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Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
mooted the idea of establishing a South Asian
University (SAU) at the 13th SAARC Summit in
Dhaka in 2005. He said, “The people of our
subcontinent are at the cutting edge of
scientific and technological research and in the
front ranks of the knowledge society across the
world. Wherever an enabling environment and
world-class facilities are made available to our
talented people, they excel”. He suggested
member countries to pool their resources for
creation of a Centre of Excellence in the form
of a University that would provide world-class
facilities and professional faculty to students
and researchers drawn from every country of the
SAARC region. "Let this become a forum where
our academicians, scholars, researchers and
gifted students can work together in the service
of human advancement,” Dr. Singh said.
Mr. Gowher Rizvi, former Director of Ash
Institution of Democratic Governance &
Innovations at Harvard University, was entrusted
with the task of preparing a Concept Paper for
SAU. He suggested that the SAU should adopt a
middle path between government-funded and
private education institutes to facilitate
autonomy from bureaucratic stranglehold while
maintaining social commitment towards the
under-privileged. Prepared after a series of
consultations across the SAARC countries, the
note was submitted to the SAARC Governments to
elicit their views. Following this, an
inter-ministerial
Agreement for Establishment of South Asian
University was signed on 04 April
2007, during the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi.
A SAARC Steering Committee was constituted to
oversee the establishment of SAU. A subcommittee
of the Steering Committee comprising UGC
chairmen of each SAARC country selected Prof. GK
Chadha, a former Vice Chancellor of the
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a
member of the PM's Economic Advisory Council,
for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
the SAU Project Office. Prof G K Chadha said,
“You cannot compare this university with any
other. It will prepare global students from the
region. Faculty, course curricula, facilities
and infrastructure will be of global standards."
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of the SAU
campus at a 100-acre plot in Maidan Garhi,
Mehrauli in South Delhi on 26 May 2008. The
campus construction is due to start in
late-2011. The capital cost of establishing the
SAU is being funded by the Indian government,
while all SAARC member countries contribute
towards the operational costs. The University
would also raise money from international
financial institutions, educational foundations
and donors.
Current Status:
The SAARC Steering Committee has completed its
work and the Rules, Regulations, Academic
Structure and Business Plan of the South Asian
University are ready. A temporary campus has
been set up in space provided by the Jawaharlal
Nehru University. An international design
competition for the permanent SAU campus is
under way.
The first academic session of the SAU commenced
in August 2010 with the following two courses:
In the second academic year that will
commence in July 2011, there will be fresh
intake of students for the M.A. (Development
Economics) programme. New courses that are
being offered are:
The University will focus overwhelmingly on
research and post-graduate level programmes. It
will ultimately have 12 post-graduate science
and non-science
Faculties,
as also a small Faculty of Undergraduate
Studies. At full strength, the SAU will have
7000 students and 700 teachers. A flagship
Institute of South Asian Studies will also be
established in the University.
Students
of the University will
be predominantly
from the eight SAARC countries.
Tuition fees for them are heavily subsidised. Some students from
non-SAARC countries may also be admitted on full
cost recovery basis.
Teachers
of the University will also be predominantly
from the eight SAARC Countries, but up to 20% of
teachers may be from other countries. To
attract quality talent, attractive salary and
benefits packages have been designed for
teachers. |
