Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo will be the new Chancellor of the Nalanda University, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Saturday.

Mr. Yeo, who is on the governing board of prestigious university, will take over from Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who withdrew his candidature for a second term as Chancellor of the Nalanda University in Bihar in February 2015.

Incidentally, Mr. Yeo chaired the last meeting of the board on January 13-14, 2015, when it had decided unanimously agreed to have Dr. Sen serve as the Chancellor for the second consecutive term.

Mr. Yeo was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2012 in recognition of his contribution in the field of "public affairs." An integral part of the erstwhile Nalanda Mentor Group, he has been at the forefront of the revival of the ancient seat of learning.

Nalanda University hit the headlines in February, when >Prof. Sen, whose term ends July, wrote a letter to his colleagues on the board, withdrawing from seeking a second term, since the Narendra Modi government had not given its approval to his nomination.

He said the delay in the approval to his re-appointment was an indication of the government not being keen on his second term. “It is hard for me not to conclude that the government wants me to cease being the Chancellor of Nalanda University after this July,” Prof. Sen had said.