Calcutta, June 4: Mamata Banerjee has promised Presidency University’s mentor group a free hand that allows it to rise “entirely above party politics”, following which an attempt will be made to assemble “the most outstanding people”, its chairman-designate Sugata Bose said today.

“Our first task will be to form an outstanding and diverse group of academics to be part of the panel. It will be an assembly of the most outstanding people and Mamata Banerjee has assured me it will be entirely above party politics,” Bose told The Telegraph from England.

Bose, the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard, said the chief minister had called him “the day before yesterday and very graciously requested” him to chair the panel to steer Presidency into what many hope will be a glorious future.

A politics-free carte blanche would have been unthinkable in the past few decades when the CPM headquarters on Alimuddin Street had appropriated the task of running — or ruining, as some would say — academic institutions.

During Thursday’s phone call, chief minister Mamata told Bose to “seek the advice” of Amartya Sen.

“I spoke to Amartya-da and he agreed to advise us. We are both in England at the moment. In fact, we were together in Cambridge a couple of days ago,” Bose said.

Sen wrote in an email to The Telegraph: “I have not spoken with the chief minister, but I have been told that Professor Sugata Bose will chair the group on the planning of Presidency University. Professor Bose, who is a close friend, has requested me to advise him, and I am happy to do so... in what is clearly a very important task. Obviously we all want Presidency University to do well.”

At a news briefing last night, Mamata had announced the formation of the panel chaired by Bose with Sen as the “chief mentor”. But the Nobel laureate clarified that he would be the “adviser” to Bose, chairman of the group of mentors. Bose will form the panel in consultation with Sen. He won’t name names at this stage because “that would be inappropriate”.

“Our first goal will be to restore Presidency to its academic excellence,” said Bose.

“When I went to deliver a lecture at (the erstwhile) Presidency College a few years ago, I was saddened by what I saw. There was complete chaos. The organisation was in no way what it should have been in an institution of repute.”

Although Bose admitted being unaware of the condition of Presidency “at this very moment”, he listed among his priorities an overhaul of the “governance structure” and a revamp of the “academic and other infrastructure”.

Such an overhaul will be necessary to attract the best and brightest, agreed many of its alumni. “You need the best technology in the labs. Research is no longer the pursuit of an individual but a team game and there should be enough opportunity to do things together,” said Abhirup Sarkar, a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute and a Presidency alumnus.

Bose will meet the chief minister when he comes to Calcutta in a few days. “I will know what Presidency exactly needs when I go to Calcutta. I’d welcome the help of all right-thinking people and especially the alumni,” he said.

The last time Bose was in his alma mater, it was “with Amartya-da”, about a year and a half ago. “We went unannounced but the students were soon around Amartya-da for autographs. From the college, we went to the Coffee House, had a cup of coffee and then entered Dasgupta (and Co, the bookstore).”

Like many others, Bose himself is filled with “a sense of hope” about a new beginning, a change that goes beyond the divide of red and green. “If we are successful (in taking Presidency to the pinnacle), its effect could be felt in institutions across the state. Presidency would then become a model or a pilot project to turn a new leaf,” Bose said.