01
Governance, not just hiring
We have placed leaders through Boards of Governors, Academic Councils, Selection Committees and search advisories. Our process is calibrated to each — not to corporate assumptions.
HIGHER EDUCATION PRACTICE
India's Specialist Talent Partner for Private Universities
Faculty · Deans · Vice Chancellors · Registrars · Admissions · Placements
Savanna HR helps founder-led and trustee-governed private universities appoint the leaders and faculty who will shape their next decade. Discreet search. NEP-fluent. Built for the speed and ambition of India's new generation of higher-education institutions.
Trusted across India's higher education landscape
10+
Years in HR consulting
100+
Institutional mandates delivered
95%
Placements cross 24-month tenure
30%
Minimum women on every long-list
WHY SAVANNA HR
Most recruitment firms treat academia as a side practice. We treat it as a specialism.
Five things set our higher-education practice apart — and explain why private universities return to us for their next mandate.
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NEP-fluent, UGC-compliant
Researchers trained on NEP 2020, UGC Regulations, AICTE norms, and frameworks for multi-disciplinary hiring, professors of practice, and international faculty. Every shortlist is compliance-first.
03
Discretion as default
VC transitions, dean replacements, founding-team assembly — most appointments are sensitive. We build every search around NDAs, conflict management, and joint communications protocols.
04
Beyond tier-1 networks
We source across tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 geographies, NRI returners, global faculty, and industry veterans open to practice-professor roles. Reach wider than IIM-IIT-ISB, because that is where strong appointments often live.
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Founder-speed execution
A dean search closes in 10–14 weeks; a faculty pipeline in 8–12 weeks. We compress timelines without compressing depth, because semester calendars do not wait.
ROLES WE PLACE
Specialist search for every role in a modern private university
Each appointment has its own logic, assessment rubric and market. We run dedicated processes for each category.
Faculty — Assistant to Full Professor
Multi-disciplinary sourcing across engineering, management, liberal arts, law, design, sciences.
Explore faculty search →Deans & Department Heads
Academic leaders with research reputation and institution-building track record.
Explore dean search →Vice Chancellors & Pro-VCs
Confidential, governance-led search for the institution's most consequential appointment.
Explore VC search →Registrar / COO / CFO
Administrative leadership built for regulatory, financial and operational scale.
Explore admin leadership →Admissions & Marketing Leadership
Directors, enrolment leaders and growth marketers fluent in the Indian student-decision journey.
Explore admissions hiring →Placement Director & Career Services
Industry-connected leaders with measurable placement outcomes, not just relationships.
Explore placements hiring →Professor of Practice
Senior industry operators transitioning into full-time or adjunct academic roles under UGC's 2022 framework.
Explore practice professor hiring →International Faculty
Diaspora and global faculty considering India — visas, compensation and relocation handled end-to-end.
Explore international hiring →Research Chairs & Centres
Chair holders, centre directors and research deans for grant-backed and philanthropy-led research.
Explore research leadership →INSTITUTIONS WE WORK WITH
From greenfield setup to multi-campus groups
Our work spans every stage of a private university's lifecycle.
- Private universities established under state private university Acts
- Deemed-to-be universities under Section 3 of the UGC Act
- Institutions of Eminence (IoE) — public and private
- Greenfield / new-setup universities — from Day Zero
- Multi-campus education groups across India
- Autonomous institutes and research-first organisations
- International universities entering India under the UGC framework
- Deemed universities preparing for NAAC and NIRF cycles
Setting up a new university?
We help founders assemble the first 20 critical appointments — VC, Registrar, founding Deans, CFO, admissions and placement leadership — inside the first nine months.
OUR 7-STEP PROCESS
How we run a search
Every mandate follows a seven-step process, adapted to the role's complexity, confidentiality requirements, and the institution's governance calendar.
01
Discovery & calibration
We meet with the Board Chair, Trustees, Vice Chancellor or CHRO to understand the institution's stage, the role's mandate, governance constraints, compensation range, and 18-month success metrics.
02
Position specification
A written Role Brief and Candidate Profile — scope, qualifications, competencies, compensation, reporting. The document the Search Committee assesses candidates against.
03
Research & mapping
Our in-house research team builds a mapped universe — 80–150 names for a faculty mandate, 40–60 for a dean search, 20–30 for a VC search. Shared with the client for calibration before outreach.
04
Outreach & long-list
Confidential, personalised outreach. Candidates who express interest are screened and presented as a long-list of 8–12 names for client review.
05
Assessment & short-list
Structured interviews on teaching, research, administrative and cultural-fit competencies. Psychometric assessments where appropriate. Short-list of 3–5, with detailed notes and reference themes.
06
Client interviews & selection
We manage interview calendars, panel briefings and Selection Committee materials. References taken against a structured framework — not a phone chat.
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Offer, onboarding & 100-day check-in
Offer negotiation, relocation support, and a 100-day post-joining review. Over 95% of our placements cross the 24-month tenure mark.
Typical timeline: Faculty pipeline — 8–12 weeks · Dean or HoD search — 10–14 weeks · Registrar / CFO / COO — 12–16 weeks · Vice Chancellor search — 14–20 weeks depending on committee calendar.
CONFIDENTIALITY & GOVERNANCE
We take the governance of every search as seriously as the search itself
Mutual NDA on Day Zero
Candidate names are shared only with the Search Committee. Press statements, if any, are drafted jointly before a single name is public.
Live conflict register
Candidate conflicts across active mandates are disclosed and escalated to senior partners for handling.
