Dr. Yedla Venkata Rao is Professor of Tourism Studies School of Management Pondicherry University.

has 27 Years of teaching experience at Post Graduation Level in Sectoral focused MBA Programmes – Tourism Studies, International Business, General MBA and MHRM (Master of Human Resource Management). Out of which he has academic administration exposure in different capacities – Head of the in Department Tourism Studies, Coordinator of UGC-SAP -DRS-I&II, Placement Officer, Coordinator of MoU with University of Rennes1, France and Confederation of Indian Industry-CII.
He was the Member of the Executive Council, Academic Council (EC & AC) & Courtof Pondicherry University and also Coordinated NAAC Peer Committee Visit. Rao also holding the position of State Council Member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), UT Puducherry. He served as a Member of the School Boards, Board of studies in different universities in India and aboard for curriculum design and development.
He is a Member of professional bodies like Euro Asia Tourism Studies Association (EATSA), Portugal, Indian Tourism & Hospitably Congress (ITHC) and Member of Tourism Task force of CII (Southern Region). Rao has joined the team of Directorate of Industries, Government of Puducherry in preparing Export Policy for Tourism Sector of UT of Puducherry.
He has introduced an Annual Magazine – Yatra and bi-annual Newsletter – PUTSAL in the Department of Tourism Studies. He has also established Alumni Association (PUTSAL) and raised Alumni fund for the development of the Department of Tourism Studies. His innovative practices in implementation of MBA-Tourism curriculum and co-curriculum in collaboration with Industry and Government of Puducherry was resulted in creation of brand image for the Department as well as cent per cent placement with international linkage. II. Academic Distinctions
a) Received Gold Medal with First Rank in second Post-Graduation (1995)
b) Academic Fellowship in FDP at IIM, Ahmedabad (2005)
c) Best Teacher Award in 2016 from Rotary Club, Hyderabad, Telangana State
d) Best Paper Award in 2017 at an International Conference of IITTM, Noida
e) Session Chair / Resource Person and Key Note Speaker in International & NationalFDP
/ Seminars / Workshops/ Conferences as Indian, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, UK, Iran, japan, Turkey, Portugal.
f) Visited Iran with United Nations (UN) Fellowship as a part of promoting Tourism Education in Middle East.
g) Visited France for ten days as one of the Official Delegates of Government of Puducherry to promote tourism and also mobilized MoU with University Rennes1for exchange of students, scholar and faculty with collaborative research projects and conferences.