Yogi Vemana University was established at Kadapa by the Government of Andhra Pradesh on March 9, 2006. I joined as the First Vice Chancellor of YVU on November 8, 2006. In the interim period, YVU was administered by the Vice Chancellor of SVU as in -charge with an Officer on Special Duty. The then Chief Minister of A.P Late. Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy gave me a clear mandate of making this University a model and a place of pride for people of Rayalaseema and a chosen place for students for pursuing their advanced studies making plans with the help of some of the best academiciens from leading State and National Universities, to make YVU a model University.
Accordingly we made a Vision document with a strategic action plan to reach our goal. YVU at the time of my taking over had only 9 teachers with 6 academic departments with no Principal etc. As a first step faculty recruitment in 2007 was taken up and a good batch of more than 30 faculty members joined. Later in 2008 and 2009, about 90 faculty members joined. Also a number of non-teaching staff, most of them young, have joined the force. Thus we moved forward from 9 teachers-6 departments to 123 teachers-27 departments. We made sure all the while that the selected faculty by and large are highly qualified with International exposure ( incase of Sciences, leading labs of the world) and with dedication to academics and maintain dignity and decorum of the University. This made all the difference and to-day the University is definitely emerging as a centre of excellence. In 2008, we established the YVU College of Engineering at Proddatur in record time.
As on to-day, we have the state-of-the art science building spanning more than one lakh Sq.Ft with Lab spaces and a central instrumentation centre with latest equipment and more on the way. This is backed by ancillary facilities like glass houses, green houses, super Computer facility, botanical garden etc. Further, greenery with good landscaping was created for a good ambiance for academic pursuits. There are now 8 hostels equipped with dining halls and a guest house for about 100 guests. It will take litte more time to put all these into full operation. The second phase building got just started with a total outlay of about 70 crores: YSR Administration Bhavanam (total height 14 and a half floors including tower, perhaps is the tallest University Building in India), a massive Jawaharlal Nehru Library with a provision for 600 students to read at a time and a large Indira Gadhi School of Social Sciences ( more than one lakh Sq. Ft"), Community Hall, Exam Centre, Management Building etc.
As a result of of our careful recruitment of highly qualified and relatively young faculty, several awards has been flowing to the University. Htere are several faculty members who won young scientist awards from Govt. of India and many are recipients of prestigious projects running into crores. More projects and honors are on the way.
This is a remarkable achievement for a three year old University and two year old faculty. Also this bears testimony to the genuine strength of our original plan of Nov/Dec 2007.
With the kind of overall ambience naturally, the students showed a remarkable level of discipline with no major strike or breakdown of campus or serous obstruction to class work. This is the most important contributing factor for the rapid all round progress of the University. The Committed Non-teaching staff has contributed their might to the growth of the University.
Overall, last three years have been a memorable period for me as the First Vice-Chancellor and for you as the University community. i am sure there is lot more to be done and lot more to be achieved. To my simple mind., our University has got all the fundamentals in right position and is ready to join the elite group of Indian Universities in a short time. Thus, it gives me immense pleasure to see YVU soon as "the university with potential for excellence". To me, that day seems to be not far.