mr. Kiran has announced that applications will be submitted to leading global record authorities including Guinness World Records, Limca Book of Records, India Book of Records, and other international institutions to officially certify Prof. Basha’s remarkable accomplishment.
This milestone surpasses the record held by Dr. Zia Ul Haq, appointed as Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University (KMU) in 2020 at the same age of 40, then the World’s Youngest Muslim Vice Chancellor. It also follows earlier global benchmarks set by Dr. Ashok Patel, who became Youngest Indian Vice Chancellor at age 30 in 2021 at Armenian-Russian International University ‘Mkhitar Gosh’ Armenia, and Dr. Krishna N. Sharma, who assumed Vice Chancellor role at Victoria University, Uganda in 2017 at the age of 32.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Hafeez Basha served as Associate Vice Chancellor at University of Emerging Technologies (UET), Silicon Valley, California, USA, and previously held leadership roles as Dean / Director at several engineering colleges and business schools in India. He also continues to serve as an Advisor to Government of Telangana at Department of ITE&C contributing to the Photonics Valley Corporation (PVC), a strategic initiative in Semiconductors, VLSI, Silicon Photonics and Quantum Technologies. Additionally, he is Advisor – TechnoHub to Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI), an organ of the Institution of Engineers (IE-India).
He was awarded the prestigious ‘Monbukagakusho Scholarship’ by the Government of Japan to pursue his Ph. D. at Kumamoto University, where he also received the ‘Dean’s Award for Research Excellence’ at the age of 30 during his convocation in March 2016. Earlier, during his Master’s he was a recipient of the ‘Young Scientist Award’ sponsored for higher education by Thomson Reuters Scientific (now Clarivate Analytics), Hitec City, Hyderabad, through their ‘Learn While You Earn program.’ He also received high appreciation from the then Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), Dr. Josep Prous Jr., Founder of world acclaimed Prous Science.
KIT is guided by Japanese management principles, with strong emphasis on discipline, precision, and quality education. Known for its experiential and practical learning approach, KIT has developed a successful track record of student placements in Japanese companies, including internships and exchange programs in Japan, creating clear pathways from academic training to global careers. Supporting Oknha Kiran Reddy’s vision of transforming KIT into a new-age international university, Dr. Hafeez Basha aims to leverage his academic and industry networks across Asia, Europe, and America to forge 100+ active partnerships with universities, research centers, and industries worldwide within the first year. He envisions building KIT into a center of global engagement and innovation by leveraging technology, offering unique opportunities for joint research, student exchange, overseas internships and global immersion programs that top business schools and engineering institutions worldwide value.
Dr. Hafeez Basha holds distinction of visiting 13+ countries without spending any money from his pocket within first ten years of his illustrious career, he was invited by 150+ reputed institutions in India and abroad for his advocacy on ‘Employability and Entrepreneurship’ inspiring 10,000+ students. His work has garnered extensive press coverage, with over 250+ newspaper articles, television news channels and other media platforms highlighting his contributions to the society. His inspiring journey was documented in the biography: ‘CHASER – On a Journey of Transformation’ (uLektz Books, 2022; ISBN 978-81-954226-1-6). This story is now being adapted into a feature film, while an extended biography, “CHASER 2 – On a Journey of Inspiration”, highlighting the success stories of his mentees, is slated for release in December 2025 and is also being developed into a multi-starrer OTT web series.
He spearheaded as the CEO of Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH), Government of Andhra Pradesh and earlier Osmania Technology Business Incubator (RUSA Rs. 107 Cr. project) and Chandigarh University TBI (DST-NSTEDB Rs. 10 Cr. project) where he championed the integration of startups and incubators within academic institutions thereby setting up the same at 40+ colleges. During this tenure, he held several national-level appointments, including:
- Advisor / Expert, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
- Member, National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM)
- Member, National Rural Entrepreneurship Mission, MGNCRE, Ministry of Education
- Nodal Officer, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Vidyanjali, and KAPILA Schemes
- Advisor, National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT), Ministry of Education
- IMC Member, NSTI-Hyderabad, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship
- Mentor-EDC, Office of Development Commissioner (DC), Ministry of MSME
- Empanelled Mentor (ATLs / AICs / ACICs), Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog.
- Startup Mentor, TN-RISE (World Bank-funded Vazhndhu Kattuvom Project i.e. Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Mission) and WE-Enable Program, WE-Hub
