IIT Delhi professor M Jagdeesh Kumar has been appointed the next Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University after his name was cleared by President Pranab Mukherjee from a panel of four forwarded to him by the HRD Ministry.
Kumar, a professor of electrical engineering at IIT Delhi, said he had received a communication from the Ministry on Thursday informing him about his appointment.
He said after taking over as the Vice-Chancellor his priorities would be to strengthen collaboration between institutions, streamlining of recruitment process and interaction with students to see how the research output can be improved.
He further requested people to judge him on his work in the varsity and not on political ideology.
“At this point, I would request everyone to wait and judge me for my work in the university. My only concern is to take JNU to great heights and to see the results, people should wait for years,” Kumar told The Pioneer.
He added institutions like IIT Delhi and JNU are close to each other and there can be more cross-collaboration in various areas.
Asked about reports that he attended an RSS linked event, Kumar said, “I am an academician and have no formal association with any organisation”, adding that he attended the event as it was about science and organised at IIT-Delhi.
The event was organised by RSS-linked body Vijnana Bharati.
“I am joining not just as the Vice-Chancellor but as someone to take up multiple roles. I will have role of a mentor, resource mobiliser, risk taker and a conflict resolver. My first task is to interact with students and take them in confidence. I will take their feedback to take up the initiatives of improving not just hostels but academics,” Kumar added.
Excited and hopeful to work on the “learning environment in campus”, Kumar recalled his visits to JNU’s gym for a decade. “I am a frequent visitor to the JNU. I used its gym for past 10 years. Students know me by face and now we will have a different journey,” said Kumar, adding that since the varsity is known for research, he will focus on upgrading its research infrastructure and recruit faculty.
The term of JNU’s current VC Professor Sudhir Kumar Sopory will end by January 27.
The President, as visitor of all central universities, selected Kumar’s nomination from a panel of four eminent names including scientist VS Chauhan, coordinator of the National Centre of Applied Human Genetics, JNU, RNK Bamezai and Ramakrishna Ramaswamy of the department of physical sciences, JNU, it is learnt.