With 7 depts,Nalanda varsity takes shape

The long-awaited Nalanda University is finally nearer than ever. With the Nalanda University Bill vetted by the Law Ministry and expected to be tabled...

The long-awaited Nalanda University is finally nearer than ever. With the Nalanda University Bill vetted by the Law Ministry and expected to be tabled in Parliament this session,the countdown has begun for the revival of what was once considered the greatest university in the world.

The varsity will have seven schools,former president A P J Abdul Kalam as its honorary Visiting Rector and tie-ups with international varsities,while Dr Gopa Sabharwal will be the inaugural Rector. Mindful of its historic legacy,the new university will adopt the seal of the ancient Buddhist varsity as its emblem.

Sources said the legislation,to be piloted by the Ministry of External Affairs,will be placed before the Cabinet for approval soon.

The MEA is learnt to have committed that visa procedures would be relaxed for foreign faculty and students associated with the varsity. Admissions will be totally quota free.

To start with a corpus of Rs 100 crore,the university will first start operations from an office in New Delhi while a campus is built in Bihar over the next few years. An almost 500-acre plot has already been acquired by the Bihar government.

Public private partnerships PPP will be key,as decided at the last meeting of the East Asia Summit in October 2009,sources said. The EAS is a forum organised annually by leaders of 16 countries in the South East Asia region,and it is collaborating actively for the revival of Nalanda University.

Nalanda University will initially be posited as a post-graduate institution,with 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.

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Over the last one year interviews were held before Sabharwal,who is the Head of Department of Sociology at Delhi Universitys Lady Shri Ram College for Women,was selected as the inaugural Rector. She will play a key role in determining courses to start with,recruitment of faculty and their emoluments apart from student intake.

Chulalongkorn University of Thailand,Bukkyo University in Japan and several European varsities have expressed interest in tie-ups with the proposed varsity.