Dr. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is set to be the first woman Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, one of the premier educational institutions in India.
Currently serving as a professor at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, Dr. Santishree has been chosen for the top job
Joining the university as a professor of Politics since 1992, Dr. Santishree, an MPhil and Ph.D. guide, also teaches papers like mass media audiences, media research, politics, and communication at the university’s Department of Communication Studies. According to news reports, she has published three books in her name and has authored over 170 research papers on Political Science and Foreign Policy that have appeared in reputed journals.
Part of groups like the University Grants Commission panel on higher education for the XI Grants Plan and the advisory committees for the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Ministry of Sports, her work has been prolific in the sphere.
Her tenure as VC will be for five years.
As the first woman to hold the top post in the university, Santishree will be a role model for women who look to make a mark in different fields. Reports have pointed out the lack of gender diversity in educational institutions. In 2015, a report, which assessed the percentage of females in positions of influence in 810 institutions in India, found that only 6.67% of institutions were headed by females. The gender gap in academic leadership is a global phenomenon, but India lags behind countries like the UK, Australia, and the United States, where the percentage is in double digits.
