Date:05/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/05/stories/2008050556101300.htm

National

Professor Chadha is CEO of SAARC varsity

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: G.K. Chadha, former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the ambitious South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) University.

Prof. Chadha will hold this post for two years until the university becomes functional in 2010 when a vice-chancellor would be appointed. Prof. Chadha was selected from a panel of names submitted by India to a sub-committee of the Steering Committee. The sub-committee, comprising representatives of all the eight SAARC member-countries, was authorised by the Steering Committee to select an interim CEO to start the institution. Prof. S.K. Thorat, chairperson of the University Grants Commission, heads the sub-committee.

SAARC University was proposed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 2005 summit of the association in Dhaka as a centre of excellence. The university will be headquartered in New Delhi but will have campuses in all member-countries. The role of the governments of all eight SAARC states will be confined to the provision of capital for setting up the institution.

Once fully operational, the governments will not be expected to provide annual subsidies or grants.