Nitish visits BUHS & BEU campuses, calls for timely completion of construction

Both the universities, set up in 2022 after trifurcation of the Aryabhatt Knowledge University (AKU), will add to the list of several educational institutions like the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), AKU, Maulana Mazaharul Haq Arabic and Persian University

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday directed the officials to speed up the campus development of the Bihar University of Health Sciences (BUHS) and Bihar Engineering University (BEU) at Mithapur in Patna, which was visualised as the education hub with several institutions at one place.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inspects the under-construction campus of the Bihar University of Health Sciences, Mithapur, in Patna on Wednesday. (ANI)

Both the universities, set up in 2022 after trifurcation of the Aryabhatt Knowledge University (AKU), will add to the list of several educational institutions like the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), AKU, Maulana Mazaharul Haq Arabic and Persian University, Chandragupta Institute of Management (CIMP) already functioning in Mithapur.

The headquarters of the BUHS and BEU are located in Patna with territorial jurisdiction across the state. The BUHS covers all kinds of health science education and acts as the primary academic authority, ensuring compliance with national councils. The BEU oversees and coordinates engineering education across the state with focus on uniform academic standards.

Chief Minister is the chancellor of both BUHS and BEU, while Dr Binde Kumar and Suresh Kant Verma are the vice chancellors respectively. “Once the campus of both the universities take shape, the area will look even better,” he added.

“The BUHS and the BEU were set up to provide quality education to the state’s students and the infrastructure development needs to be completed with speed and quality,” said the CM after inspecting the ongoing work at the BUHS with a built up area of 28,609.40 square metres.

So far, over one-third infrastructural work of BUHS at a ₹138.5-crore project involving construction of administrative, academic and examination blocks, staff, VC and registrar quarters and other facilities like guest house and multipurpose hall, on a five-acre area has been completed.

As per work order, the BUHS project has to be completed by May 2026, but considering the amount of work left, it is likely to jump the timeline. This was, perhaps, the reason why the CM was particular about increasing the speed without compromising with the quality. He had laid the foundations stone for the BUHS campus on September 6, 2024.

Binde said that the BUHS has at present 561 institutions of different fields of health, including 173 government and 392 private, affiliated to it. This includes 11 government medical colleges and six private ones.

It has highest number of 346 nursing colleges, including 242 private and 108 government, affiliated to it, offering degree and diploma courses. Besides, there are 92 pharmacy institutions, including 86 in the private sector, and 89 paramedical institutions, including 47 in the private sector, affiliated to BUHS, offering degree and diploma courses.

The VC said that Bihar has 78,100 seats under various streams for different degree and diploma courses, including 2020 for MBBS and 681 for post-graduate in both government and private medical colleges. “Once the campus is ready, things would be smoother. We have completed all exams for 2024 and 2025 and results have been mostly published, barring some which are under process,” he added.