Earlier, he worked as an Assistant Director General at ICAR, Director of NBPGR (ICAR), and as Director of Research at Punjab Agricultural University and Guru Nanak Dev University. He worked at University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany from 1976 to 1978, 1988 to 1990 and 2007 to 2011, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico, from 1993 to 1994, and at the University of Birmingham, UK in 1989 in Maize breeding, genetics and biotechnology.[citation needed]
Dhillon worked as the Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University from July 2011 to 30 June 2021. Under his dynamic leadership, PAU has earned a number of accolades:
Ranked as the ‘Best Agricultural University’ and ‘Third Best Agricultural Research Institute’ in India by ICAR, 2017[citation needed]
Ranked ‘First in Punjab,’ and ‘Second Best Agricultural University in India’ by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2017[citation needed]
Ranked first in research articles and citations in 2017 by CII-Indian Citation Index[citation needed]
Occupied first position for development of landmark varieties – honour bestowed by Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, 2017[citation needed]
Ranked second in India and 232nd rank in world, based on scientific papers for world universities by National Taiwan University, 2017[citation needed]
PAU adjudged as one of the 70 Icons of Modern India by the leading magazine, India Today, in its special issue on 70 years of Independence entitled as "Icons of Modern India"[citation needed]
Dhillon was born in Amritsar in 1947.[1] He is known for scientific breakthroughs in plant breeding. Dhillon did his B.Sc. in agriculture from Khalsa College, Amritsar; Post graduation M.Sc. from Punjab Agricultural University and Doctorate from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He has published 350 research publications and many books.
International awards
Maize Champion for Asia Award by CIMMYT (Citation is missing)[citation needed]
