Gujarat Technological University (GTU) Ahmedabad, the state’s largest public technical university, got its first female Vice-Chancellor as the Gujarat government named the appointment of Rajul K. Gajjar on Thursday.

The appointment is for three years from the date she assumes charge, the state government stated in its notification issued Thursday. Currently, GTU has 344 technical institutes affiliated to it.

The appointment comes seven months after the second term of Prof Navin Sheth expired on December 30, 2022. Gajjar, who has been the principal of L D College of Engineering (LDCE) in Ahmedabad since November 2019, will take over from Prof Pankajray Patel who is currently the incharge VC of the university.

The 62-year-old will also be the second female Vice-Chancellor to be appointed to a state university in less than two months. On June 30, Neerja A. Gupta was appointed as the VC of Gujarat University, the largest university in the state.

Incidentally, Gajjar had officiated as the GTU VC for eight months in 2016. She has also served as the VC of Indian Institute of Teacher’s University in Gandhinagar for around two months in 2018. In 2017, she was appointed an additional commissioner in the education department.

With a career in engineering spanning 38 years, Gajjar was appointed the principal of the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College in Ahmedabad from 2014 until 2019 and the Government Engineering College in Gandhinagar during 2012-14.

She was also the first Dean of GTU and subsequently, the first director at the institute. She holds a doctorate degree in structural disasters from Vadodara’s MS University and has also been a member of Academic and Research Councils of NBA and AICTE and holds three patents to her name.