Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially open the new Nalanda University campus today. The campus is situated on the site of the historic ruins of the Buddhist centre of learning in Bihar. This move is part of a plan that began about two decades ago.

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The establishment of the Nalanda University occurred in 2010 as a result of a parliamentary act that carried out decisions taken at the fourth East Asia Summit in Thailand in 2009 and the second East Asia Summit in the Philippines in 2007, which brought together the ten Asean governments and six partners. An "international institution for pursuit of intellectual, philosophical, historical, and spiritual studies" was to be established, according to those directives.

When the institution began operations in 2014 with 14 students in a temporary facility, it received a significant boost from the Bharatiya Janata Party administration. The government aimed to build a university that would serve as a reminder to the contemporary world of the stature of the ancient Nalanda University, which was founded in the fifth century and drew students from all over the world. Construction on the university began in 2017. Before being destroyed by invaders in the 12th century, the old university existed for 800 years. External affairs minister S Jaishankar and ambassadors from 17 participating nations, including Asean members, are anticipated to attend the inauguration on Wednesday. The following 17 nations have memorandums of understanding in support of the university: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Presently, the institution provides 137 scholarships to students from other countries. These include the Bhutan Scholarship of the External Affairs Ministry, the Asean-India Fund, and Bimstec scholarships. The institution offers short-term certificate programmes in addition to postgraduate and doctorate research courses. The postgraduate courses had a strength of 220 students (51 Indian and 169 foreign) in 2021–2022; 228 students (55 Indian and 173 international) in 2022–2023; and 322 students (69 Indian and 253 international) in 2023–2024 throughout the previous three academic years.