Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bihar on June 19 to inaugurate the new Nalanda University campus near the ancient university ruins in Rajgir. The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the ambassadors from 17 partner countries attended the inauguration. Modi will visit the ancient Nalanda site, a UN heritage since 2016, and give a speech.
Salient features of the new campus
The 455 acre campus has been under operation since 2020 and combines traditional and modern architecture. It includes a Net Zero area with 100 acres of water bodies. The campus is named after the ancient university, that attracted scholars from around the world about 1,600 years ago. The university offers postgraduate and doctoral research courses, short-term certificate courses, and 137 scholarships for International students.
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The occasion is ‘historic’, the university’s interim vice-chancellor professor Abhay Kumar Singh told The Hindu. He also said that the Prime Minister’s visit made the occasion even more special because he brought the diplomats of East Asia Summit countries. The External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar was also in attendance.
P.M. Modi’s Visit to Nalanda University
The Prime Minister visited Nalanda, which was announced as a UN heritage site in 2016, around 9:45 AM and inaugurated the campus around 10:30 am. The Vice Chancellor of Nalanda said that his visit to the university would make it popular globally where students from 26 countries will be studying.
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The history of Nalanda University
In 2007, upon 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 on November 25, 2010, under the Special Act of Parliament and designated it as a national institution. Former President Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus in Pilkhi village in Rajgir in 2016. Construction of the new campus began in 2017.
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