The Education Department has finally appointed seven members to the Board of Governors (BoG) of Gujarat Technological University (GTU). The seats in the BoG became vacant when the terms of the previous members expired. In contrast to previous appointments, none of the newly appointed seven members has a direct political affiliation, and one is a woman.
The newly appointed members include JM Vyas, Vice Chancellor of National Forensic Science University; Vivek Patel, managing trustee, Anand Niketan; Abhimanyu Samrat, CEO and MD, Samrat Associates, Ahmedabad; Unnat P Pandit, controller general of patents, design and trademarks, Mumbai; Anuja Piplapure, project manager, i-Guru Software, Ahmedabad; Utkanth Bhandari, director, Streamline Controls Pvt Ltd and Rajendra Shah, chairman and director of Harsha Engineers International Limited.
GTU VC Navin Sheth stated that with the appointment of seven members to the BoG, GTU’s 14-member BoG is complete and will set the stage for future planning and academic decisions for the varsity’s growth.
“The BoG is a good mix of experienced academics and industry experts,” said Sheth.
The 14-member BoG includes the Dean, Director of PG schools, and V-C apart from ex-officio members from education department.
“Last time, the BoG had political members like BJP’s Amit Thacker and Nehal Shukla. They completed their term as BoG members, but there were reports of severe influence and interference that obstructed academic growth. With the appointment of senior academics to BoG the varsity hopes to take some landmark decision,” said a source close to the development.