30% women on every long-list
Unless the role is at a single-gender institution. Where the market universe is smaller, we flag the constraint explicitly.
Committee-ready documentation
Every file — brief, long-list, short-list, assessments, references, offer — is formatted for presentation to a Board of Governors.
RECENT PLACEMENTS
Mandates closed, anonymised
Representative searches from our higher-education practice. Client names available under NDA during an initial conversation.
VICE CHANCELLOR
Vice Chancellor · IoE, western India
Confidential succession search for a sitting VC's retirement. Mapped 32 candidates; short-list of 4; selected from a peer IoE.
Closed in 16 weeks · NIRF +7 in Y2DEAN
Dean · School of Management, greenfield private university, south India
Founding Dean appointment. Brief required accredited researcher with industry advisory depth. Placed a US B-school professor returning to India.
Closed in 12 weeksREGISTRAR
Registrar · Private university, north India
Replacement after governance-driven transition. Required UGC-process fluency and 1,200-employee operations experience.
Closed in 14 weeksFACULTY PIPELINE
Assistant & Associate Professors · Liberal arts university, east India
Annual intake across literature, history, philosophy, sociology, economics. Built a pipeline of 62 assessed candidates in 10 weeks; 14 offers, 12 accepts.
86% acceptance ratePLACEMENT DIRECTOR
Head of Placements · Multi-campus education group
Placements leader across 3 engineering and 1 management campus. Brief required measurable outcome uplift within 18 months.
+14pp placement rate in 18 monthsPROFESSOR OF PRACTICE
Dean — School of Public Policy · Private university
Senior ex-bureaucrat transitioning from government into academia under UGC's 2022 Professor of Practice framework.
Closed in 11 weeksTHE PARTNER LEADING THE PRACTICE
Every mandate is led by someone who knows this category
S
Swati
CAREER & HR EXPERT · HIGHER EDUCATION PRACTICE LEAD
Swati leads Savanna HR's higher education practice, advising trustees and vice chancellors on leadership and faculty appointments across India. A decade in HR consulting and executive search, with a specific focus on institution-building mandates for private universities, deemed universities, and Institutes of Eminence.
10+ years in HR consulting & executive search
Private universities · IoEs · greenfield campuses
swati@savannahr.com
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions trustees, VCs and CHROs actually ask us
Do you work with all private universities or only tier-1 institutions?
We work across tiers — from greenfield private universities setting up their first 20 appointments, to established multi-campus groups, to Institutes of Eminence. Our process adapts to the institution's stage, governance structure, and calendar — not its brand recognition.
How is your fee structured for a faculty or leadership search?
We work on a retainer plus success-fee model for leadership searches (VC, Pro-VC, Dean, Registrar, CFO) and on a fixed-fee-per-placement model for faculty pipelines. Fees are aligned to scope and seniority and confirmed in a written Mandate Agreement before we begin.
What is the typical timeline for a Vice Chancellor search?
A VC search typically closes in 14–20 weeks from mandate sign-off to offer acceptance. The range depends on the Search Committee calendar, whether international candidates are in scope, and the confidentiality requirements of the transition.
Do you help new private universities with founding-team hiring?
Yes. Greenfield universities are a core part of our practice. We help founding teams assemble the first 20 critical appointments — VC, Registrar, founding Deans, CFO, admissions and placement leadership — typically inside the first nine months. Ask us for the New University Readiness checklist.
Can you source international faculty returning to India?
Yes. We maintain an active network of Indian-origin faculty at US, UK, Canada, Singapore and Australian universities who are actively or latently considering India moves. We manage outreach, family-relocation conversations, visa support, and compensation structuring end-to-end.
How do you handle confidentiality during a sensitive leadership transition?
Every engagement starts with a mutual NDA. Candidate names are shared only with the Search Committee. If a sitting incumbent is being replaced, outreach and messaging are designed around the governance calendar so that no public signal precedes the institution's own announcement.
Are your shortlists NEP 2020 and UGC compliant?
Every shortlist is checked against current UGC Regulations, NEP 2020 guidance, AICTE norms where applicable, and the specific institution-type framework. Non-compliant candidates are not presented.
Do you place "Professors of Practice" from industry?
Yes. UGC's 2022 Professor of Practice framework opened a valuable category. We have placed practice professors in business, engineering, law, design and public-policy schools when the mandate and compensation are structured right.
What is your approach to diversity in academic leadership?
Every long-list we present includes a minimum of 30% women candidates unless the role is at a single-gender institution. Where the market universe is smaller, we flag the constraint explicitly and suggest expansion strategies.
Do you work only on leadership roles, or also on bulk faculty hiring?
Both. We run leadership searches on a retained model and annual faculty-pipeline engagements at scale. Many clients start with one leadership mandate and expand into a multi-year faculty hiring engagement.
What information will you ask for before starting a search?
Your Act / Charter, governance structure description, Role Brief (we can help draft it), compensation range, reporting structure, and a designated Search Committee contact. For confidential transitions we also ask for a communications protocol.
How do I begin a confidential conversation with Savanna HR?
Email swati@savannahr.com with a one-line description of the role and institution — that is all we need to schedule a 30-minute confidential call. An NDA can be shared ahead of the call if the transition is sensitive.
Brief us on a confidential mandate
Appointing a Vice Chancellor. Building a founding team. Replacing a Dean. Scaling faculty for the new academic year. Start a confidential conversation.
Direct to Swati: swati@savannahr.com
