Meet Professor Renu Vig, Panjab University’s First Woman Vice-Chancellor

Panjab University’s first woman vice-chancellor, Professor Renu Vig, has many firsts to her credit. Vig was the first woman teaching assistant at Panjab Engineering College (PEC) in 1985.

Vig started out as a teaching assistant right after she graduated in electronics and communication. She was one of the first women to continue teaching and studying as she pursued engineering at the Panjab Engineering College.

After becoming this first VC, Vig said she felt like she could be an inspiration for women on the campus. She said she feels like a role model for female students and faculty and added, "I feel I can inspire other women to do it as well".

Panjab University First Woman VC

Vig had always been drawn to teaching since childhood, as her mother was a teacher. Her union with Panjab University began after her marriage, as her father-in-law was a reputable professor of chemistry at the university. Vig’s spouse, Sandeep, was two years her senior at PEC.

Vig was a mother of two girls when she decided to pursue a doctorate in artificial intelligence from PU. She recalls how it wasn’t easy for women in STEM in those days. While there were 25 boys, there were only five girls in her class. Her male classmates used to make fun of her, saying she got good grades because of her smile. The teasing stopped after she became their lead problem solver.

The bias didn't just stop at the students' level. It was so deeply rooted in STEM that when one of her classmates introduced her to a new professor as the class topper, he said, "Madame Curie was good, but Albert Einstein was more intelligent than her." That was the attitude back then.

However, things were different for Vig at home. The men in her life were very supportive of her ambitions and dreams. Her father-in-law encouraged her to go abroad to pursue her doctorate and ensured that the family would look after her daughters. But she couldn’t muster the courage to leave her family.

Vig moved from PEC to the National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training & Research as a reader in 1997. She joined the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) in 2002. She had served as the director of the institute since 2014. It’s been two decades now, and she said she loves the vibrancy of the campus, its students, and its staff.

"Teaching has to change with fast-changing technology. Students today are much more aware. They don’t rely on books alone, they have Google. Everything is on the Internet. They must constantly update their knowledge and bring a lot of heft to their subject to keep the students engaged," Vig reportedly said.

When asked about her future plans, Vig said she had big dreams for her alma mater. "We must make PU the top university. It should lead others in implementing the changes envisaged in the New Education Policy. We have to focus on research, innovation, and knowledge generation. We should be raising entrepreneurs," she reportedly said.

"The country is poised on the threshold of a new era in education, where students will have a lot of flexibility. The PU must lead this change," she reportedly added.

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