Dr VC Vivekanandan appointed Vice-Chancellor of HNLU, Raipur

Dr VC Vivekanandan has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur. Speaking to Bar & Bench, Dr Vivekanandan informed that he took charge of his new office yesterday.

Prior to this appointment, Dr Vivekanandan had served as the Dean of the School of Law at Bennett University, where he taught courses on Commercial Laws. He was on lien from the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, where he served as the Ministry of Human Resources Development Chair Professor of IP and Director of  Proximate Education.

Given his prior experience, Dr Vivekanandan remarked that he has gained some insight into the good practices for top law schools, which may be suitably modified for HNLU. To improve the ranking of the University, he commented that some changes may be required.

To this end, Dr Vivekanandan proposed that the faculty infrastructure at HNLU be strengthened. He observed that presently, the faculty is not up to the UGC benchmark. Efforts are to be made to bring in more research and projects, international exchange programmes, and visitors to the University, he revealed.

Another priority would be to work out sustainable funds and programmes. While speaking on this aspect, Dr Vivekanadan also remarked that there is potential to work on niche areas of law, given that Raipur is turning into a hub of multi disciplines.

Law now has a a lot of interface, he commented. Therefore, he proposes that inter-disciplinary collaborations be carried out with institutes such as AIIMS, IIMs etc., apart from collaboration with other law schools. The pattern may later be carried on by future successors (in administration), Dr Vivekanandan commented.

Among other roles, Dr Vivekanandan has also served as the Dean of the Rajiv Gandhi School of IP Laws at IIT Kharagpur; Head of Distance Education at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore; Founder Director of the Legal Information Institute of India; Director, Institute of Global Internet Governance and Advocacy; and Adjunct Professor at the University of Buffalo Business School, New York.

HNLU’s former Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sukh Pal Singh, had resigned in October last year, following week-long student protests over the extension of his term and other allegations of maladministration.

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