IN PRINT
Amartya Sen, Nobel economics prize winner and chairman of Nalanda Mentors Group told on August 2 announced that Gopa Sabharwal, a sociology professor in Lady Shri Ram college is the vice-chancellor designate for the proposed Nalanda University, which is being revived after 800 years as a global centre for learning.
"This is an exciting task and a huge responsibility. The primary task is to translate the vision of Nalanda Mentors Group," said Sabharwal.
International funding will be sought for the proposed revival of the ancient Nalanda University, a global centre for learning. Singapore Buddhist organisations have already offered donations for the construction of a world-class library.
"We will go for international fund raising," said Amartya Sen, Nobel economics prize winner and chairman of Nalanda Mentors Group.
"The Singapore Buddhist community is making an important gesture to finance the library," Sen added. They have reportedly offered around $5-10 million (Singapore dollars) to finance the institution.
Sen said they were open to funding from both public and private organisations as well as religious institutions. Pegged as a symbol of global cooperation in education, the Nalanda University, proposed to be set up in Bihar near the site where an ancient university flourished centuries ago, will have schools on Buddhist studies, philosophy and comparative literature, historical studies and ecology and environmental studies.
The Nalanda Mentors Group, constituted in 2007 and chaired by Sen, has been giving a concrete structure to the plan to revive the educational institution, which had attracted students from across the world in ancient times.
The mentors group held extensive two-day meetings in Delhi, also attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
George Yeo, visiting Singapore foreign minister and member of mentor group, said that he hoped "that by East Asia summit, the bill will be passed and work will begin".
He was referring to the proposed legislation to be tabled during the current parliament session which will govern the operations of the university.
Dr. Sen admitted that realizing the dream of the university would take time. “The building work will begin as soon as the Bill passes…I should imagine that within a couple of years, there will be buildings and we will begin faculty appointments. You must understand that a university takes a long time to establish.”
Asked if Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was associated with the project, Sen said: "No religious activist is involved in the process. However, this does not mean that they are out of the frame."
Source:igovernment
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Jagannatha S Sun, 2011-04-17 09:05
Revival of the University means not merely rebuilding. Neither copying any International University. The phrase revival of Nalanda University means re-introducing the serious shastric curriculum as it was during the reign of king Harshavardhana. The idea of taking Social science, Business Management etc.. is disturbing.There are already hundreds of very good universities in this world to teach all these things.Sanskrit learning shall be reshaped in this revived University.Sanskrit Shastric writing shall be main focus here and not Economics. Open debates on the topics of Nyaya,Bauddha, Vyakarana, Vedanga, Jaina, Mimamsa and the like may be real heart beats of this University. I would like to suggest these subjects: Archeology, Paleography, Manuscriptology, Linguistics, Shastras,Folklore. The medium shall be pure Sanskrit. I do not want to see the University which bears the name Nalanda and the topics it will take are of Social science, Business Management and Economics.
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