He is a holder of Masters degree in Mathematics, M.Ed. (Gold Medalist) and Ph.D in Education. He has been conferred the status of Professor Emeritus in view of his significant contributions in teaching and research in Education and other allied disciplines.
He worked as a Professor, Head and Dean, Faculty of Education, and Dean of Studies and Academic Affairs of Himachal Pradesh University. He served as an Expert Member of various bodies, viz., UGC Panel on Education, Distance Education Council (IGNOU), Research Council (IGNOU), Education Research and Innovation Committee (NCERT), Research Advisory Board (NIOS), ICSSR and Commonwealth Higher Education Management Service (London). He has also been the UGC Visiting Professor in a number of universities.
Prof. Koul has been regularly contributing research papers to various national and international journals. He has also been associated with editing Encyclopedia of Indian Education, Indian Educational Abstracts, and Surveys of Educational Research (NCERT) along with resource instructional materials, project reports and seminar documents of IGNOU. He has also directed and supervised a number of major NCERT, NIEPA and UGC research projects.