Sachchidanand Sinha on Sunday said Central University of Bihar would have to play a leading role in the revival of education in the state.

Addressing the foundation day programme of the university, he said: “The standard of education in Bihar is deplorable. Central University of Bihar (CUB) can play a great role in improving it.”

The university has achieved enough since its inception on September 1, 2009, to fuel the hopes of the writer and activist who took part in the 1942 Quit India Movement and the JP movement, and was the chief guest at the function.

When classes began, on this day five years back, there was only one course — MA in development studies, and 20 students.

Cut to the present: despite space crunch — the CUB works out of a rented space on the Birla Institute of Technology, Patna, campus — it offers 20 courses (16 postgraduate and four undergraduate) and has hundreds of students.

While most universities choose the date of their establishment as their foundation day, the CUB, in a bid to prove its commitment to academics, has chosen the first day class were conducted as its birthday. Vice-chancellor (VC) Janak Pandey said: “We celebrate September 1 as foundation day as it was on this day that classes started.”

Though the institution has overcome hurdles, a few challenges still lie ahead.

Vishwavivek Bharti, a student of communication and media studies, said: “There is space crunch in the hostel. Students from other states will find it difficult to get accommodation.”

The challenges, claimed VC Pandey, would give the university impetus to achieve its ambitions. “If Bihar wants to excel in agriculture and industry, it should focus on research. No state can develop on borrowed research and universities have a major role to play,” he said, adding that CUB would focus on research in future.

Central University of Tamil Nadu VC B.P. Sanjay was the guest of honour. He congratulated the CUB for offering courses like biotechnology with computer science, development studies, and international relations, which few other institutions offer.

As part of the cultural programme organised on Sunday, Banaras Hindu University teacher R.P. Singh played the violin and students danced to popular Chennai Express number “Kashmir main, tu Kanyakumari”. A seminar on the role of media in development studies was also organised.