Lucknow: In a historic development, President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Professor Uma Kanjilal as the new Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. With this, Prof. Kanjilal becomes the first woman to hold the top post in the university’s history.
According to Dr. Anil Kumar Mishra, Senior Regional Director of IGNOU’s Lucknow Regional Centre, Prof. Kanjilal will serve a term of five years, taking over the reins of the world’s largest open university.
Prof. Kanjilal has previously served as Pro Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU for over three years and has been effectively discharging the duties of Acting Vice-Chancellor for the past year. Her appointment as the full-term Vice-Chancellor is being seen as a well-deserved recognition of her dedication and administrative acumen.
Over the years, she has held several key academic and administrative positions at IGNOU. These include:
- Director of the Centre for Online Education
- Director of the School of Social Sciences
- Director of the Inter-University Consortium
- Director of the Centre for Information Science and Innovative Learning
Prof. Kanjilal began her journey with IGNOU in 1989 as a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science. Her contribution to the field of open and distance education, especially in the integration of online learning technologies, has been widely recognized.
Her appointment marks a progressive step for IGNOU and is being hailed as an inspiration for women in academia across India.
