New Mumbai university V-C takes over, talks of plans

The newly elected vice chancellor of the University of Mumbai, Suhas Pednekar, officially took charge of his post on Saturday morning. Acting VC Devanand Shinde

The newly elected vice chancellor of the University of Mumbai, Suhas Pednekar, officially took charge of his post on Saturday morning. Acting VC Devanand Shinde handed over the post to Pednekar in a small ceremony, which was attended by various other senior university officials.

Suhas Pednekar took charge as the V-C after a small ceremony on Saturday morning. (Pratik Chorge/HT photo)

“MU will strive to be more student-centric and take into consideration opinions of all stakeholders. The primary focus is to ensure that results are declared in time,” said Pednekar. He added that other than examinations, his focus is also to accelerate the process to get the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade for the university at the earliest, and also focus on all the weaknesses highlighted in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF).

Almost six months after former VC Sanjay Deshmukh was ousted from his post, state governor and chancellor of all state universities, Ch Vidyasagar Rao appointed Pednekar, principal of Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College as the new VC on Friday. The decision came more than a week after five finalists from over 64 VC hopefuls had sat for a personal interview with the governor himself.

A believer in horizontal leadership, Pednekar is planning to form a cluster of colleges to divide responsibilities and delegate work. “There’s a need analyse the university and accordingly work on the challenges. There’s a need for a communication channel at every level so that we know what is happening at every level,” he added.

With the university office shut for the long weekend, Pednekar hopes to take over the office of the VC on Wednesday with a clear agenda—to set things right at MU.