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Nalanda to invite PM Modi for campus inauguration, starts MA in Hindu Studies
The academic session of NU started on September 1, 2014 from its makeshift venue at the International Convention Centre at the Buddhist pilgrim town of Rajgir, barely 10 km from the ancient Nalanda. On September 19, then minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj had formally inaugurated it.
Having shifted to its under-construction campus two years ago, Nalanda University now plans to get its exquisite campus with state-of-the-art infrastructure blending traditional flavour with modernity inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In its eight year journey, former Presidents APJ Abdul Kalam, Pranab Mukherjee and president Ram Nath Kovind, besides a host of national and foreign dignitaries, have visited the varsity.
“We want the PM to give time and we will approach him soon with a request, as now 90% of the work on the administrative and academic side is complete. It is a Net Zero campus with water bodies spread across 100 acres in the 455-acre area. The work started 2017 onwards only and it has taken shape in four years. It was former President APJ Abdul Kalam who was so closely associated with it and now, as the institution prepares to take off, it will be good to have the PM here, as it gels with his look-east policy,” said NU vice chancellor Sunaina Singh, who joined the institution in May 2017 amid a complete overhaul of its governing board set up.
The academic session of NU started on September 1, 2014 from its makeshift venue at the International Convention Centre at the Buddhist pilgrim town of Rajgir, barely 10 km from the ancient Nalanda. On September 19, then minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj had formally inaugurated it, reiterating the Centre’s full ownership of NU.
With the exquisite infrastructure of the university ready, the VC said that its academic performance had also improved and would grow further. “Now we have six schools. For regular courses, the intake is over 250, while overall it remains between 700-1000 due to the certificate and diploma courses we run. We have just launched a global master’s programme in Hindu Studies (Sanātana) and the response has been good not only from India, but also from abroad. In 2014, NU started its academic programmes with two schools and just 12 students and we have covered a lot of distance to reach this far today, but it is just the beginning,” she added.
The two-year full-time residential M.A. programme in Hindu Studies, developed by the VC, captures the “rich spiritual as well as intellectual system of the Hindus - a distinctively interdisciplinary system”, says its synopsis. It provides an opportunity to develop specialization in any stream of Sanātana Hindu Studies.
“We are the first university to launch it. The admission is still going on. Students from the US, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc .have already got enrolled. It is a global programme,” the VC said.
On attrition of faculty members from other countries, Singh said it was important to understand the locational challenge of NU. “Faculty members are appointed in contract for one to three years and depending on the requirement and their availability, it is extended. Some may like to leave after their term and we relieve them. We have faculty strength of 48 at present,” she added.
The Centre for conflict resolution and peace building, which has already got the approval of the governing board, was mooted by Kalam and later Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had also batted for it.
