Bangalore University offers Mohandas Pai to co-chair the Bengaluru School of Economics

BANGALORE: Barely a week after T V Mohandas Pai announced his resignation from Infosys and talked about working in education, he got his first public job offer. Bangalore University vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev on Thursday wrote to Pai, a BU alumnus, inviting him to co-chair the Bengaluru School of Economics, being planned on the lines of Delhi School of Economics.

"Yes, it must have been a painful decision for you to come out of Infosys after a highly distinguished service. Mr Narayana Murthy has described you as a key anchor builder of Infosys. Now you have a bigger horizon, a bigger canvas to articulate your nation-building programme. I've read you have decided to spend 30-35% of your time in the corporate world and 30-35% of your time in education," starts the letter. BSE will be a research centre dedicated to economics in policy advice, publications and dissemination activities. He said they will "place themselves under appropriate scrutiny", the letter said.

Pointing out that the quality of higher education is a major problem in the country, the V-C states that the field needs a visionary. "The issue of quality is not being addressed. The syllabi are not industry-friendly. The issue of reforms need(s) a visionary," the letter says. The centre will have a management committee comprising the V-C in the chair, director, registrars, heads of all divisions, experts (on invitation), government nominees and chancellor nominees. "I request you to kindly accept our invitation," Prabhu Dev signs off.