NALANDA UNIVERSITY

Nalanda University is a central research university located in Rajgir, Bihar, India, established by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 2010 as a successor to the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara, which functioned between the 5th and 13th centuries. It is designated an Institute of National Importance and is the flagship university of India's Ministry of External Affairs, supported by 18 member countries of the East Asia Summit. The President of India serves as Visitor, and the university has had chancellors including Amartya Sen and George Yeo; the current chancellor is Prof. Arvind Panagariya, with Professor Sachin Chaturvedi as Vice Chancellor. It functions as a postgraduate institute offering only Master's and PhD degrees across schools including Historical Studies, Ecology and Environment Studies, Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions, Languages and Literature/Humanities, and Management Studies. The campus, spread over 485 acres and built at a cost of $210 million, was inaugurated in Rajgir on 19 June 2024 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It began academic sessions in 2014 with 15 students and had 1038 students, including 187 international students, in the 2023-24 academic year.