A full-time member of NITI Aayog, Saraswat will be replacing ISRO chief Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan whose five- year term ended on March 30.
Though Saraswat is yet to receive official communication, his name has been finalised for the varsity's top position, according to sources in the ministry.
Saraswat was conferred Padma Shri in 1998, Padma Bhusan in 2013 and had served as a chief scientific advisor to the Minister of Defence.
As project director of Prithvi, Saraswat steered the design, development, production and induction of the first indigenous surface-to-surface missile system into the armed forces.
A chancellor has a little role in day-to-day activities of the administration.