Gaya: Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar today laid the foundation stone of 300 acre wide campus of Central University of Bihar (CUB) amidst great enthusiasm and fervour at Panchanpur in Gaya district of Bihar.
P. K. Shahi, Education Minister of Bihar was present as distinguished guest on the occasion along with Sushil Kumar Singh, Member of Parliament, Aurangabad, Hari Manjhi, Member of Parliament, Gaya and Dr. Anil Kumar, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Tikari were also present in the foundation stone laying ceremony of CUB.
Prof. Janak Pandey, Vice-Chancellor was present on the occasion along with members of the Executive Council, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Debdas Banerjee, Registrar Prof. Mohammad Nehal, Finance Officer Shri Binod Kumar Pandey, Controller of Examination Smt. C. L. Prabhavati, faculty, staff and students of the Central University of Bihar.
Along with university fraternity, a large number of people from the neighbouring areas and other parts of Bihar gathered at the CUB’s upcoming campus to witness the grand celebration. Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju who was the guest of honour of the day couldn’t attend the foundation laying ceremony due to protocol issue.
The representatives from five major religions namely Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism attended the mega ceremony and recited verses from their respective religions. Smt. Meira Kumar appreciated the concept of bringing together the representatives of different religions at one platform on the land of CUB. She said that this would end the religious differences and make CUB an excellent place of higher education for all without any religious difference.
Meira Kumar, who is Chancellor of the university, started her speech by praising CUB Prof. Janak Pandey the founder vice chancellor for his continuous efforts in last five years to bring the university on the path of prosperity. She expressed her happiness after laying down the foundation stone. She said, today is a remarkable day for the people of Bihar as the university is certainly going to bring a wave of change in the field of education. She insisted upon the need of collective approach to make Central University of Bihar a prosperous educational institution of higher studies in the country. Smt. Kumar urged to people of the region to come forward and helping out the university at their best to make it a bigger and bigger. During her speech, Smt. Kumar also praised the Bihar government for its continuous support to the university since its inception. Smt. Kumar also said that the university has been set up with a vision to make the region well-educated by reaching out to people. She has insisted that the surrounding villages would be benefitted with basic to higher studies offered in the university premises.
Education Minister of Bihar, Shri P. K. Shahi spoke about the role of CM Shri Nitish Kumar and his government for providing all possible support to the university. Shri Shahi urged the Lok Sabha speaker to start the infrastructure development work at CUB site immediately. He appreciated CUB Vice Chancellor’s effort to make a good institution of higher studies despite its limitation in short period of time. He assured all help to the university from his ministry and government. Other distinguished guests Shri Sushil Kumar Singh, Member of Parliament, Aurangabad, Shri Hari Manjhi, Member of Parliament, Gaya and Dr. Anil Kumar, Member of Legislative Assembly, Tikari have also given speeches and shared their views about the establishment of CUB at Gaya.
Earlier in his welcome speech, CUB Vice Chancellor Prof. Janak Pandey expressed his gratitude to the chief guest Smt. Meira Kumar for being generous and supportive to the university. He also thanked the Loksabha speaker for laying down the foundation stone of the university. Prof. Pandey especially mentioned about the efforts of the guest of honour Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju who missed the occasion. Along with Bihar Education Minister P. K. Shahi and distinguished guests, he thanked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his government for support and assistance to Central University of Bihar. Prof. Pandey thanked the Ministry of Defence, Government of India for providing the land to the university. He has especially thanked Shri A. K. Antony, Hon’ble Union Minister of Defence and Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology for their support and being kind to the university. He hoped that the state government would continue to provide essential support in infrastructure development of the centre. The foundation stone laying ceremony commemorated with vote of thanks of Prof. Mohammad Nehal , Registrar Central University of Bihar.
The Central University of Bihar (CUB) is one among the sixteen newly established Central Universities by the Government of India under the Central Universities Act, 2009 (Section 25 of 2009). Currently CUB is offering 20 programmes of study including Integrated M.Phil. and PhD and 16 post graduate and 4 under graduate levels. Along with offering various programmes at BIT campus building in Patna, the university has started to offer few courses in a rented building at Gaya campus in 2013.
In pursuance of its objectives and considering the emerging needs of the society, the University evolved through different Programmes ever since its inception in 2009. It made a modest beginning by establishing the Centre for Development Studies under the School of Social Sciences and Policy and launched a two year Master of Arts in Development Studies in the academic year 2009-2010. In the following Academic Year 2010-11, University launched five more Masters Programmes in Biotechnology, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Mathematics and Statistics. Three more Masters Programmes namely Bioinformatics, Communication & Media Studies and Psychology were added in Academic Year 2011-12. In the Academic Year i.e. 2012-13, seven new Masters Programmes namely Life Science, Economics, English, Hindi, Political Science & International Relations, Sociology and M.Tech. in Computer Science were started. In 2013-14 the university has introduced courses like Integrated M.Phil / PhD, Integrated B.A / B.Sc (LL.B) and Integrated B.A / B.Sc B.Ed.