The central government appointed JawaharLal Nehru University vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar as Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the tenure of five years or till he attains the age of 65 years whichever is the earliest . According to the Ministry of Education, Kumar has been appointed as the chairman of the higher education regulator.
The post of UGC chairman post has been vacant since December 7, after professor D P Singh had taken charge in 2018 and resigned upon turning 65. The post of the vice-chairman of the higher education regulator is also vacant.
Kumar is currently holding the charge as acting VC of the varsity after his five year term expired last year. The Ministry is yet to appoint his successor at JNU. Kumar’s tenure as the vice chancellor of the varsity has been marred by controversies starting from the sedition row of 2016 and lockdown of his office multiple times to then HRD Minister getting stuck for over six hours at the JNU’s convocation venue in 2019.
Kumar is widely regarded for his knowledge in electronic engineering and associated areas. He has obtained MS(EE) and PhD (EE) degrees from the Dept of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and has previously worked as assistant professor at IIT Kharagpur and associate professor at IIT Delhi.
