The Rajgir International Convention Centre

The student count in Nalanda University is increasing with each passing week.

One student arrived at Rajgir on Sunday morning. Two more are slated to join on Monday. A source said four others would take admission shortly. The interviews for the admission to Nalanda University would be over by the end of this month.

Dean, academic planning, Anjana Sharma seemed delighted over the blend of students coming from diverse backgrounds. “Pawani, the girl who joined us this (Sunday) morning, holds a BTech degree and hails from Andhra Pradesh. She has opted for the School of Historical Studies. Another girl from New Delhi, who would be joining on Monday, has also opted for historical studies. A boy hailing from Imphal, also scheduled to join the university on Monday, would study in the School of Ecology and Environment Studies,” she said.

The classes for the first batch of students at Nalanda University started from September 1 at Rajgir International Convention Centre, around 110km southeast of Patna. Three students from the School of Historical Studies and eight from the School of Ecology and Environment Studies were present when external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj formally inaugurated the varsity on Friday. There are 20 seats in each school and over half of them are vacant.

The dean is not at all flustered over the vacant seats. “Most renowned institutions start with comparatively fewer students. For instance, Delhi School of Economics started (in 1949) with only 10 students. Our emphasis while selecting students is not on numbers but on the potential of students,” Sharma said.

The process of admission started on May 19.

Faculty update

The dean of School of Historical Studies, Aditya Malik, would join in the third week of October. He is currently a fellow at the Max-Weber-Centre for Advanced Social Science Research (Erfurt in Germany) and associate director of the New Zealand India Research Institute. Pankaj Mohan, a professor at Academy of Korean Studies is expected to join the School of Historical Studies in November.

Mess ready

A full-fledged canteen has started functioning at Hotel Tathagat Vihar, the makeshift hostel of Nalanda University.

The administrative head of Nalanda University, Sridhar V.K., said: “Students and teachers are being served three meals a day from the first week of September.”

The Telegraph had reported in its September 1, 2014 edition that the mess would be ready in the first week of September.