Ross Masood

Sir Ross Masood (15 February 1889 – 30 July 1937) was the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University starting in 1929.

Early life and career Ross Masood was the son of Syed Mahmood. His grandfather was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

On his return from England, Masood was elected a trustee of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College and started his own legal practice in Patna. He then entered the Indian Education Service as headmaster of the Patna High School, a professor of history at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (Orissa), and one of the founders of Osmania University.

He became the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in 1929. He was knighted by the British Government in the 1933 Birthday Honours list. Here, he introduced new courses, upgraded the syllabi and established laboratories for various science subjects.

Masood was the president of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu.

Masood was friends with the English novelist E. M. Forster, who dedicated his 1924 novel A Passage to India to Masood. Forster would later write of Masood: "He woke me up out of my suburban and academic life, showed me new horizons and a new civilisation and helped me towards the understanding of a continent".

A residential hall constructed in the year 1969 in Aligarh Muslim University is named after him.