PATNA, July 3 -- The Bihar Governor's secretariat has extended the last date for submission of applications for the apex academic positions of vice chancellors and pro-vice chancellors in the state universities. "It is hereby notified that the last date for submission of online applications is extended up to July 21 (11.59 pm)," says the notification issued by Dipak Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary to the Governor, on Wednesday. The Chancellor's office had issued notifications for the appointment of six VCs on May 20 and another four VCs on June 3 this year. The last date for submission of online application in the prescribed format was June 30. Later, after a long wait, the Secretariat of Governor-cum-Chancellor also initiated the exercise for the appointment of 14 pro-vice chancellors and issued the notification on June 3 for their appointment in 14 state universities, with July 1 as the last date for submitting application. However, with the extension in date for submitting online applications now July 21, the process of formation of search committees, shortlisting and interaction will commence after that. The Chancellor's office has also brought about changes in the formation of search committees, with separate government nominee not repeating those nominated in the past for each of them. Earlier, the same government nominee used to be part of all the search committees. The move, according to a Chancellor's Secretariat official, is aimed at revamping the state's higher education landscape with a larger pool of fresh faces who could provide good leadership with integrity and capability to pull the state universities out of the rut and initiate much needed reforms in keeping with the new education policy. "This time, 24 positions of VC and Pro-VC will be filled in one go, which is the largest in recent years. Even in 2013, when the Supreme Court had quashed the appointment of all VCs after a long judicial battle triggered by serious controversies, so many vacancies had not emerged. So, this is a big opportunity to have capable persons at the helm to improve higher education," said the official. While the appointment of Pro-VCs had been put on cold burner for the last few years, the Chancellor's Secretariat had cancelled the earlier advertisement for Magadh University (Bodh Gaya), Veer Kuer Singh University (Ara) and TM Bhagalpur University issued during the previous dispensation and issued fresh notifications despite completion of the interaction process for them. While the three universities had slipped under ad hoc arrangement months ago, for the rest the Chancellor's office has initiated the process well in advance to ensure that practice of interim arrangement is done away with in future. What is significant about the large-scale appointments to the top academic positions is that it will be the first time during the term of Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain and chief minister Samrat Choudhary....