India, July 31 -- Nearly 22 months after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was left without a full-time head, Professor Badri Narayan Tiwari took charge as the university's new Vice Chancellor (VC) on Wednesday. He is the first VC appointed at TISS under the University Grants Commission's (UGC) latest selection rules introduced in 2023.

After Professor Shalini Bharat, the previous VC, completed her five-year term in September 2023. Since then, Professor Manoj Kumar Tiwari, the director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Mumbai, was assigned the additional charge at TISS.

The appointment process began with a nationwide advertisement that attracted 127 applications. A confidential search panel shortlisted 10 candidates...