Prime Minister Narendra Modi open the new campus of Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar on Wednesday. The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and ambassadors from 17 countries are expected to attended the event .
“It’s a very special day for our education system. Around 10:30 AM today, the new campus of Nalanda University would be opened at Rajgir. Nalanda has a strong connection with our glorious past. This university will surely go a long way in meeting the educational needs of the youth,” PM Modi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
About Nalanda University
- The new campus is near the ancient ruins of Nalanda, a university established by the Nalanda University Act of 2010. The Act put into practice a decision to establish the university made at the second East Asia Summit held in the Philippines in 2007.
- Founded in the fifth century, Nalanda University was a famous learning center attracting international students. It flourished for 800 years before invaders destroyed it in the 12th century.
- The present university started its operations in 2014 at a temporary site with an initial group of 14 students, and construction began in 2017.
- Besides India, a total of 17 countries have signed agreements to support the Nalanda University. These countries include Brunei, Cambodia, New Zealand, Portugal, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
- The university offers 137 scholarships to international students. It has six schools: Buddhist Studies, Philosophy & Comparative Religions, Historical Studies, Ecology and Environmental Studies, and Sustainable Development and Management.
- International students enrolled for Postgraduate programs for 2022-24, 2023-25, and the PhD program for 2023-27 come from diverse countries like Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Congo Republic, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
- The campus has two academic blocks with 40 classrooms, seating around 1,900 people. There are also two auditoriums, each with 300 seats. The student hostel can house around 550 students.
- The campus also has an international center, an amphitheater for 2,000 people, a faculty club, and a sports complex.
- The campus is a ‘Net Zero’ Green Campus, designed to be self-sufficient with solar power, water treatment facilities, a water recycling plant, 100 acres of water bodies, and many other eco-friendly facilities.
- The university is envisioned as a partnership between India and the East Asia Summit countries. It holds great historical importance, as the original Nalanda University, founded around 1600 years ago, is regarded as one of the world’s first residential universities.