And now, a South Asian University

A plan first mooted in 2005 is finally gaining shape.  A South Asian university planned by the 8 SAARC nations will throw open its doors for students from these countries by the month of August 2010. The university will be based in New Delhi. Currently the University is based out of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Click here to go to the university’s web page

To reverse brain drain, provide an academic opportunity in the subcontinent and promote a sense of South Asian community, a plan first mooted in 2005 is finally and quietly taking shape — in the form of the first truly international university being set up by eight nations.

Tax-free dollar salaries for an international faculty, a variety of multi-disciplinary courses focused on research, a multinational exam for admission, an academic environment free of directions from Commissions, and a think tank to ponder over the shared problems of the subcontinent — these will be the key features of the South Asian University (SAU) being set up by SAARC nations.

The university, headed by former JNU V-C Prof G K Chadha — once a student of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — will start operating between August 2010 and January 2011, offering postgraduate courses in economics, computer applications and biotechnology. Faculty will be recruited largely from SAARC countries, but SAU has kept open options of looking beyond.

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