Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bihar to inaugurate the new Nalanda University campus near Rajgir’s ancient university ruins. The campus is named after the ancient university, which attracted scholars from around the world about 1,600 years ago. External affairs minister S Jaishankar and ambassadors from 17 partner countries also attended the event, according to officials.
Modi visited ancient Nalanda, which was announced as a UN heritage site in 2016. He will also give a speech, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The university moved to its new campus in 2020, which combines traditional and modern architecture. The 455-acre campus includes a Net Zero area with 100 acres of water bodies.
Nalanda University history
In 2007, after the then-president APJ Abdul Kalam’s suggestion, the Bihar assembly passed a bill to build a foundation for a new university. The government provided 455 acres for the university, which was created on November 25, 2010, by a special Act of Parliament and designated as a national institution.
The new university began operating on September 1, 2014, from a temporary location with just 14 students. The temporary location, the International Convention Centre in Rajgir 10 km from ancient Nalanda, was inaugurated in September 2014 by the then-external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Former president Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus in Pilkhi village in Rajgir in 2016. Construction on the new campus started in 2017.
About Nalanda University
The university has two academic buildings with 40 classrooms, two 300-seat auditoriums, a hostel for around 550 students, a 2,000-seat amphitheater, a sports complex, and an international center. It hosts students and faculty from various countries, the report added. The university offers postgraduate and doctoral research courses, short-term certificate courses, and 137 scholarships for international students.
