Author: Avenues team
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 3, 2000
Banaras Hindu University
(BHU) was founded in 1916 by the great nationalist leader Pandit Madan
Mohan Malviya with the co-operation of great stalwarts of Indian history
such as Dr Annie Besant who dreamt of BHU as the great University of India.
BHU was created under
the Parliamentary legislation - BHU Act 1915, with a view to promote higher
learning, and the creative and innovative instincts of students by providing
them with quality academic education.
BHU, set up in the holy
city of Banaras played a pivotal role during the Independence Movement.
Today , it has
evolved as a great centre
for teaching.
It boasts of having nurtured
several prominent freedom fighters and builders of modern India.
It also has the distinction
of contributing in terms of its academic excellence in the progress of
the country.
The University comprises
of three institutes, 14 faculties, 124 departments, four interdisciplinary
centres and three constituent schools, offering scores of subjects pertaining
to varied branches of humanities, social sciences, sciences, technology,
medicine, fine arts and performing arts.
It boasts of six centres
of advanced studies, 10 departments under the special assistance programme
and a large number of specialised research centres.
Four degree college of
the city are affiliated to the University.
The University also has
a renown and sacred Vishwanath Temple that is revered as the spiritual
centre of the University.
BHU also has a sprawling
campus of 2,700 acres in the district of Mirzapur 90 km away from Varanasi,
known as the Barkachha Campus. At present, the campus has a Krishi
Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the Institute of Agriculture, a Guest House, a post-graduate
hostel, a cow shed and a large number of agricultural research farms.
Demonstrations are given by scientists and technologists.
Technical know-how, hybrid
seeds, plant protection chemicals, fertilisers etc are provided by the
Indian Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Students of
the Institute of Agriculture, BHU periodically visit the KVK Centre for
training.
The Barkachha Campus
boasts of sylvan surroundings that include hilly ranges, water falls, streams,
springs and greenery.
BHU is one of the first
few universities in the country to have established the academic Staff
College in the later part of 1987.
The academic Staff College
has been engaged in multifarous activities relating to the professional
development of the academic staff.
It provides the requisite
exposure to the university and college teachers to enable them develop
their interests in their respective fields of specialisations by conducting
orientation and refresher courses. BHU also has within its campus
three constituent schools aimed at offering value and culture based education
at the primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.
The faculty of visual
arts at BHU is one of the leading institutions of fine arts in India.
The faculty encourages on optimum interaction with the centres of art all
over the country, it organises art fairs and exhibitions with an aim to
encourage talents and get students their due recognition..
The Faculty of Science
comprises of 13 departments covering almost all branches in modern science.
Two vocational courses, Industrial Microbiology and Electronics Instrumentation
and Maintainance have been introduced recently at the under-graduate level.
The School of Biotechnology
possess a Bio-informatics User Centre. The Department of Chemistry
has been conducting research in frontier areas of subjects like nuclear
and radio chemistry, organo-metallic chemistry and biosensors. The
Department of Geography offers a highly specialised course in satellite
imagery interpretation. The Department of Statistics has two major
research projects sponsored by the Rockfeller Foundation. the Department
of Botany along with that of Statistics, have introduced self-financed
courses in population studies and environmental sciences. The Faculty
of Sanskrit Vidya Dharam Vijnan imparts ancient learning in traditional
as well as modern aspects.
The main objective of
the Faculty is to preserve and develop the ancient and traditional treasure
of knowledge. It consists of eight departments and has a publication
wing of its own.
The Institute of Medical
Sciences is the only tertiary medical institute of its kind in India which
imparts education in all the disciplines of modern medicine and Ayurveda
at the under graduate and the post-graduate levels.
The main campus is spread
over an area of 1,300 acres and is bestowed with buildings that are architectural
delights and verdant surroundings.
There is an air field
at the campus as well, started for military training and flying during
World War II. The campus also possess a museum, the Bharat Kala Bhavan
which is a veritable treasure of rare collections. The university
consists of about 15,000 students and 2,000 teaching and nearly 5,000 non-teaching
staff.
Quite true to its motto
which says: The end of all knowledge is the attainment of immortality,
BHU has not only striven to promote higher learning and quality academic
research it has at the same time emphasised on building the character of
the youth by making religion and ethics a part of the education process.