Nalanda University Chancellor George Yeo quits

Within the days after Amartya Sen got excluded from the newly constituted governing board, the chancellor of the prestigious Nalanda University, George Yeo has quit citing attack on autonomy as the reason. According to him, the move to create a new governing board was a complete surprise to him and the changes were effected without his consent. The former foreign minister of Singapore, Yeo, took over as Second Chancellor of the University after the resignation of Amartya Sen. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen was part of the Nalanda Mentors group (NMG) since 2007. NMG was constituted to revive the Nalanda University. After nine years long association with the Nalanda University as Chancellor and later as a member of the governing board, his association ended as he has not been included in the newly-constituted governing board of the University. A new governing board has been constituted by the President in accordance with Section 7 of the Nalanda University Act, 2010.

The Nalanda University was founded by Gupta emperor Kumargupta-I. The idea to revive this ancient seat of learning was suggested by former Presdient APJ Abdul Kalam in 2005.