‘Crafting Careers’ – Conversation Series | Session with Vikram Bhat, BIC

NLSIU is launching a new conversation series by eminent speakers titled ‘Crafting Careers’ this week.  The inaugural session in this series features Mr. Vikram Bhat, Director of the Bangalore International Centre on November 22, 2025, from 2 pm to 3 pm at the NLS campus.

Crafting Careers

Crafting Careers is a new conversation series at the University under the NLS BA (Hons) programme, designed to help students navigate the world of work. Each session in the series brings leading professionals from fields such as media, government, public policy, business, finance, and the creative arts to campus for candid conversations about their journeys. These experts will share insights and advice from their professional experiences and offer reflections on how social science majors may relate to different career pathways. These dialogues will offer students a chance to learn from diverse experiences, gain practical insights, and reflect on how to build careers that align with their own interests, skills, and values.

About the Speaker

Vikram Bhat, presently the Director of the Bangalore International Centre, is a passionate educator who has had previous successful careers in technology and finance. In education, his areas of interest are educational equity, designing curricula for lifelong learning, and teacher training. He is particularly inspired by the potential of design thinking and an integrated Arts curriculum to transform educational systems.

Previously, Vikram worked as an advisor in the Deputy CM’s office in Delhi where he was a key member of the education task force which has transformed Delhi’s government schools. Before this, he served as the Vice Principal of an affordable private school in Central Bengaluru, prior to which he taught full-time at Parikrma, a unique NGO in Bengaluru that strives to provide high-quality education to slum children. He also held senior management positions at Dream a Dream & Teach For India, two of India’s most respected non-profits working in the education sector.

Prior to his career in education, he was the Vice-President of portfolio trading at Sanford Bernstein & Co., a pioneering equity research firm in New York, playing a key role in setting up their New York and London electronic trading operations.

He holds a B.E. in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai, a Masters in Computer Science from New York University, and more recently, a Bachelor of Education from Christ University. He has also attended short-term courses at the d.school at Stanford University and Project Zero at Harvard University.

Vikram’s younger self is an avid long-distance runner having completed over 25 races and is a passionate film and theatre buff.