The Economic Times Education Excellence Awards 2026 is set to emerge as one of India’s most prestigious platforms celebrating institutions, leaders, innovators, and organisations driving meaningful transformation across the education ecosystem. Organised by ETEducation, the education vertical of The Economic Times, the awards seek to recognise the visionaries redefining learning across foundational years to advanced education, spanning K-12 education, higher education, EdTech, skilling, research, digital transformation, and institutional innovation. With the theme “Honouring Education’s Finest, From Foundation to Future,” the platform celebrates excellence, impact, leadership, scalability, and innovation that are collectively shaping the future of education in India.The 3rd Edition of the ETEducation Excellence Awards 2026 will be held on 11th June 2026 at Yashobhoomi (IICC), New Delhi, as part of the Annual Education Summit 2026. The awards ceremony will bring together some of the country’s most respected academic leaders, policymakers, institutional heads, EdTech innovators, and education enterprises for two days of recognition, collaboration, and thought leadership.
Recognising excellence across the education ecosystem
The awards honour excellence across a wide spectrum of categories spanning schools, universities, higher education institutions, EdTech organisations, coaching institutes, preschool networks, NGOs, startups, academic leaders, founders, vice-chancellors, principals, and education enterprises. The categories specifically recognise achievements in AI-enabled learning, digital transformation, smart campus innovation, STEM education, future-ready learning models, industry-academia collaboration, skilling and employability, inclusive education, leadership excellence, and technology-driven institutional impact.
A rigorous and transparent evaluation process
One of the strongest pillars of the ETEducation Excellence Awards lies in its strict, transparent, and highly credible evaluation framework designed to ensure fairness, objectivity, and integrity at every stage of assessment.The awards follow a rigorous multi-level judging process where all nominations first undergo evaluation by an esteemed Assessment Jury comprising distinguished academic leaders, vice-chancellors, industry experts, policymakers, HR leaders, and education practitioners. The shortlisted entries recommended by the Assessment Jury are then reviewed and evaluated by the Grand Jury panel, which undertakes the final stage of scrutiny and winner selection across categories. This structured dual-layer evaluation mechanism ensures that every recognition is merit-driven, unbiased, and benchmarked against measurable impact, innovation, leadership vision, scalability, and long-term contribution to the education ecosystem.Further strengthening the integrity of the awards process, EY serves as the Official Tabulator for the ETEducation Excellence Awards 2026, ensuring a robust, transparent, and professionally governed evaluation framework. The process is also reinforced through strict confidentiality protocols, conflict-free assessments, eligibility verification, and expert tabulation standards to maintain the highest levels of credibility and fairness.
Distinguished Grand Jury and Assessment Jury members
The ETEducation Excellence Awards 2026 is backed by one of the most distinguished jury ecosystems in the Indian education sector, comprising eminent leaders from academia, governance, industry, public policy, skilling, innovation, and technology.
The Grand Jury includes Prof Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM Calcutta & Former UGC Chairman; Dr K Rajeswara Rao, IAS, Former Special Secretary, NITI Aayog, Government of India and President, Sampark Foundation; Ashok Ganguly, Former Chairman, CBSE; Prof Indrani Bhaduri, CEO and Head, PARAKH, NCERT; Smt Anita Karwal, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India and Former Chairperson, CBSE; Prof Kamal Kishore Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee; Dr Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Nagpur; Prof Sukumar Mishra, Director, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad; Prof T N Singh, Director, IIT Patna; Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director, IIT Ropar; Prof Laxmidhar Behera, Director, IIT Mandi; Dr Deepak Kumar Srivastava, Director, IIM Ranchi; Prof Samir Kumar Srivastava, Director, IIM Amritsar; Dr Prafulla Agnihotri, Director, IIM Sirmaur; and Prof Ramneek Kaur Majithia, Director, National Institute of Design, Haryana.
The Grand Jury ecosystem further includes leading industry and innovation voices such as Anirban Bhattacharya, CEO, Aditya Group India; Avijit Bhattacharya, CHRO, Tata Capital Ltd; Ramanan Ramanathan, Founder and Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission; Dr Sanjeev Rastogi, CEO GCC, Adani Group; Sourav Banerjee, Vice President, Learning & Innovation, Room to Read; Raj Tanwar, CHRO, AIonOS; Indranil Choudhury, Group CHRO, Religare; Rajita Singh, Chief People Officer India, Kyndryl; Mamta Saikia, Former CEO, Bharti Airtel Foundation; and Ankush Sabharwal, Founder and CEO, CoRover.
The Assessment Jury comprises several highly respected academic and industry leaders including Prof Dr M Krishnan, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Tamil Nadu; Prof (Dr) Tankeshwar Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Haryana; Prof Sanjay Srivastava, Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar; Prof Shrinivasa Varakhedi, Vice Chancellor, Central Sanskrit University, Delhi; Prof Malla Reddy, Dean, IIT Hyderabad; Prof Santa Datta, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta; Prof Rajive Mohan Pant, Vice Chancellor, Assam University; Prof B Ravi, Director, NIT Surathkal; Prof Poonam Tandon, Vice Chancellor, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University; Prof Anand Sharad Deshpande, Vice Chancellor, Bagalkot University; Prof Amarendra Kumar Das, Vice Chancellor, Tezpur University; Prof Uma Kanjilal, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Prof (Dr) Mahesh Verma, Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University; Prof Rajive Kumar, Vice Chancellor, J C Bose University of Science and Technology; Prof Bidyadhar Subudhi, Director, NIT Warangal; Prof Dibakar Chandra Deka, Vice Chancellor, Mizoram University; Prof Anu Singh Lather, Vice Chancellor, Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi; and Prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Vice Chancellor, Banaras Hindu University, among many other eminent names from academia, policy, skilling, philanthropy, and corporate leadership.
More than an awards platform
Beyond recognition, the ETEducation Excellence Awards 2026 aims to create a larger national platform for thought leadership, collaboration, benchmarking, and inspiration across the education ecosystem. The initiative seeks to spotlight institutions and leaders that are not only adapting to change, but actively shaping the future of learning through innovation, technology, leadership, and systemic transformation.
At a time when India is witnessing one of the world’s largest education transitions driven by NEP implementation, AI integration, digital learning ecosystems, skilling reforms, and future-ready education models, the ETEducation Excellence Awards 2026 stands as a celebration of those leading this transformation with vision, impact, and purpose.
More than an awards platform, it is a national recognition of institutions and leaders building the next chapter of Indian education. As the sector continues to evolve rapidly, the awards honour those who are creating lasting impact, inspiring innovation, and redefining excellence for generations to come.
