In a first, vertical university campus to be set up in Mumbai and Thane

The idea of a vertical university campus was conceived to deal with the issue of land scarcity, which is common in major cities such as Mumbai and international metropolises like New York City, Washington DC and Tel Aviv, Israel

Mumbai: With the city falling short of large land pockets, establishing an educational institution with a central building, huge lawn, snaking academic corridors and convocation hall seems unlikely for entrepreneurs. Keeping the city’s reality in mind, the state has decided to approve setting up Vertical University Campus (VUC) in Mumbai city and Thane which would require much less land than traditional universities.

In a first, vertical university campus to be set up in Mumbai and Thane

Maharashtra is the first state in the country to approve vertical university campuses which were first adopted in the United States and other Western countries. The decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting on July 19.

As against traditional campuses operating on a huge size of land, a vertical university campus will grow vertically so that a university can house up to the 50th floor just like a shiny corporate tower anywhere in the city.

The idea of a vertical university campus was conceived to deal with the issue of land scarcity, which is common in major cities such as Mumbai and international metropolises like New York City, Washington DC and Tel Aviv, Israel.

“The state cabinet has cleared establishing Vertical University Campus in Mumbai city, Mumbai suburbs and Thane as self-financed universities. They require a minimum 15,000 built-up area,” said Vikas Rastogi, principal secretary of, the higher and technical education department.

“In a city like Mumbai, it is hard to get 10-acre of land and there were demands from many colleges to come up with an alternative considering which the state government has cleared a new policy for vertical university campus,” the principal secretary stated.

The state government has made it clear the institution is required to have an independent building to establish a university where no commercial activity in any way would be allowed to conduct.

“No area of the building can be used for commercial purposes in any way. It should have a scope for further construction in case there is a rise in the number of students. The classrooms shall be set up in accordance with University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines,” states a cabinet proposal that was cleared by the state cabinet.

Of the total area, it requires 40% reserve space for the playground following the provisions of unified development control and promotion regulations (UDCPR) and development control promotion regulations (DCPR), 2034. Also, the building shall have a hostel facility for students or nearby the premises, it adds.

It means the vertical university campus will not be allowed on a few floors of a building or tower as it is happening in other parts of the world.

“We are not insisting on the size of the plot for a vertical university campus. They need to have a construction of at least 15,000 square meters by using their own and additional floor space index (FSI),” he argued and added they will have to follow UDCPR and DCPR regulations.

The government has decided to make only those institutions eligible for applying for a vertical university campus that have secured NAAC 3.25 grade points and are in the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) or National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list of top 200 institutions.

The decision was taken on the recommendations of two committees formed in a period of five years. Formed to recommend amendments to the guidelines for the self-financed universities on August 25, 2015, the two-member Arun Bongirwar committee suggested that if the city of Mumbai does not have ample place for starting a new university, then the state government should consider allowing setting up vertical university campuses.

To form guidelines for the vertical university campus, another committee headed by former chief secretary Jayant Banthia was constituted on February 27, 2020.