The PunjabCabinet on Wednesday approved the establishment of a world-class universitycampus by the Amity Education Group in Mohali’s IT city, thus paving the wayfor the development of the area as a major educational hub.
Thisdecision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh here through video conferencing.
The Cabinetalso gave the nod to the draft of ‘The Amity University Ordinance 2020’ andauthorized the Chief Minister to approve the final draft prepared by the LegalRemembrancer, without placing it again before the Cabinet.
An officialspokesperson said after the meeting that the self-financed private ‘AmityUniversity Punjab’, being established as a highly research and innovationdriven university on a 40 acre state-of-the-art campus, will be developed at aprime location in Mohali, SAS Nagar, with an investment of Rs. 664.32 croreover 5 years. The university will become functional from the next academicyear, with its first session set to commence in June- July 2021.
To belocated just 10 minutes away from the Chandigarh/Mohali airport, the upcomingUniversity would be instrumental in imparting world-class higher education tothe students to empower them to compete globally and be gainfully equipped. Itwill have an annual intake of 1500-2000 students. Besides being a hub ofhigh-end research and international collaborations, the university will diversejob-oriented graduate, post graduate, PhD and post-PhD programmes within theframework of the UGC and Punjab State’s regulations. In line with the NewEducation Policy 2020, it will encourage interdisciplinary approach beyondboundaries.
Expected tobring quality education to Mohali and usher in overall development of theregion, it will be a multi-disciplinary University, with various departmentslike Engineering Computer/IT, Communication, Commerce, Management, Psychology,Liberal Arts, English Literature etc.
The Punjabgovernment has made it mandatory to reserve 15 percent of students from Punjabin the upcoming University, and 5 percent of total number of students will begiven free education as part of the ordinance and its terms and conditions. TheUniversity would be recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff as per UGCGuidelines.
Notably,the state government had formulated ‘Punjab Private Universities Policy, 2010’to promote quality higher education. Accordingly, the Ritnand Balved EducationFoundation, New Delhi, had submitted a proposal for setting up Amity Universityat Block-D in Sector-82 Alpha, IT City, SAS Nagar (Mohali). After consideringthe proposal and adopting the required procedure as per the aforesaid policy,the Letter of Intent was issued to the sponsoring body on February 18, 2020 bythe Higher Education department.
The universityin Mohali is the tenth university to be established by the not-for-profit AmityEducation Group, one of India's leading global education groups with over175,000 students and 6,000 faculty across its 9 universities and 26 schools,and campuses in 16 countries worldwide. As a commitment to establish the worldclass institutions in the state of Punjab, Amity will invest Rs. 700+ Crore forits recently established Amity International School, Mohali and for itsforthcoming Amity University in Mohali, Punjab.