Presidency University’s vice-chancellor Amita Chatterjee’s term is due to end in mid October. The campus is abuzz about who would become the next VC of the coveted institution. Most faculty members and students agree that Chatterjee led the institution well during this first and most difficult year of the university.A Presidency alumnus, Amrita Chatterjee retired as professor of philosophy at Jadavpur University before being chosen to lead Presidency's first steps as a university. She resolved many university issues, especially in resolving student union disruptions that used to disrupt the peaceful functioning of the university.
"She had a unique way of handling sensitive student issues by continuously having dialogues with student groups belonging to different political colours. Committees and sub-committees of students were formed to address issues of varying intensities ranging from common room problems to elections. In each of these bodies she subtly included students of all colours and forced them to find solutions together. In such a situation, fights don't happen," said a teacher of the history department.
She came up with a unique idea all political colours were made to sit on a single help desk without banners to represent the campus during admissions.
Chatterjee relentlessly held meetings with heads, teachers and students to sort problems. "What was best was that she followed a corporate system of deadlines. Her biggest achievement is that she has been able to introduce the new syllabi in every subject in both UG and PG for the fledgling university, casting away the old mould of the Calcutta University," felt educationist Amal Mukhopadhyay, who was Presidency College's principal and was also part of its governing body.
She had her differences with government-appointed Presidency 'mentor group', three key issues that bothered her were: first, the university should not start six new PG departments, second, that students should not be admitted to PhD courses just yet, and third, there should not be 50% reservation for Presidency students in post graduation.
In a bid to solve the issue of faculty crunch when fresh appointments were not easily forthcoming, Chatterjee ensured that some of the best known retired professors were appointed as guest professors. "This was a boon. We were reeling under workload when the V-C systematically started appointing guest professors. Some brilliant people have been inducted into our system," agreed head of sociology, Angshuman Sarkar.
Meanwhile, State higher education minister Bratya Basu refused to divulge any information regarding her extension, “I am meeting the Governor on Saturday and the issue of Presidency vice-chancellor will be among the many things to be discussed," he said.
[Source: Times of India]
