Bharathidasan varsity: 3 make it to V-C shortlist

The vice-chancellor search committee for the Bharathidasan University (BDU) has narrowed down on three candidates – P. Manishankar, Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry, Alagappa University; S. Ponnusamy, retired Professor of Mathematics, IIT Madras; and M. Thenmozhi, Professor of Management, IIT Madras – and submitted the list to the Governor and Chancellor, informed sources said.

The three candidates were among the 10 candidates interviewed by the three-member search committee chaired by retired IAS officer Shantha Sheela Nair last week.

The Governor, sources said, will make an announcement over the next few days after ascertaining whether the identified candidates fulfil all the norms.

‘Process unclear’

Incidentally, Prof. Manishankar had completed his doctorate under Prof. Sivasubramanian during the latter’s stint as a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University. Prof. Manishankar and nine other candidates were identified from among 40 of the 246 aspirants.

There is no clarity, however, on whether the search committee had narrowed down on the final three candidates strictly based on the marks, on the basis of the 14-point criteria, or had deemed it necessary to give representation to candidates from different streams.

Unlike Anna University, where the applicant has to necessarily belong to science or engineering backgrounds, in the case of BDU, anybody with a minimum qualification of Ph.D. and the requisite administrative exposure is eligible to apply.

Academics are learnt to have written to the Chancellor and the Governor to determine if the candidates deemed eligible by the BDU search committee had been rejected by the search committee for the Periyar University, Salem, or vice-versa.

The interview processes of the two universities differ from each other, according to aspirants. For instance, in the Periyar University’s case, the candidates had been informed that they would be asked to make a 10-minute oral presentation about their achievements and vision. However, irrespective of ranking, those considered most qualified among the aspirants for BDU vice-chancellorship did not get that opportunity.

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