‘It’s special to be the VC of your alma mater’

Wouldn’t it be nice if you get to helm your alma mater? Meet E Suresh Kumar, the Vice-Chancellor of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), who today is leading his alma mater and striving to bring in a welcome change in the institute. Suresh, who pursued his Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching of English in the university, becomes all nostalgic when asked about his connection with the campus. “It has been an eventful journey from being a student to the vice-chancellor of the university. For anyone who is heading the university he/she studied in, it is a matter of great pride and I feel the same,” he says.

Suresh reminisces how as a student he used to spend most of his time in the EFLU library. “The EFLU

library

has always been a well-equipped one and I used visit it for years even after leaving the campus. Though now I rarely get the time to visit the library, every time I pass by the building, I transport myself to the time when I used to sit next to a window and read books throughout the day,” he recalls.

After taking charge as the vice-chancellor, Suresh Kumar’s main focus has been to nurture his students’ creativity and understand their individual skills. “I have a connection with music and have always wanted to pursue it at some point in my life. That is the reason I established a ‘music room’ in the campus. It houses various instruments and we have also appointed teachers. It is a lively corner in the campus where students come to jam, share their ideas and learn together. An in-house band
performed recently in one of the campus fests and it gave me immense happiness,” he shares, proudly, adding that the university has also come up with a programme where students can meet inspiring personalities from all over the world.

“As a student I got to meet Nobel laureate Günter Grass, how many students get such an opportunity? I know how meeting inspiring personalities motivates youngsters. This is the reason I have come up with a programme where a few selected students, will get a chance to meet an inspiring personality and have a personal interaction with him/her about life and career every year. I can assure you that it is a very effective way to motivate the students as I have experienced it myself,” Suresh points out.

The VC always knew he would head a university as he believed in his own abilities. “It’s not just my confidence as many people in the past have told me that I have what it takes to run a university. But I never thought it would be EFLU. I would have been happy to be the vice

chancellor

of any reputed university, but to be one in EFLU is really special,” he says, signing off.