Bhubaneswar, Oct. 20: The newly appointed vice-chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, Kamal Kanta Mishra, promised to reinstate the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition in the institution.

"Being the first culture university of the country, one of the founding pillars of the varsity was to carry on the legacy of the guru-shishya lineage. I would like to build that relationship once again among the teachers and students," said the vice-chancellor, who took charge today.

Earlier, he worked as an anthropology professor and became dean of the School of Social Science in Central University, Hyderabad.

Though the culture varsity's new campus at Madanpur near Jatni has been inaugurated in May, it is still running from its temporary campus in Bhubaneswar. "We need to shift to the permanent campus at the earliest, so that the teachers and students stay together. Only then can the guru-shishya tradition be followed in its true sense," he said.

Plans are on to provide free Wi-Fi to the students and plug in the loopholes that are restricting the varsity to receive financial assistance from the UGC. "The varsity is not included under Section 12B of the UGC Act. We have to fill the vacant teaching and non-teaching staff positions. Also, other modalities need to be sorted out to receive funds from various central funding agencies. Working towards that would be one of my priorities."

"An advertisement for hiring of teachers has been put in. We will begin the screening process shortly."

Mishra's meeting with tourism and culture minister Ashok Panda was held today.