Prof Persi Engineer has been appointed the first provost of the newly constituted Sarvajanik University (SU) on June 4, 2021. The 109-year-old Sarvajanik Education Society was recognized as an independent university and renamed SU under the Gujarat Private Universities Act of 2009 on June 1 this year. "Till now we were under Veer Narmad South Gujarat University,” Engineer told Parsiana on June 9.
Above: Prof Persi Engineer,
first provost of Sarvajanik University, Surat (top)
Photo: Harry Virani
He is also the director of Sarvajanik School of Interior Design and was the only architect to serve as principal of an engineering college [the Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology (SCET), Surat]. The provost’s curriculum vitae states that he has served as member on the National Programme on Earthquake Engineering Education, a union ministry of human resource development initiative. An independent director of Surat Smart City Development Limited, he has served on task forces of various committees appointed by the city’s municipal corporation. Engineer was the recipient of the Sarvajanik Shikshan Ratna award and the Golden Jubilee Award of the South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2014. The professor has served as chairman of the Surat chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects and the Surat center of the Institute of Indian Interior Designers.
A graduate of the 1990 batch of Baroda’s Maharaja Sayajirao University, Engineer completed his master’s degree in town and regional planning from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat and is pursuing his doctorate. He additionally serves as a member of the governing board of Ganpat University, a private institution in Gujarat’s Mehsana district.
Wife Prof Vahhbiz teaches architecture at SCET while daughter Zeenia, an architect and urban designer is also a visiting faculty member there. Daughter Sanaya is studying dentistry at Baroda. "I am also into organic farming out of passion,” noted Persi. Among his students he has earned the sobriquet of "cool principal” as he is passionate about motorbikes and frequently undertakes long distance trips on his Harley Davidson motorbike, noted a write-up. F. J.