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Professional universities in Punjab headed by out-of-field vice-chancellors

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Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ February 9,2026

Once again, an out-of-field expert has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of a professional university in Punjab.

Punjab has many professional universities, including four technical universities, one sports university, one law university, one open university, one medical university, one ayurvedic university, one veterinary university, and one agriculture university, among others.

In the past few months, the state government has filled the most of the posts of vice-chancellors of these universities, which had remained vacant for years. The latest appointment is that of Pushpinder Singh Gill, who has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the state’s only sports university—Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University at Patiala.

Pushpinder Singh Gill’s appointment has once again opened the Pandora’s box regarding the criteria for the selection of a Vice-Chancellor for a professional university. Though Dr. Gill is a management expert with almost four decades of experience in the marketing field, he is not a sports expert. As per the eligibility criteria for appointment to the Sports University, ‘preference’ was to be given to a person having expertise in sports.

India’s plan to host the 2036 Olympics marks a turning point for Indian sports. With a strong focus on merit-based selection across the country, talent from every region will get equal opportunity to rise.

On the other hand, the authorities seem to have overlooked the criterion of ‘sports preference’ while selecting Gill as Vice-Chancellor of the Sports University, which raises concerns about Punjab’s ability to produce more sportspersons.

Gill had earlier remained a serious contender for the post of Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University. However, his suspension and the subsequent inquiry seem to have spoiled his chances of becoming the Vice-Chancellor of the same university where he had served for many years.

In the meanwhile, surprising to the many, present government — following the trend of earlier government — has appointed a person on the basis of purely academic experience. Sports University (MBSPSU) is a university of movement education aiming at excellence in sports performance and sports education. Therefore, a person of having lived experience of sports ecosystem — coupled with the academic qualifications — would have done justice to the said post, believe the experts.

Similarly, the state government has appointed non-technical persons as Vice-Chancellors of all four technical universities—IKGPTU, Jalandhar; MRSPTU, Bathinda; SBSSU, Ferozepur; and SBSSU, Gurdaspur. None of the Vice-Chancellors of the technical universities has an engineering background.

Punjab’s first technical university, IKGPTU, Jalandhar, is headed by Vice-Chancellor Susheel Mittal, who holds an M.Sc. (Hons School) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry.

Similarly, Punjab’s second technical university, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRSPTU), Bathinda, is headed by Prof. (Dr.) Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, a distinguished academician with a gold medal in MBA and a silver medal in M.Sc. (Hons).

Sardar Beant Singh State University (SBSSU), Gurdaspur, is headed by Dr. Sushendra K. Misra, who holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in Management.

Shaheed Bhagat Singh State University (SBSSU), Ferozepur, is headed by Prof. Suresh Kumar Sharma, a senior professor of Statistics at Panjab University, Chandigarh.

On the other hand, Punjab’s only law university, Shri Guru Teg Bahadur State University of Law, Tarn Taran, exists only on paper as it’s foundation stone was laid on August 27, 2021. The university was established to mark the 400th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, with a focus on promoting legal education. But, the charge of this university has been given to the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar as no regular VC is appointed till date.