Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University in Bihar's Rajgir in the presence of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and ambassadors from 17 nations.
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The PM reached Rajgir by helicopter from the nearest airport at Gaya.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by several eminent people, including the Head of Missions of 17 Countries and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The new campus of Nalanda University was conceived as a joint collaboration between India and East Asia Summit (EAS) countries.
Ahead of inuagurating the campus, PM Modi in a tweet on X wrote, "It’s a very special day for our education sector. At around 10:30 AM today, the new campus of the Nalanda University would be inaugurated at Rajgir. Nalanda has a strong connect with our glorious past. This university will surely go a long way in catering to the educational needs of the youth."
PM Modi visited the ruins of Nalanda Mahavira ahead of inaugurating the new campus on Wednesday morning.
PM Modi inaugurated the new campus of the Nalanda University in Bihar's Rajgir around 11 am on Wednesday.
New Campus Of Nalanda University
The new campus of the university is close to the site of the ancient ruins of Nalanda. This university was established through the Nalanda University Act, 2010.
The Act provided for implementing a decision arrived at the second East Asia Summit held in the Philippines in 2007 for the establishment of university.
The new university started functioning in 2014 from a makeshift location with 14 students. Construction work on the university started in 2017.
Features:
The campus has two academic blocks with 40 classrooms having a total seating capacity of around 1900.
It has two auditoria having a capacity of 300 seats each. It has a student hostel with a capacity of around 550 students. It also has various other facilities including International Centre, amphitheatre that can accommodate up to 2000 individuals, faculty club and sports complex among others.
The campus is a 'Net Zero' green campus. It is self-sustainable with solar plant, domestic and drinking water treatment plant, water recycling plant for reusing waste water, 100 acres of water bodies, and many other environment friendly facilities.
This university, apart from India, has participation from 17 other nations -- Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries have signed MoUs in support of the university.
The university offers 137 scholarships to international students.
The international students enrolled in the Post Graduate programmes for the academic years 2022-24, 2023-25 and for PhD programme in 2023-27 include students from Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Turkiye, Uganda, USA, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The university has six schools including the School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy & Comparative Religions; the School of Historical Studies; the School of Ecology and Environmental Studies; the School of Sustainable Development and Management.
(With PTI inputs)
Nalanda University was established in the fifth century which attracted students from all over the world. The ancient university flourished for 800 years before it was destroyed by invaders in the 12th century, according to experts.
