Professor Datuk Dr Rajendran Nagappan recently served as a Senior Consultant with the World Bank for a project on education for the East Asia Pacific. He is a retired Professor at Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Tanjong Malim, Malaysia and formerly served as the Director General of the Unit for Socio-Economic Development of Indian Community (SEDIC) and Coordinator of Action Plan for Future of Tamil Schools at the Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia.
Prof Datuk Dr. N.S. Rajendran has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of AIMST University, Malaysia. He previously served as a University Senate member at UPSI and as the Director of the Aminudin Baki Centre for Global Studies at the university from March 2009 to February 2012. He is the former President and currently the Advisor of Malaysia Hindu Dharma Mamandram (MHDM), a non-governmental organization serving the Hindu population of Malaysia.
Dr. N.S. Rajendran completed his Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy from the College of Education, Michigan State University (MSU) in 1998. His area of research was on the teaching of higher-order thinking skills in language classrooms. Prior to his position at the university, he served as the Assistant Director of the Curriculum Unit, Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, Malaysia focusing on research, planning and implementing various subject areas and the teaching of thinking skills at teacher education colleges in Malaysia. He has also taught at various teacher education colleges, secondary, and primary schools.
Dr. N.S. Rajendran has conducted various workshops and seminars for teachers and Ministry of Education officials on the teaching and learning, and teaching of higher-order thinking skills, both locally and in countries such as India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Myanmar. He has also conducted seminars and workshops to train teachers and Ministry of Education officials from Malaysia, Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal in areas such as education, psychology, pedagogy, qualitative research methodology and teacher education.