Nalanda University starts today, from a convention centre, with 15 students lodged in a hotel

THE much-awaited Nalanda University starts functioning from Monday with two schools, 15 students and 11 faculty members. Of the students, five are women.

Set up following a 2010 special Act of Parliament, the university acquired 455 acres at the Rajgir foothills but as there has not been any construction so far, it will for now function from Rajgir Convention Centre, a state government building. Government-owned Tathagat Hotel will serve as the hostel.

Though each discipline is to have a maximum of 20 students, only 15 in all have joined in the two schools of the planned seven that will be starting Monday. The 15 were selected from around 1,000 applicants after multiple screening and tests. The admission process is still on. Of the 15, three students are from Bihar.

The students include a Bhutan university dean on study leave and a postgraduate in Buddhist Studies from Japan. The first two schools to start are the School of Ecology and Environmental Studies and School of Historical Studies.