Meghalaya: NEHU Pro Vice-Chancellor resigns amid administrative crisis

Professor S Umdor has stepped down as Pro Vice-Chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), citing an untenable administrative environment that has seen the departure of multiple senior officials and growing campus unrest.

The resignation, effective from the afternoon of December 15, 2025, was announced at a meeting with deans and officers on Friday, December 12. Prof Umdor's decision comes after months of shouldering full responsibility for the university's academic and administrative operations during the Vice-Chancellor's prolonged absence from campus and Meghalaya.

The departure marks the latest in a series of high-level exits at the institution, with the registrar, finance officer, and several senior faculty members who had taken on additional administrative duties also resigning in recent weeks.

Prof Umdor's tenure saw the university navigate significant financial constraints, including a 42 per cent reduction in UGC recurring grants for the 2025–26 financial year. Despite this, the administration maintained academic schedules, conducting end-of-semester examinations on time and completing long-pending tasks such as teacher promotions under the Career Advancement Scheme at Levels 11 and 12, as well as non-teaching staff promotions through the Departmental Promotion Committee.

The university also operationalised a 100-seater girls' hostel with 24 additional seats, finalised recruitment advertisements for non-teaching positions, and met various court directives. NEHU successfully hosted the Smart India Hackathon 2025 and advanced the NEP-UG programme into its fifth semester, introducing revised curricula incorporating internships, vocational components, and MOOCs. The institution also conducted CUET-based admissions for affiliated colleges in Meghalaya for the first time.

However, the Pro Vice-Chancellor's efforts to convene Executive Council meetings under the Vice-Chancellor's chairmanship faced "strong opposition from students and staff associations," contributing to campus unrest. Prof. Umdor proposed that the Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor from the Tura Campus chair these meetings until stakeholder issues were resolved, but this suggestion was not accepted. He believed such an arrangement "would have enabled urgent matters concerning the welfare of students and staff to be addressed without further delay."

In his resignation statement, Prof. Umdor indicated that decisions taken during routine academic and administrative duties had been increasingly contested, causing delays and disruption. He stated that given the "absence of essential support systems and continued uncertainty surrounding key institutional decisions," remaining in office would not serve the university's best interests or maintain expected standards of accountability and professionalism.

Prof Umdor expressed gratitude for the cooperation and support received during his tenure and conveyed hope for the restoration of stability at NEHU.

The university now faces the challenge of appointing new leadership whilst addressing the underlying governance issues that have precipitated this administrative crisis.