Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday inaugurated the new Patliputra University.
He said he has high hopes from the new university, which has been carved out of Magadh University comprising colleges of Patna and Nalanda districts.
"I have some plans for this university which I will not disclose publicly," Nitish said at the inaugural event. "I will meet the chancellor for the academic and infrastructure development of the university so that the new university attains a reputation."
The chief minister assured the university officials of meeting all their demands, but insisted that teaching should not be hampered.
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and senior university officials were present at the event.
"The university must maintain 180 days of classes," Modi said. "Results should be declared within 30 days of exams so that students can pursue higher education at universities of their choice."
The deputy chief minister also asked the university to maintain its academic calendar and focus on teachers taking classes on time.
Patliputra University, Purnea University and Munger University came into existence on March this year.
The logo, website, anthem, souvenir, magazine, and newsletter of Patliputra University, which has more than 100 colleges including 25 constituent colleges, were unveiled on Monday. The sanctioned teacher strength of the var4sity is 1,389, but 571 posts are vacant as of now.
Patliputra University pro-vice-chancellor G.C. Choudhary highlighted some of the hurdles ahead.
"The biggest problem for the university is that it has no campus of its own and requires around 300 acres for developing one. Presently the university is suffering from acute space crunch and it does not have a building for running its postgraduate courses. We have requested AKU (Aryabhatta Knowledge University) to provide space in their new building coming up at Mithapur, but we have not received any conformation from the AKU administration."
The new university does not even have an auditorium for holding the senate meeting, he pointed out.
Students presented a cultural programmes and Manoj Tiwari sang a Bhojpuri song at the inaugural event.
