Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In order to attract students from abroad, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) is going to construct a hostel of international standards on its campus. This facility will be the first of its kind at any state government-run institution in Madhya Pradesh.
“The hostel will be built from the grant sanctioned to DAVV by Central government under Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA),” said registrar Ajay Verma.
The Centre has approved a grant of Rs 20 crore to the university under Component 2 (Grants to Strengthen University) of PM-USHA scheme, a revamped version of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). Out of the four state-run universities applying for Rs 100 crore grant under Component 1 i.e. Multi-Disciplinary Education and Research University (MERU), only DAVV's proposal was declined.
The approved names for the Rs 100 crore grant included Vikram University in Ujjain, Barkatullah University in Bhopal and Jiwaji Vishwavidyalaya in Gwalior.
DAVV was selected for Component 1 along with four universities including Rani Durgawati University in Jabalpur, Mahraja Chhatrasal Bundelkhand University in Chhatarpur, Awadhesh Pratap Singh University in Rewa and Pandit S N Shukla University in Shahdol. The Department of Higher Education had convened a meeting of universities for utilisation of the central funds. Verma, who attended the meeting, said that a revised detailed project report has been sought by the DHE. We will submit the DPR within a fortnight.
International hostel is long-awaited project
The university wanted to construct international level hostel for long but it could not do so due to paucity of funds. The then vice-chancellor Prof DP Singh had first announced to construct international-level hostel in 2013. In 2017, Singh’s successor Dr Narendra Dhakad too had said that he would construct an international hostel for attracting foreign students but his announcement did not translate into action. The university is likely to build the international-level boarding facility by dismantling Bafana hostel which is lying in tatters.
Rs 15 cr to be spent on erecting buildings
Verma stated that the university is going to spend Rs 15 crore of the total grant in erecting buildings. Buildings for School of Data Sciences and Forecast, IT Center, Central Library and international-level hostel will be constructed on the UTD campus.
Rs 4 cr on equipment; Rs 1 cr on enhancing facilities
The university is going to purchase equipment for science and engineering departments to enhance research. “Advanced equipment will be purchased for labs of our teaching departments,” Verma said. He also stated that Rs 1 crore will be sent on enhancing student support facilities.
