Sunaina Singh appointed Nalanda University VC
Q. Who has been appointed the new Nalanda University VC?- Published on 03 Apr 17a. Sunaina Mehta
b. Sunaina Singh
c. Sunaina Sinha
d. None of the above
ANSWER: Sunaina Singh
President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Sunaina Singh, currently head of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad, as the new vice chancellor of Nalanda University.
As per rules, the president has to choose the vice-chancellor from a group of at least three names forwarded by the university’s governing board.
As per sources, 135 names were screened, while six applicants were called for interviews.
Nalanda University is a flagship initiative formed under India’s Act East policy, which was first proposed at the East Asia Summit in 2007.
It was envisioned as a project to evoke India’s historical and cultural linkages with South East Asia and beyond.
Earlier on January 27, President Mukherjee appointed computer scientist and former IIT Delhi board chairman, Vijay Bhatkar – who is also the president of the RSS-affiliated Vijnana Bharati – as the university’s chancellor.
The EFLU unfurled the national flag on a 108-feet flagpole – touted as the “tallest flagpole among all central universities in the country”.
In February 2016, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had said universities should fly the flag prominently in order to ‘instil a sense of patriotism’ in students.
Singh has also served as the president of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute from 2009 to 2011. Before that she was the chairperson of Osmania University’s English department.
The term of the university’s first vice-chancellor, Gopa Sabharwal ended on November 24.
Sabharwal’s original term ended in November 2015, but she was given a one-year term extension.
President Mukherjee, acting on the Modi government’s advice, had reconstituted the governing board by dissolving the Amartya Sen-led Nalanda Mentors Group, which had been operating as the board.
Claiming that he had not been consulted before the president made his decision, George Yeo, former Singapore foreign minister and then university chancellor, also resigned.
