Academic Administration
Director & Managing Trustee, CIMAGE Group of Institutions.
The Purpose
For more than two and a half decades, Prof. (Dr.) Neeraj Agrawal has worked from a single conviction — that professional education is the surest route out of disadvantage, and that the young people of Bihar can compete with anyone in the country when given the right platform.
Rooted in Patna and driven by a belief in purposeful living, he has built institutions, shaped university policy, championed Indian culture, and mentored a generation of first-in-family graduates into careers they once thought were beyond reach.
“I believe it's important to live a purposeful life; I wish to change the lives of our youth for the better.”
The Journey
From enterprise to institution-building
Phase I · Corporate
Director
Catalyst BPO · Akiko CallNet
Early leadership in the BPO and call-centre sector, learning to build and run teams at scale.
Phase II · Entrepreneurial
Managing Director
The Career Catalyst
The career-guidance venture that became the seed of a lifelong mission in education.
Phase III · Institution-building
Director & Managing Trustee
CIMAGE Group of Institutions
Under the Vijayam Educational Trust — also Chairman of the Examination Cell and a member of the Academic Advisory Council.
The Institution
Building CIMAGE
At the helm of the CIMAGE Group of Institutions, Dr. Agrawal has turned a Patna campus into one of eastern India's most recognised names in management and IT education — NAAC B++ accredited, and Patna's only Google for Education Partner Campus.
His approach to placements is deliberately inclusive. Addressing students left off a large recruitment list, he is known to say: “Students whose names are not on this list should not be disappointed — more opportunities are on the way.”
0+Years of experience
0+Careers placed
B++NAAC accreditation
Milestones under his leadership
- Atal Shresth Sansthan Samman — for contributions to Management & IT education in Bihar, conferred by the Union HRD Minister.
- ABS 2016 Award — Best Campus Placement in India (East), with Bloomberg TV & Education World.
- Most Emerging Institute for Management Education (2012) — awarded nationally by AIMA.
- IIT Bombay e-Yantra Lab & Skill Acceleration Centre — inaugurated on campus in the presence of the Governor of Bihar.
In partnership with
IIT BombayGoogle for EducationWiproICICI Bank
At a Glance
Four spheres, one purpose
University Governance
Executive Council (Syndicate) Member, Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Patna.
Cultural Leadership
Pradesh Mahamantri, Sanskar Bharti — Bihar.
Scholarship & Enterprise
PhD in Management, author of two books, and founder of Bihar's largest IT Park & incubation centre.
Beyond the Campus
Governance & culture
University Governance
Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Patna
As a member of the Executive Council (Syndicate) — the apex statutory body of the university — he helps shape policy, affiliation and academic governance across AKU-affiliated institutions in Bihar, including the very regulatory environment CIMAGE operates within.
Cultural Leadership
Sanskar Bharti · Bihar
As Pradesh Mahamantri (State General Secretary) of Sanskar Bharti, he holds one of the top positions in the state unit of a pan-India movement for the promotion of Indian art, music, literature and culture.
The Entrepreneur
An evangelist for enterprise
Dr. Agrawal is the founder of Bihar's largest IT Park and startup incubation centre — infrastructure built to keep the state's technology talent, and its ideas, at home.
A committed startup evangelist, he weaves entrepreneurship into the student journey, so that graduates leave not only ready to be hired, but ready to build.
The Scholar
A scholar-practitioner
His doctorate is autobiographical in the truest sense. His PhD in Management from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya examined the “role of leadership in achieving excellence in higher and secondary education, with perspective to schools and colleges in Bihar and Jharkhand” — the very question he has spent his career answering in practice.
That academic grounding is complemented by a Strategic Management Executive Programme (SMEP) at IIM Ahmedabad, and by two published books.
His teaching philosophy rests on three skills he believes every student must master:
CommunicationClear, confident expression.
Technology LiteracyAI, digital tools and data.
Leadership & TeamworkThe ability to lead and to belong.
Published author
Engage, Inspire, Educate (2025)
Pedagogical strategies for today's educator.
On Management
Drawn from corporate practice and executive training.
New Release · 2025
Engage, Inspire, Educate
Pedagogical Strategies for Today's Educator
Released worldwide at the close of 2025, Engage, Inspire, Educate distils more than two and a half decades of classroom practice, institution-building and executive training into a working handbook for the teacher of today. It is less a theory of education than a field guide — concerned with what actually makes a lesson land.
Written for a generation of educators navigating AI, shrinking attention spans and rising expectations, the book argues that engagement is not a trick but a discipline: that learning becomes durable only when it is made effective and, in the same breath, genuinely enjoyable.
Available worldwide
A Flipkart paperback edition is arriving shortly.
Across Bihar
Reaching the districts
Beyond the campus, Dr. Agrawal has carried his message into district after district of Bihar — running seminars that guide students on careers, and urge them toward responsible citizenship and contribution to the nation.
“Join with a positive attitude, and you will acquire knowledge. With knowledge, you will become a skilled and successful professional.”
In Motion
Wall of Reels
Moments from CIMAGE — tap any reel to watch, then swipe for more.
The Road Ahead
Vision 2030
0Placements pledged for the youth of Bihar.
AI UniversityEstablishing Bihar's first AI University, in Patna.
Education is the most powerful instrument for transforming Bihar — and Bihar's transformation is the most powerful contribution any of us can make to India.— Prof. (Dr.) Neeraj Agrawal