BHOPAL: Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies that started with glitz and fanfare and in presence of international media about six years ago has merely 109 students as of now.
Worrying trend for university is that numbers of admissions are continuously going down. Condition of the university could be judged by the fact that only 46 students took admission in the new academic session 2020-21. Sources say that overall staff in the university exceeds the number of students.
Tall claims were made by the then BJP government during inauguration programme of the university in which president of Sri Lanka was invited as chief guest. It was claimed that this university will attract students from across the world.
At present there are seven foreign students in the university.
“We don’t want to go into what happened earlier. Sanchi University will be signing MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with several foreign universities very soon and start courses that will attract students,” said principal secretary, culture, Pankaj Rag.
A meeting with foreign partners was held recently in New Delhi and MoUs will be signed with Buddhist countries like Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and others.
The university will be revived by introducing new courses that are being designed in a manner that will brighten the prospects of student’s career. Several projects from foreign countries are also in the anvil that will attract the students.
Stress was also laid on publicizing Sanchi University and its courses as they haven’t got adequate exposure, in a recent review meeting. Meeting of academic council was also conducted to give shape to future planning.
At present Sanchi University runs only PhD, M.Phil and postgraduate courses based on research and innovation in the specified areas of studies like Buddhist studies, Indian philosophy, Sanskrit language besides a course in Chinese language.
