The government has shortlisted three names for the post of Vice-Chancellor at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), five months after Talat Ahmad quit as vice-chancellor.
S M Ishtiaque of IIT-Delhi, Najma Akhtar of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), and Furqan Qamar, currently the secretary-general of Association of Universities are among the candidates shortlisted by the search-cum-selection committee.
Ishtiaque is currently a professor in the department of textile technology at IIT-Delhi. He specialises in project management, machine and design and yarn structure. He has also held various administrative posts at IIT-Delhi in the past, including dean of student affairs and head of department of textile technology.
Najma Akhtar, who currently heads the department of educational administration at NIEPA, specialises in institution building, distance education, education of minority and educational decentralisation. She is a gold medalist from Aligarh Muslim University and has a PhD (education) from Kurukshetra University.
The third candidate, Furqan Qamar was appointed as the secretary-general of AIU in June, 2014 and has served as the V-C of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh and University of Rajasthan. Out of the three candidates, he is the only one who has been associated with JMI in the past. He was a professor and founder-director of the Centre for Management Studies at JMI.
Former V-C of JMI, Talat Ahmad had quit in August, a year before his term ended, to join as the head of Kashmir University. After which the HRD Ministry had initiated the process by setting up search committee was set up with three members. UGC chairman D P Singh was appointed as the head of this panel.
Ahmad’s resignation had come within four months of President Ram Nath Kovind closing the visitorial inquiry against him, on the HRD Ministry’s advice, after the probe failed to find substance in allegations against him. The inquiry was meant to look into charges of financial and administrative irregularities.