Professor Dr. Gurjeet Singh is the Founder Vice-Chancellor of the National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam at Guwahati. He was the also the Founder Vice-Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Punjab at Patiala (2006-10).
Dr. Singh did B.A.(Hons.) in 1977 and M.A.(Economics) in 1980 from DAV College, Amritsar; LL.B.(1983) and LL.M.(1985) from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar; M.A.(Public Administration) in 1987 and M.A.(Political Science) in 2003 from Panjab University, Chandigarh; Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations and Advertising (1989) from Punjabi University, Patiala and first Ph.D.(1990) from GNDU, Amritsar. He was position holder in the University in B.A.(Hons.) and in the LL.B. Examinations. He stood first in the LL.M. Examination and was awarded a gold medal.
Professor Singh was selected by the British Council in India for the prestigious Nehru-Centenary British Commonwealth Fellowship Award (1990-93) and was placed at the Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London from where he successfully completed his second Ph.D. on the subject of ‘Consumer Protection Law’ in 1993. He has published one book and more than one hundred research papers in the leading national and international journals and has also participated in an equal number of national and international conferences, seminars, workshops, study sessions and training programs held in various parts of India, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Europe.
At the national level, Professor Singh’s accomplishments include participation in six refresher courses and a number of other training programmes organized at the U.G.C. sponsored Academic Staff College at the National Law School of India University (Bangalore) and at various other national and international institutions of repute. He has also successfully completed various major and minor research projects sanctioned by the University Grants Commission, Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), New Delhi respectively. Dr. Singh was the recipient of the UGC Visiting Associateship Award, the UGC Research Award, the Catalan Institute of Consumer Affairs Award (Spain) and the Henry Dunant Research Fellowship Award (twice) etc.etc.
Professor Singh’s international achievements, inter alia, include participation in the 22nd, 32nd and 33rd Study Sessions of the International Institute of Human Rights and International Centre for University Human Rights Teaching (CIEDHU) Programmes at Strasbourg in France; his brief assignment with the Advisory Services at the United Nations Centre for Human Rights (UNCHR) at Geneva in Switzerland (1991); his participation in the Second Summer Programme in the European Community Consumer Law (1992) at Lauvian-La-Neauve in Belgium, and his visit to France twice under the UGC sponsored Indo-French Social Sciences Cultural Exchange Programme 2000 and 2005 respectively. He is once again scheduled to visit France in July 2012 consecutively for the third time on being selected by the UGC, New Delhi under the same programme. He was also awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship (2011) by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission of the United Kingdom to do post-doctoral research on the subject of ‘Reforms in Professional Legal Education and Research’ at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London. He has worked as a free-lancer with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio World Service (Hindi) during 1992-93 and was instrumental in the production of a BBC “Series on Law” which enjoyed a wide listenership.
Professor Singh remained Head (Chairman) of the Department of Laws at GNDU, Amritsar (1999-2002); Professor of Law (2003-2006); and the Vice-Chancellor of RGNUL (2006-10). During his academic career, he has been a member of various educational boards and statutory committees constituted by the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar from time to time as well as a member of some of the High Powered Expert Committees appointed by the Bar Council of India (BCI), New Delhi; the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore; and the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi. A large number of students have worked under Dr. Singh for their M.Phil. and LL.M. dissertations as well as for their Ph.D. thesis. Before joining his assignment as the founder Director General (Vice-Chancellor) of the National Law University and Judicial Academy (NLUJA) at Guwahati in Assam, he was working as Professor at the Department of Laws at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. His major research areas are: Business Ethics, Consumer Protection Law, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and Legal Education and Research. His hobbies include reading auto-biographies and biographies, photography, reading, writing and travelling etc.