Vedanta University

Vedanta University
	File:VedantaUniversityOrissaLogo2.jpg
Motto	Rewrite the history of academia
Type	Private
Established	2006
Endowment	US$1.00 billion (initial)
Students	100,000
Location	Puri-Konark Marine Drive, Orissa, India
Campus	Natural surroundings, 10,000 acres (40 km²)
Website	vedanta.edu.in

Template:Future

The Vision

Anil Agarwal, an Indian businessman, who heads the London based Vedanta Resources corporation and Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Orissa state in eastern India, have signed a memorandum of understanding to create India's first and only world class, multidisciplinary university, Vedanta University. Vedanta University would be a "not-for-profit" institution built in the "hoary traditions of Nalanda and Takshila". The proposed university will be endowed with US $1 billion from Agarwal's personal funds, which according to the institution's consultant A. T. Kearney, is the biggest single person contribution ever made towards the endowment for any educational institution worldwide. The entire outlay to set up the dream university is estimated to be around 150 billion rupees (approximately US $3 billion). M. Siddiqi is the present Project Director of Vedanta University. Other senior administrative officials are currently being recruited internationally.

The three goals of Vedanta University are:

Education: To provide meritorious Indian students access to world class education within India
Research: To conduct cutting edge research on globally relevant topics from an Asian-centric perspective
Society: To produce tomorrow's leaders, and to promote economic growth in the region.

Academics & Research

According to the Anil Agarwal Foundation, Vedanta University will be modeled most closely on Stanford and Harvard universities and aims to be a peer institution to them in terms of world class research and education. Unlike other smaller prominent institutions in India which are focussed entirely on technical education, the planned university would be multidisciplinary in nature, encompassing all domains of human endeavor. It will provide the "finest quality of education" in liberal arts, law, medicine, business, humanities, basic sciences and engineering. The university will house several interdisciplinary centers of excellence in areas such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology. It will support approximately 100,000 undergraduate, masters and doctoral students enrolled in 95 disciplines, and employ a few thousand internationally renowned faculty members, making it one of the largest universities in the world, says Agrawal. Vedanta University will have a roughly equal mix of Indian and foreign students.

The university will be governed by a board of trustees drawn from industry and society. It will be headed by a president and a provost. The various schools and colleges within Vedanta University will be led by a few deans who would be recruited locally within India as well as internationally. In order to stimulate cutting-edge research, each center of excellence will include five to eight professors of international caliber. The government of Orissa will pass legislation specifically to provide complete administrative and fiscal autonomy to the new university.

Vedanta University will be developed in several phases until its planned completion in 2025. However, the university is expected to start admitting its first batch of students as early as 2008, into its engineering, liberal arts, and basic science programs. Most academic schools, including those of law and performing arts, as well as a few centers of excellence would be in place by 2016. Eventually, the Anil Agrawal foundation hopes that Vedanta University would stem the annual exodus of Indian students seeking higher education abroad, out of which about 80,000 head for the USA alone.

As part of Agarwal's vision, Vedanta University would nurture future Nobel laureates, Olympic champions and heads of states and governments for India and the world.

Vedanta University in the eastern state of Orissa will be India's first multidisciplinary research university at par with the world's best.

Schools & Colleges

Engineering
Medicine
Business
Liberal Arts
Sciences
Law
Performing Arts

Centers of Excellence

Health Sciences
Manufacturing Sciences
Agricultural Research
Rural Economics
Information & Communication Technology
Pharmaceutical Research
Urban Planning
Nanotechnology
Biotechnology

Campus & Township

Keeping in view a variety of factors based on Agrawal's desire, such as a scenic location, proximity to a major city, and accessibility, the government of Orissa has identified 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land near the Puri-Konark marine drive between Nuanai and Balighai for the proposed Vedanta University. It has undertaken the task of connecting the site of the university to the swanky new international airport being constructed near Bhubaneswar, 70 km away, by means of an expressway. Furthermore, a railway station will be located in the campus. The Orissa government will also provide all necessary infrastructure to support this massive undertaking. The area would be developed into a university township with a permanent population of 40,000 in addition to the large body of students. The township would include primary and secondary schools, apartment complexes and private residences, theaters, cinema, parks and recreation areas, restaurants and shopping complexes.

The township will also allocate land for a research & development park. This park would serve as an incubator for other research laboratories, centers of excellence, and research oriented private companies as Vedanta University spin-offs. It will serve to channelize venture capital funds into research and education. The entire area is expected to eventually evolve into a large research-cum-education complex, similar to the economic hub around Stanford with a combined market capitalization of $300 billion, only an hour away from Orissa's state capital, Bhubaneswar.

Recent newspaper articles report that the campus layout will be designed by Ayers Saint Gross, a Baltimore based architectural firm. Ayers Saint Gross has 90 years of experience developing some of the best university campuses in the USA such as Duke, Carnegie-Mellon and Johns Hopkins. Additionally, Mumbai architect Hafeez Contractor, would be hired to impart an Indian touch to the various department and office building architectures. The railway station is planned to be built in an area within the campus that will be called the Train Station Plaza. It will be at one end of what will be called the University Greens - the main university promenade. The palm tree laced University Greens will lead to the University Quadrangle area. Classroom buildings will be centered around stylish lawns called Academic Courtyards. The entire campus would be dotted with fountains, both small and large. There will be an Olympic quality sports complex on campus, the Vedanta Stadium.

The sprawling Vedanta University campus will follow a Mandala layout, centered around a large body of water. Its idyllic surroundings will include a picturesque lake in its immediate vicinity and rolling hills at a distance. The gentle, flowing waters of the Nuanai river meeting the crashing waves of the Casuarina tree-lined beach at Balighai would complete the scenic backdrop. The well-known ruins of the Sun Temple at Konark would be a few minutes away.

Controversies

Agrawal's company, Vedanta Resources, is involved in mining activities in Zambia. Since the company has only a minimal level of engagement with developmental issues in that impoverished nation's copperbelt area, it naturally raises questions about whether this impressive university project is being made possible through the exploitation of Zambia's natural and human resources ^{[citation needed]}.

Vedanta Resources is also heavily involved in a number of controversial mining ventures in India, including major investments in Orissa. The company took over one of India's major aluminium mining and smelting company a year or so ago, and is also working on other projects in the State. Like many big mining companies, Vedanta has been criticised for evading pollution controls and ignoring environmental protection regulations, particularly in Tamil Nadu but also in Orissa. There are vested interests on both sides of such disputes, but it is important that news about such ventures as Vedanta University should go beyond company press releases and mention other aspects of their operations. Furthermore, one must distinguish between the company "Vedanta" and "Vedanta University". The endowment for the university is pledged by Mr. Anil Agarwal in his individual capacity and from his personal wealth.

Other criticisms levelled at the university relate to the relatively vast acreage of the proposed campus and its large student intake. These criticisms have been made by local academics and politicians unfamiliar with international universities. In terms of both the campus size and the number of students, Vedanta University will be quite comparable to some other schools in other parts of the world. Furthermore, some politicians continue to oppose the entry of the private sector into higher education in Orissa, mostly for their own political gains. Eventually, it is important to note that minor controversies notwithstanding, Vedanta University will have an immense positive impact on the socio-economic development of Orissa.

Vedanta University would provide immediate benefits to eastern India. It would create enormous opportunities and usher in a knowledge revolution in a state that has hitherto been denied any educational or research institution of national importance by the Indian government in New Delhi.

References