Amartya Sen-headed Nalanda varsity group to meet in Patna
July 5th, 2011 - 6:34 pm ICT by IANS
Patna, July 5 (IANS) The Nalanda Mentor Group, headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, will meet here Wednesday to discuss the progress of setting up an international university at the ancient seat of learning, officials said Tuesday.
“A meeting of the Nalanda Mentor Group headed by Sen will be held here on July 6. It is expected to be attended by Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo, Lord Meghnad Desai, Sugata Bose of Harvard University and others to discuss the progress in the setting up of the university,” said an official of the state human resource development department.
The university’s vice chancellor, Prof Gopa Sabbarwal will also be present.
This will be the second meeting of the Nalanda Mentor Group headed by Sen in Bihar. The first meeting was held at Bodh Gaya in 2009.
The university plans to begin its first academic session by 2013 at its new campus in Nalanda and begin the admission process from 2012.
Sen, who arrived here Tuesday to release a report on primary education in Bihar, will also visit Rajgir in Nalanda district Thursday.
The idea of the university was first mooted in the late 1990s but it was then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s initiative in early 2006 that gave shape to the project, which is to come up at the ancient site of Buddhist learning.
The excavated site of the ancient university at Nalanda is a place of national importance. A fifth century architectural marvel, the university was home to over 10,000 students and nearly 2,000 teachers.
Named after the Sanskrit term for ‘giver of knowledge’, the ancient varsity, which existed until 1197 AD, attracted students and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey, besides being a seat of higher education in India.
Though it was devoted to Buddhist studies, it also trained students in subjects such as fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics and the art of war.
Officials said the state government had already acquired nearly 500 acres of land needed for the university and infrastructure work has already started at the site.
The proposed university will be fully residential, like ancient Nalanda. The university will have courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism along with other subjects.
- Nalanda Mentor Group holds meet in Patna - Jul 06, 2011
- Padma for Singapore ex-minister with Nalanda connect - Jan 25, 2012
- Global competition for Nalanda university design - Jul 07, 2011
- Kalam dissociates himself from Nalanda university - Sep 15, 2011
- Global design competition for Nalanda university - Feb 21, 2011
- Singapore Buddhist groups to help finance Nalanda university - Aug 03, 2010
- International funding sought for Nalanda University: Amartya Sen (Lead) - Aug 03, 2010
- Amartya Sen in Bihar for Nalanda meeting - Jul 18, 2012
- World's oldest university poised for revival in India after 800 years - Aug 04, 2010
- Singapore Foreign Minister Yeo calls on S.M. Krishna in New Delhi - Aug 03, 2010
- Cabinet nod for bill to revive Nalanda University - Jul 08, 2010
- Lok Sabha nod to Nalanda university - Aug 26, 2010
- Singapore Foreign Minister attends Nalanda panel meet - Aug 03, 2010
- Amartya blames 'bureaucratic control' for delay in Nalanda varsity - Oct 08, 2011
- Singapore Foreign Minister Yeo meets Chidambaram - Aug 04, 2010
Tags: abdul kalam, ancient seat, arts medicine, buddhist studies, china tibet, education in india, george yeo, harvard university, higher education in india, human resource development, japan china, korea japan, lord meghnad desai, mentor group, nalanda district, nobel laureate, resource development department, sanskrit term, sugata bose, vice chancellor