Presi VC: Tech needed

Updated on: Thursday, October 14, 2010

Steering a 192-year-old institution as a newborn university is not an easy task. It is like wearing a crown of thorns, feels the newly appointed vice-chancellor of Presidency University, Amita Chatterjee.

While she is extremely excited about the challenge at hand, especially because she is an alumna of the erstwhile Presidency College, she knows she had several internal and external cross currents to contend with. Though Chatterjee hasn’t been speaking to the media much, she confided that if Presidency is to shape up into a well-rounded modern university, a large number of new technology-assisted teaching methods need to be ushered in because times have changed and with it the pattern of teaching and learning.

“I will introduce new modes of evaluation, better research facilities, a digital library, upgraded laboratories, extension lectures by eminent scholars from all over the world, more seminars where students would talk and present papers and new courses with possibilities of application,” Chatterjee said.

Her appointment as the first vice-chancellor of Presidency University did not raise much of a hue and cry, much to the glee of Alimuddin Street, which was being accused for trying to appoint a VC with close CPM links. While several names had popped up, there were protests every time the name of a non-alumnus was suggested. The fact that Chatterjee is an alumna was one of the many reasons that worked in her favour. She studied in the philosophy department of Presidency College between 1967 and ’70 and then received her master’s degree from Calcutta University (CU) through Presidency College between 1970-72.

Chatterjee has just retired from Jadavpur University, where she taught philosophy for 35 years. She carved out the centre for cognitive science from the department of philosophy at JU and retired as its coordinator. She has never taught in CU except in refresher courses organised by the departments of philosophy and psychology.

For the new VC, stepping into the portals of her alma mater would be like reliving college days once again. “I still remember how in the Bengali class of Professor Haraprasad Mitra, our attendance was not recorded, if we responded in English instead of saying ‘Upasthit’ or ‘Hyan Mahashay’. Our teachers were very strict with marks. Getting 6 out of 10 in an answer was considered a great achievement. Sometimes we even ended up with 5 and ¾ !”

The best time of her life was spent in the college library. “It was so thrilling to turn the pages of books stamped 1827, Hindu College. I simply loved the smell of new books.” But what thrills her most is that she will once again regularly browse and collect old and rare books from the second-hand book shops that dot College Street.

Presi VC: Tech needed

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