Infosys' Sikka is new don at Chinese university

Indian IT bellwether Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka is the new advisory professor at East China Normal University at Shanghai in China, the company said on Friday.

Sikka was conferred the honour in the university campus recently by its secretary Shijun Tong in the presence of varsity vice-president Rongming Wang, Chinese Academy of Science head Qifeng He, varsity's dean of education Zhenguo Yuan, Infosys China subsidiary chief executive Rangarajan Vellamore and Infosys China chief operating officer Mike Liu.

"Sikka's passion for lifelong learning has led him to work with universities and students the world over to pursue their passion for learning and exploring new areas of innovation," Shijun said in a statement here.

As the global software major's chief executive, Sikka is driving a strategy working with clients to renew working processes by applying innovative technologies.

"The academic post reinforces my desire to be a lifelong teacher and a lifelong student. I look forward to working with students and the university to help nurture passion for learning and to help people think in new ways," Sikka said on the occasion.

Prior to joining Infosys on August 1, 2014, Sikka was executive board member of German software major SAP AG and head of its products and technologies.

"As our university is on the road to develop into a globally recognised institute, we look forward to partnering with Infosys to identify upcoming technologies, which will in turn help us prepare our students with skills to address opportunities that they offer," Shijun noted.

Founded in October 1951, the university has 22 schools and colleges, and five advanced research institutes, with 58 departments offering 70 undergraduate programmes in humanities, education, science, engineering, economics, management, philosophy, psychology, law, history and art.