Mr. Pawan Agarwal is the Adviser–Higher Education in the Planning Commission, where he is steering the formulation of country’s Twelfth Plan for higher education. He has earlier worked as Director in the Ministry of HRD and as Financial Advisor, University Grants Commission.

He has been a Fulbright New Century Scholar at Harvard University/Emory University, visiting scholar and fellow at ICRIER, New Delhi, and the Centre for the Study of Higher Education in University of Melbourne. He has written on a range of higher education issues in India and comparative perspective in the South Asian context. His book ‘Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future’ published by Sage in 2009 is well-regarded both in India and abroad.