Srinagar: A senior professor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences & Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST), Dr Nazir Ganai, on Thursday was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the varsity.
As per the order issued by the Manoj Sinha, the chancellor of the university and the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Nazir A Ganai presently Director, Planning and Monitoring, SKUAST- Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor for a period of 3 years or until he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Ganai, born in 1965, has served in the varsity for nearly three decades, and has been instrumental in securing Rs 30 crore World Bank ICAR project which helped the university to become the sixth in India. He has studied Genetics and Breeding at various universities Wageningen University of Research (WUR), Netherlands. He is also received seven fellowships which includes Joint fellowship on Academic Leadership by IIT Roorke/ Michigan University USA in Nov-Dec 2018, Durham International Fellowship for Research and Enterprise Durham University, UK Oct-Dec 2016, Visiting Fellowship Wisconsin State University USA in June 2012, Erasmus Mundus Fellowship of European Union at Wageningen University Netherlands Jan-March 2009, SABRE Fellowship European Union Roslin Institute, Scotland in Nov-Dec 2008.
Teachers at the varsity believe that Dr Nazir would be instrumental to transform the power of the graduate students into the wealth of skilled, knowledgeable, next-gen leaders, with a changed mind-set for creativity and innovation.
In the capacity of Director for Strategic Planning and Monitoring, of SKUAST-K Prof Nazir has already moved three draft policies for approval which include one is NextGen Student Transcript® that carries proof of the new skill sets required for an entrepreneurial and industry-ready graduate, the second is “SKUASTK Innovation and Start-up policy for students and faculty (SISP)”, to create an ecosystem of innovations for a knowledge economy, and the third is IPR and TM Policy for enabling the commercialization of our technologies.
Prof Nazir said that during his stint as VC at SKUAST_K, he will re-orient education, research and extension for a long-term goal of “building a knowledge-based and technology-driven agri-economy in J&K”, and make it a model for the country.
“Among the policy changes, I would bring in “Innovation for Entrepreneurship” as the 4th mandate of the university, which will be the point of convergence for the other three mandates of education, research and extension. This move shall set the ball rolling for every teacher, researcher, student including the non-teaching staff, that there is a purpose for being in SKUAST-K,” he said.

Reader correspondent