India to have South Asian University

DHAKA: The SAARC member-states have finally decided to set up the proposed South Asian University in India. The chiefs of the regulatory bodies of universities in the member-states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) unanimously decided on this.

All agreed that the proposed university ought to be located in a city in India where there is an environment conducive to its functioning and the required facilities are available for the university, teachers, students, staff and their families, said Professor M Asaduzzaman, chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, on his return to Dhaka on Sunday.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the heads of university regulatory bodies of SAARC nations held in New Delhi on March 8 and 9. It was presided over by the Indian UGC chairman, Professor Sukhadeo Thorat,' said Asaduzzaman.

The objective of the university, according to Asaduzzaman, is to create a world-class institution of learning that will bring together the brightest and the most dedicated students from all the countries of South Asia — irrespective of gender, caste, creed, disability, ethnicity or socio-economic background — to impart to them a liberal and humane education. 

It was decided that the institution will be known as the South Asian University.

'The university will be a non-profit public-private partnership, which will seek support from each of the SAARC governments and from other sources but will be autonomous and accountable only to its board of trustees/governors, decided the meeting.

The university will be residential and students, mainly from member states but also from other countries, will be admitted on the basis of merit, it further decided. The university will conduct both 'first degree' as well as post-graduate degree courses. There shall be mutual recognition of degrees and certificates awarded by the university in all the SAARC member states.

It will be a unique centre comparable to Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford, said Asaduzzaman. Although it will be an expensive institution, for the gifted students there shall be provision for free education, he said.

The meeting also discussed the concept paper, prepared by Harvard Scholar Professor Gowher Rizvi.

The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, at the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka in November 2005 had broached the idea of the formation of the university.