Patna, July 05: After creating an upheaval in the academic circles in the West by attempting to revive the ancient Nalanda University, the Bihar government has now decided to set up first-ever ‘Knowledge University” in the state.
The move to revive or set up a university near the ruins of Nalanda University (that was founded in 4r27 was a major centre of knowledge for entire South East Asian countries) in Nalanda by Nitish Kumar had made the Europe to sit up and look at it as a challenge. A high-level committee under the stewardship of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Noble Laureate Amartya Sen is working overtime to give final shape to Nalanda University.
Recently The New York Times in a lead article had said: …Nalanda (University) represents much of what Asia could use today – a great global university that reaches deep into the region’s underlying cultural heritage, restores many of the peaceful links among peoples and cultures that once existed, and gives Asia the kind of soft power of influence and attraction that it doesn’t have now. The West has a long tradition of rediscovering its ancient Greek and Roman roots, and is much stronger for that. Asia could and should do the same, using the Nalanda project as a springboard but creating a modern, future-oriented context for a new university”.
According to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the “Knowledge University” was part of his government attempt to revive the past glory of Bihar in the field of education. Launching Advantage Media Academy (AMA), a high-profile and unique media education venture in Patna on Saturday night Nitish Kumar said ‘this university will give affiliation to various educational institutions in Bihar which had been looking to universities outside state for affiliation”. He hoped that AMA would set a new benchmark in the field of education and would create a new breed of highly talented journalists.
AMA is projected to be an institution that would impart world class wholesome education and would stand apart in the country especially in the eastern region.
Doyens of journalism including Aaj Tak’s News Director Q W Naqvi, leading Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar’s Editor-in-Chief Harivansh, Media Guru’s Managing Director Sanjay Salil were also present. Michael Lewis, an educational consultant in UK and professor of innovative thinking at Leeds University as the chief guest said Bihar was till recently known for caste hatred, rural unrest and social strife but the state has always been known to be major centre of learning. He acknowledged that 40 per cent of media personalities in India have roots in Bihar.
Naqvi focused on changing face, language and idioms of media, print as well as electronic, and said the world of media was facing the twin challenges of “globalisation” as well as “localisation”.
Nitish Kumar revealed that after having set up a branch of IIT, BIT (Mesra), the Chankaya Law University (part of national law colleges chain) in the past three years he plans to set up a Media University too. A branch of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) was also in the offing. He said his government had checked school dropout rates and now his government planned to launch a programme to make 4 million rural women literate in a time-bound manner.
Reviving the educational glory of Bihar and checking exodus of students from the state to other states was his mission. Nitish recalled that some years ago a chief minister of Southern state had bitterly asked him “how many engineering colleges should I open for students from Bihar” and “that hurt me badly”. He said though in fact was other way round as Bihari students helped the education business in others state but everybody laughed at Bihar.
This was the reason his government was ready to provide all help to outsiders who want to open institutions here. AMA matched his vision and mission, he indicated.
–Agencies–