Asian Star-Prof (Dr) Renu Vig, Vice Chancellor

Native Village/country parent’s background:

Although parents were born in Pakistan, in Independent India, father was educated in Randhir College, Kapurthala and mother was brought up in Akola, Maharashtra. Father was an employee of Punjab Khadi Board and mother was a school teacher in Punjab School Education Board.

Your early education:

I was in Govt. Model School till class X and subsequently did eleventh and twelfth from Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh. I am an Electronics and Communication Engineer from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. PEC was originally established as Mugalpura Engineering College at Lahore in 1921. Towards the end of December 1953, the College shifted to its present campus in Chandigarh.

Your career advancement initiatives, volunteer work and present occupation:

I joined as teaching assistant in PEC and became Lecturer in PEC in 1992. UIET was established in PU in 2002 and I was appointed in UIET in 2003. I became Director of UIET in 2009 and served till 2017. I was Dean, Faculty of Engineering at PU for four years and became Dean Research in February, 2022. Subsequently, I was DUI when I was given charge of Vice Chancellor in January 2023.

UIET being a young institute, culture of involving young faculty in research projects for industry/society has been promoted. This resulted in faculty publishing papers in quality journals along with aiming for patents. Design and Innovation culture has been established among the students also resulting in entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem. International collaborations for research, student and faculty exchange have been established. 

Your regret in life:

No regrets

Pick any one of the best achievements:

Sabbatical Project at Infosys, Mohali facilitated working on problems related to industry. Introduced Credit Based Curriculum in Engineering faculty in 2012 to meet National and Global standards. Established best Publication Award for faculty for motivating everyone to go for quality publications.

Curriculum based on outcome based education was developed in 2015 to establish best teaching practices. Design Innovation Centre was established in 2015 for promoting culture of working on innovative ideas among students. International research projects enabled faculty and students to understand Global needs.

Any comments on modern culture:

Technology enabled society to remain connected with its roots to maintain balance. We are living in a world where we are connected to everyone virtually but need to ensure that youngsters are emotionally and mentally connected with the family and peers. Efforts are being made to provide holistic education to youngsters so that they are spiritually awakened citizens of tomorrow.

What brought you success?

Positive attitude, bold decision making ability and good listener traits paved my way to success. Problem solving ability, team building, hard work and goodwill of people around me helped me a lot.

Are you willing to help upcoming professionals and how?

By motivating them to work hard, follow ethical practices, trying their best in every endeavor, overcoming challenges of life bravely, encouraging youngsters to take up problems of Industry and Society. Youngsters are facilitated for career guidance by inviting companies on the campus for placements. Ecosystem for supporting students based Start-ups is also being strengthened to promote self-employment. Upcoming professionals are being motivated to provide employment rather than seeking employment.

Your message for Canadians of Asian Origin:

Panjab University is one of oldest university of India established in 1882 at Lahore. Post- Independence, in India it operated its departments from various colleges at Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur with its offices at Solan before it was finally set up in Chandigarh.

We look forward to establishing collaborations with Universities, Industry and Research labs in Canada for faculty and student exchange. Any step in this direction is most welcome.