Vijita Singh Aggarwal: Central University of Gujarat's first woman Vice-Chancellor
By Priya NairLeadership & Growth Editor, Peepals Shakti
Representative image: jarmoluk / Pixabay
Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal took charge on 10 November 2026 as the first woman Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat, founded in 2009.
What Happened
Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal has taken charge as Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat, becoming the first woman to lead the university in the 17 years since it was founded in 2009. The university's official account said she formally assumed charge on Tuesday, 10 November 2026. Her arrival ends almost a year in which the university ran without a permanent head, under an in-charge vice-chancellor. Before the move she was Professor of Management at the University School of Management Studies of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) in New Delhi, where she also served as Director of International Affairs.
Key Facts
- Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal is the first woman Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat (CUG).
- She formally took charge on 10 November 2026, according to the university.
- CUG was founded in 2009; this is the first time in its 17-year history that a woman holds the top post.
- The post had been under interim charge for nearly a year; the university's website had listed Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya as in-charge vice-chancellor.
- At GGSIPU she was Professor of Management and Director of International Affairs, handling international partnerships, student-mobility agreements and support for international students.
- She holds a PhD in management from GGSIPU and is an alumna of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, the London School of Economics and the University of Deusto in Spain, according to her published profiles.
- Some reports spell her surname Agrawal; the university's website uses Aggarwal.
Why It Matters
A vice-chancellor is the chief executive and academic head of an Indian university. The post decides how a campus hires faculty, which courses it starts, how it spends its budget and which partnerships it signs. When the chair stays vacant or is held on an interim basis for long, decisions that need a permanent head can slow down. For the Central University of Gujarat, a year of interim charge has now ended with a full-time appointment.
The appointment also matters as a marker. Each "first" at an institution is a visible signal to students and faculty that its top post is open to women. For a central university in Gujarat that draws students from across the country, a woman at the head of the institution changes who young women on campus see in charge.
Prof. Aggarwal's background points to one likely area of focus, though she has not yet set out her priorities in public. Her last role at GGSIPU was about internationalisation: building partnerships with foreign universities, arranging student-exchange agreements and supporting international students. Her own education spans an Indian trade institute and universities in the United Kingdom and Spain. Readers should not assume particular plans until she announces them; her first statements as vice-chancellor will show where she intends to take the university.
Her path runs from teaching and research in one discipline, management, to an administrative role that cut across a whole university: the Director of International Affairs deals with every department that sends or receives students abroad.
Peepals timeline: The Central University of Gujarat was set up in 2009. For close to a year before November 2026, its top post was held on an interim basis, with Prof. Atanu Bhattacharya listed as in-charge vice-chancellor. On 10 November 2026, Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal formally took charge as Vice-Chancellor, moving from GGSIPU in New Delhi, and became the first woman to hold the post in the university's 17 years (2026 minus 2009).
Impact
Short-term: The university gets a permanent head after about a year, which allows pending academic and administrative decisions to move forward. Students and faculty will look for her first announcements on priorities.
Long-term: Her experience with international partnerships and student mobility could shape how the university connects with institutions abroad, if she chooses to make it a priority.
Who is affected: Students, faculty and staff of the Central University of Gujarat; women academics who aim for university leadership; and partner institutions in India and abroad.
Key Takeaway
The Central University of Gujarat has its first woman Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal, who took charge on 10 November 2026 after nearly a year of interim leadership.
Questions and Answers
Who is the new Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat?
Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal, previously Professor of Management and Director of International Affairs at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in New Delhi, took charge on 10 November 2026.
Is she the first woman Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat?
Yes. Reports and the university describe her as the first woman to head the university since it was founded in 2009.
Why had the Central University of Gujarat been without a permanent Vice-Chancellor?
The post had been held on an interim basis for nearly a year, with an in-charge vice-chancellor, until her appointment; the reasons for the delay were not given in the reports.
What is Prof. Vijita Singh Aggarwal's academic background?
She holds a PhD in management from GGSIPU and studied at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, the London School of Economics and the University of Deusto, according to her published profiles.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Priya Nair, Leadership & Growth EditorCovers Leadership & Growth and more for Peepals Shakti. All stories by Priya Nair
Get the day's stories in your inbox
Peepals Weekly: the week decoded, free. One email a week, unsubscribe in one click.
Priya Nair is a pen name of the Peepals Global Editorial Team, which researches, fact-checks and publishes every story. The portrait is an illustration.
