Dr. Patel was born to a farmer family with modest agriculture practice in Jepur village of Vijapur in Mehsana district in North Gujarat. He completed his school education in his village and Ahmedabad. He received his Bachelor degree in Mathematics and Masters and PhD in Education from Gujarat University.

He has also earned his Master degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from GU and MA in Education from IITE. He has nurtured hundreds of teachers in his career spanning over 22 years as a teacher educator at SUG College of Education, Ahmedabad.

Dr. Patel has inborn leadership qualities. He was elected as the General Secretary in his college. As a student leader and member of Gujarat University’s Students Welfare Board, he was vocal for students’ issues. He was representative of teacher educators in Gujarat University Senate. He has worked as a coordinator of Association of Teacher Educators of Grant-in-Aid institutes of Gujarat.

Dr. Patel has diverse experience of administration and management of education institutions. He is trustee of schools having primary to class 12 students. From the institutions teaching students to the institutions preparing teachers for those students, Dr. Patel has decade long experience of managing Teacher Education institutions offering courses like PTC, DLEd, BEd. Since his students days Dr. Patel has represented all the stakeholders in Education as a leader at various stages of his life and professional career.

Currently, Dr. Patel is leading IITE – a sectorial university dedicated to Teacher Education established by Hon. Shree Narendra Modi, during his tenure as the CM of Gujarat. Enriched with more than two decades of experience as a Teacher educator Dr. Patel is tirelessly working towards making the teaching profession the most gratifying and rewarding career in society.

Soon after he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of IITE, the state government entrusted the University by affiliating teacher-training institutes including District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Government and Grant-in-Aid B.Ed. Colleges of Gujarat. He has set up five theme-based centres at the University to provide enough scope of research and academic work.

It is to be noted that NITI Aayog has recognised the formation of these five centres and affiliation of teacher-training institutes as one of the 23 best practices in the country in the area of Human Resources Development.

IITE is the first University to include NEP recommendations in B.Ed. Curriculum in accordance with the NCFTE 2009. IITE professors undertook translation work of the National Education Policy 2020 document in Gujarati for maximising the reach and understanding of the policy across the society. The University organised a series of a talk show – Ughadati Dishao, on NEP 2020 with DD-Girnar. He is also a member of the Task Force set up by the Gujarat Government to implement National Education Policy 2020 in school education. Dr. Patel travelled 6000 KM in 15 days, covering 30 districts of Gujarat for a dialogue tour – Paramarshan Pathey to get suggestions and recommendations from the Teacher Educators, Educationists and prominent citizens from across the state.

Within two years as the Vice-Chancellors of IITE, Dr. Harshad Patel has ensured that the Indian Institute of Teacher Education moves towards becoming an institute of national importance, as envisaged by the founders of the University.

Dr. Patel has always been at the forefront of academic administration and management. He has been entrusted with several responsibilities in various bodies functioning under the Central and State governments. He is serving as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of EdCIL India Limited since 2017.

Dr. Patel has always remained vocal about issues of the Teacher Education Institutes at the Western Regional Committee of National Council for Teacher Education as the member representing Gujarat. He has ensured that deserving Universities and institutes fulfil the requirement to get approval for running Teacher Education Courses. He has also safeguarded the high standards and qualities of Teacher Education by taking an uncompromising stand against the menace of non-attending students and degree shopping practices prevailing in the self-finance Teacher Education institutions.

As the Vice-Chairman of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation School Board, he had vigorously worked to implement the Right To Education (RTE) Act in its letter and spirit. He looked after the effective education management and teaching processes in more than 400 primary schools functioning under the school board. He had made systems to track ‘out of school’ children attaining the school admission age from the lower-income groups and migrant workers living in the city limits of AMC.

As an expert educator, Dr. Patel has contributed to the faculty of Teacher Education intellectually and insightful academic scholarship. He has served as an expert to the state education department and government bodies like GCERT, GHSEB, Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks, Academic Staff College.

He has contributed to the Curriculum Development of various courses of Teacher Education, including BEd, BEd GBTC, BEd Special, MEd in various state universities in Gujarat. He was a member of the team of expert for developing Teacher Aptitude Test (TAT) for Gujarat Secondary & Higher Secondary Education Board.

Dr. Patel has also studied Mass Communication and Journalism. He has also acquired skills in publishing. With his deep understanding of mass communication processes and their application, he established himself as an excellent Teacher Educator who is widely popular amongst students and as a seasoned media expert. He had served as the Special Officer Media at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) of Gujarat in the late 90s. He has actively worked in the public life as a media campaigner and strategist for two decades.

Dr. Patel has published and edited a theme-based educational magazine ‘Aditya Kiran’ for more than 15 years. He has published students magazines including a bimonthly ‘Majanu Ganit’ and a monthly ‘Vigyan Ajab-Gajab’ on Mathematics and Science respectively. He has been founder-editor of ‘Education: Theory and Practices’, a quarterly research journal for Teacher Educators.

He has authored seven books with ISBN on the subjects, including Right to Education, National Curriculum Framework 2005. More than ten research papers and countless articles of general interest for many compilations of books, magazines and newspapers.

Dr. Patel has delivered more than 100 public lectures by invitations of various organisations and institutions on education, literature, journalism, and society.

Dr. Patel has been appointed as a member of the Central Committee of prestigious Gujarati Sahitya Parishad – a 125-year-old cultural and literary institute of Gujarat. He is a life member of Gujarat Ganit Mandal – an independent institute for popularising Mathematics in the society and Gujarat Prakashak Mandal – a body of publishers in Gujarat, Nutan Bal Shikshan Sangh, Vadodara and member of ‘Matrubhasha Samvardhan Abhiyaan’ and ‘Vanche Gujarat Brihad Samiti’, Government of Gujarat.

Dr. Harshad Patel’s scholarly personality is combination of deep understanding of society, sharp analytical, evaluation, innovation, research, and communication skill with positive outlook to the world.