Anna Univ V-C search to begin from next week

Chennai: Anna University vice-chancellor search committee is set to begin its process of finding a new vice-chancellor for the largest technical university in the country from next week.

According to sources the three-member search panel, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor M Jagadish Kumar, conducted its first meeting virtually with the chancellor, governor Banwarilal Purohit recently. Madras University former vice-chancellor S P Thyagarajan, former IAS officer Sheela Rani Chungath are the other members of the panel. “The process to appoint the nodal officer to the search committee is on. The nodal officer will issue advertisement inviting applications for the V-C’s post,” a source said.

As per the amendment to Tamil Nadu University laws, the search panel will have four months to shortlist the three names and submit it to the governor. Following the completion of tenure by professor M K Surappa as vice-chancellor of Anna University on April 11, a three-member convener committee is running the day-to-day affairs of the university.

Professors from the university asked the chancellor to speed up the process of appointing the new vice-chancellor in view of the delay in taking academic decisions. “Based on the deliberations at a high-level committee meeting, the university took a decision to conduct an open book exam for engineering students. The convener committee is now reviewing the decision and taking time to give its approval. It will delay the process of conducting online semester examinations for first, second and third year students,” a professor said. The university announced it would conduct multiple choice-based online proctored tests for final year students.

Anna University also will have a new registrar from Monday, as the present registrar L Karunamoorthy is retiring on May 2. Professor Ranee Vedamuthu from the School of Architecture and Planning is appointed the registrar (incharge).