Prayagraj: Allahabad University’s (AU) new vice-chancellor Sangita Srivastava has two firsts to her credit — she is not only the first woman to take charge of the prestigious post, but is also the first faculty member to head the varsity after it clinched the status of a central university in 2005.
Assuming charge on Monday, Srivastava talked to media persons and said that all efforts would be made to restore AU’s former glory and, to improve the academic environment and quality of research.
She replaced RL Hangloo who had resigned mid-tenure on December 31, 2019. After Hangloo’s resignation, RR Tewari had been looking after the university affairs as the officiating VC.
Srivastava — who refers to herself as ‘Sangita Allahabadi’— said, “All efforts would be made to restore the lost glory of the institution by improving its National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking and the academic environment. We would also work towards promoting the quality of research done in AU and its constituent colleges. To make that happen, the task of filling up of around 1,000 vacancies would be treated as a priority.”
There are over 550 teaching and around 400 non-teaching vacant positions at AU. However, she did say that the task would take another year and a half to be completed.
She also said that the university administration would meet the needs of departments and laboratories, so that they could function better. “This would benefit students using these labs.”
Srivastava said that she would like to have brainstorming sessions with faculty members so that provisions of the National Education Policy could be implemented effectively. “Such sessions would enable us to envisage the provisions of the policy, especially turning three-year undergraduate courses into four-year ones and enabling students to opt for both science and arts subjects.”
Talking about the the issue of bringing back student unions, the newly appointed VC said, “I would take a call on this issue later. However, it is not good that a few students are fasting in protest during the pandemic.”
“We would take a decision on whether online teaching should be continued after consulting higher officials,” she said.
On the fate of AU’s Institute of Correspondence Studies, she said, “A decision has already been taken by the ministry and that decision is final.”
Srivastava joined AU’s home science department in 1989. She became the head of the department in 2002 and continued till she was appointed as the VC of Prof Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) University on June 25, 2019.