Andhra University in Visakhapatnam likely to get new Vice-Chancellor by mid-December

AU likely to get new V-C by mid-Dec; 127 candidates compete for post. Search committee shortlists 3 names, including a woman. Govt to announce name through G.O. Process expedited due to faculty recruitment & pending court cases. Telangana elections also a factor.

Andhra University (AU) is likely to get a new Vice-Chancellor by mid-December 2023, if everything goes well. As the university will be celebrating its centenary in 2025, bagging the Vice-Chancellor post is considered prestigious and many senior professors from across the country have applied for it. This apart, AU is currently the highest ranked university in the country with NAAC A++ and earned the cumulative grade point average score of 3.74 out of 4.

According to the reliable sources, the three-member search committee, which is taking up the recruitment process, is believed to have shortlisted three names, including a woman, for the post. The State government is likely to send the report to the Governor in a few days to finally announce the name of the new V-C through an official G.O.

“The file should reach the Governor through the Chief Minister’s office. The Governor will finalise the candidate and send it back to the government for official announcement through the G.O. At least 127 candidates aspired for the post,” the reliable source tracking the process told The Hindu.

The reason for completing the process early, by December 15, is that full-time Vice-Chancellors are required to handle appointments to the faculty posts in the universities across the State as per the recent notification issued by the government. This apart, at least 18 court cases have been pending on various issues, pertaining to the universities, including the recruitment of faculty. In-charge Vice-Chancellors may not be suitable for dealing with recruitment and attending the court cases, therefore the government wants to appoint regular Vice-Chancellors at the earliest. More over, Telangana’s general elections are also around the corner, scheduled on November 30 and the result would be declared on December 3. The State government may not focus on these appointments during the elections in neighbouring State and after the results for some time.

“In this scenario, the recruitment authority may pressurise the government to fill the vacant posts of Vice-Chancellors, including AU at the earliest,” said another source.

The State Higher Education Department has notified the V-C post in June 2023 inviting applications from eligible professors. This is the first time that the notification has been issued even when the incumbent Vice-Chancellor had not even completed his tenure. Vice- Chancellor P.V.G.D. Prasad Reddy’s tenure ended on November 24. He had taken over as V-C of AU on July 19, 2019. At present, Prof. Samatha is in-charge Vice-Chancellor of AU.

Normally in major institutes like IITs and IIMs, the name is finalised before the tenure of the incumbent. For the first time, the State government followed the same practice for appointing Vice-Chancellors to its State universities including AU.