New Delhi: Dwarka, a suburb of Delhi, has emerged as the preferred location for the South Asia University (SAU) to be set up over the next two years.

While the campus in Dwarka may be developed as the main campus, specialised research and training ‘Centres of Excellence’ will be set up in Saarc member countries as per their special endowments and needs. The university will consist of an undergraduate liberal arts college, a number of professional schools and a graduate studies school that will include a PhD programme. The proposal, first made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Saarc summit in 2005, also entails varied and notional allocation of seats for students from every country while rejecting a rigid quota system. The university aims at enhancing regional cooperation and greater integration among the eight South Asian countries in the grouping. Prof Gowher Rizvi, director of Ash Institution of Democratic Governance & Innovations at Harvard University, who prepared the concept plan for the varsity, said all the Saarc countries were in agreement that the university should be located in India. “There are more than one reason for basing the university in India, including factors like availability of the faculty, library and laboratory facilities, density of academic institutions and scholarly commons, civic amenities and vibrant cultural life, among others,” he explained. Rizvi’s plan also proposes that SAU should be set up as a non-profit public-private partnership venture, taking a balanced approach towards state and private funding. Notably, the plan also seeks visa-free travel for its students in the entire Saarc region. While the faculty recruitment will be based on merit, it also suggests steps to ensure “a healthy regional diversity”. The students, faculty, administrative and support staff, according to the plan, will come from all Saarc countries according to an agreed proportion. The plan says that while the governments will have to contribute for the initial funding primarily capital costs to set up the residential university once operational, the governments will not be required to provide annual subsidies and grants.

Since a number of issues need to be addressed, including how much money each country will contribute and the mechanisms to ensure adequate representation in faculty and among students to small countries like Bhutan and Maldives, Rizvi said that a steering committee of member countries has been set up to draw up implementation plans.

The panel is working on a variety of issues including determining the size of the university as well as budgetary limits. It is also working on developing a strategy that will maintain the autonomy of the university while ensuring engagement and co-operation with governments.

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