New Delhi: The long awaited dream for the revival of the country’s oldest and renowned -Nalanda University will soon assume the shape of reality. As per sources, the Law Ministry scrutinized the Nalalanda University Bill, which is now expected to be tabled in the Parliament in this session. The countdown has already begun for the University’s revival.
With former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as its honorary Visiting Rector, the university is expected to have seven schools and tie-ups with international varsities, while Dr. Gopa Sabharwal will be the inaugural Rector. The university is likely to adopt the seal of the ancient Buddhist varsity as its emblem. According to the sources, the legislation, piloted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), soon will be placed before the Cabinet for approval.
The MEA is expected to relax the visa procedures with the admission process to be totally free of reservation for foreign students and teachers associated with the university. Moreover, the operations of the university would first begin from an office in New Delhi with a campus located in Bihar. Over the next few years for which almost a 500-acre plot has been acquired by the state government. The whole activity will amount to an expenditure of Rs 100 crore.
As per sources, with the conclusions from the last meeting of the East Asia Summit in October 2009, a forum organized annually by leaders of 16 countries in the South East Asia region collaborating actively for the renewal of the university, it is expected to run in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Initially, a post-graduate institution, the Nalanda University will hold under its umbrella the School of International Relations and Peace Studies; School of Business Management and Development Studies; School of Information Sciences and Technology; School of Historical Studies; School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religion; School of Languages and Literature; and School of Ecology and Environmental Studies.
Dr Gopa Sabharwal, who presently is the head of department of Sociology at the Delhi University's Lady Shri Ram College for Women, was selected as the inaugural rector after the interviews being held since the last one year. Apart from student's intake, she would be responsible for determining the courses to start with, recruitment of faculty and their emoluments.
