HYDERABAD: The Union education ministry, on Friday, appointed Prof Basuthkar Jagadeeshwar Rao as the new vice-chancellor of University of Hyderabad (UoH). Prof Rao, who has been appointed for a tenure of five years, is currently a senior professor of Biology and dean, faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati. He has been selected from among 200-odd candidates.
The appointment of the new VC comes almost one-and-half months after Prof Appa Rao Podile was relieved from his duties. Prof Rao will take charge on July 26.
“Over the past few years, UoH digressed from focusing on its core strengths due to various internal student, faculty and administration-related issues. As the new VC, my priorities will be to address the concerns of students, teaching and non-teaching staff as they play a pivotal role in the day-to-day functioning of the varsity,” Prof Rao told TOI. He said that he will also work on enhancing the research and academic work being done by UoH, following the recent institute of eminence status conferred upon it by the Union ministry of education.
According to sources, Prof Rao was always a frontrunner for the VC’s post, especially because his roots are in Mahabubnagar. Also he is an alumnus of Nizam College and Osmania University where he pursued his undergraduate and postgraduate before obtaining a PhD from the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru.
“In the past, majority of UoH VCs had their roots either in Andhra Pradesh or Rayalaseema. Therefore, this time, the inclination towards appointing him must be because of his Telangana roots. Nevertheless, his research credentials are exemplary,” said a source.
Prof Rao comes with over 25 years of experience and is known for his research in the field of molecular basis of genome dynamics, computational biology of genomes and protein active sites, cellular physiology and metabolism to which he made fundamental contributions. After his PG, he went on to pursue a post-doctoral research at the Yale Medical School for seven years and on returning to the country, worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in various capacities. He is a fellow of all three national academies in India apart from being a fellow of Sir JC Bose Fellow of Department of Science & Technology.
