“The university aims at character formation of the youth, while transforming them into able and responsible citizens of the nation.”

Established in 1916, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is one of the most prestigious Central Universities in the country. An autonomous institution of distinction having the Hon’ble President of India as its visitor, BHU is the largest residential University in Asia. The holistic model of education, conceived, and enriched by its illustrious founder, offers refreshingly new perspectives to young minds and nurtures and facilitates their creative talent.

There are at present 11 departments receiving support under Special Assistances Programme, 5-UGC Innovative/TRIEA/Other Programme and 3-DST-FIST, 5 departments/ schools are supported under FIST programme of DST. It also has four colleges admitted to the privileges of the University which are located in the city.

The university comprises of various institutes listed below are some of them:

Institute of Agricultural Sciences:

The institute is committed to the objectives of holistic, sustainable, and equitable development of agricultural and allied sciences. It is aiming at liberty, security, and prosperity through competent human resource development by virtue of integrated approach of teaching, research and extension, creation of knowledge base for the benefit of the farming community. Improvement of crops/vegetables/fruits/livestock/poultry/fish for enhanced input use efficiency and production, quality seed production and dissemination of proven technologies towards improving livelihood security and realizing the dream of hunger Free Society. The achievements in Education (including Sports and Cultural activities) and Research (including Extension activities) justify the funds sanctioned, created, and generated from time to time.

Institute of Medical Sciences & Hospital:

The university provides tertiary medical facilities to the unprivileged sections of society in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand at an affordable cost. Sir Sunderlal’s Hospital with its 1200 bedded and 24X7 active medicos is a complete dedication to the medical services in this region.

Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development:

Banaras Hindu University established a national-level Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development in the year 2010. The mission of the institute is to carry out teaching, research, and extension relevant to India’s sustainable development leading to the future that ends poverty and sustains efficient and equitable management of the country’s natural resources.

Flying Training to NCC Cadets:

The Banaras Hindu University is the only University, which has its own airstrip and three helipads, which are used for the training of NCC Cadets.

Library:

BHU has a central library system having more than 15 lakhs volumes apart from subscription to more than 13000 online journals, 50000 e-books, databases, and a huge collection of digitalized rare manuscripts. It functions in conjunction with a chain of Departmental, Faculty and Institute libraries. In addition, BHU has a fully air-conditioned Cyber Library with a seating capacity of over 200. Newly created air-conditioned Periodical Hall provides 60 cabins for the use of faculty members and research scholars.

ICT Infrastructure:

The University has 100 kilometer long fiber optic backbone of campus wide LAN, connecting all academic and administrative buildings as well as hostels with a well-equipped Computer Centre, providing high end computing and training facilities. The University has been provided three 4 Gbps nodes of National Knowledge Network (NKN) under NME-ICT.

The Temple:

The Banaras Hindu University has a temple of Lord Shiva called Shri Vishwanath Temple. It is situated in the centre of the campus.

Bharat Kala Bhawan:

BHU has a museum of international importance – Bharat Kala Bhawan, which is a treasure trove of rare art and artefacts.

Rajiv Gandhi South Campus:

The Rajiv Gandhi South Campus has been established in the year 2006 in a sprawling campus of 1092.6 Hectares (2700 acres) located at Barkachha in Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh. The RGSC is being developed as a potential hub for education, training and entrepreneurship for the youth and women, especially those belonging to tribes and weaker sections of the society.

Brand BHU

BHU is the first Central University in India which has implemented a ‘Graphic Identity Programme’. Through this programme, BHU has standardized its seal, logo bilingual logotypes, tagline, color identify etc. This programme also includes standardization of office stationery and signage system of the campus through its design studio, souvenir shop, electronics, web & social media.

An Overview about the Courses

The university enshrined within its precincts, a phenomenal range of teaching disciplines incorporating almost all conceivable subjects of Science, Engineering & Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences, Commerce, Law, Education, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Sanskrit Vidya Dharam Vigyan, Agriculture, Library Science, Journalism and a large number of Indian and Foreign Languages.

It offers a plethora of courses under its various institutes, faculties, college, and affiliated colleges. A number of post-doctoral and doctoral programs along with numerous courses are offered in the fields of social science, law, education, commerce, science, arts, and many more.

From the Vice-Chancellor’s Desk

Professor Rakesh Bhatnagar is the Vice Chancellor of the university. “When I joined as the Vice-Chancellor of BHU, the first thing that struck me was the size of the campus. I was impressed by its founder Pandit Madam Mohan Malaviya’s vision to have such a huge campus a hundred years ago. This is one of the largest residential campuses in Asia, with as many as 140 departments. Now, I am on a mission scouting the best people to fill these posts. As of now, we have around 2,000 highly qualified teachers. I would like to give more focus to innovation as that is what our country requires. We need to engage our students in research and development, especially in the drug-discover sector. I am also working towards involving students in sports”, says Rakesh.

Nurturing with Extra-curricular Activities

The Student Centric Initiatives of the university aim to bring the best out of the students:

• Career Counselling Scheme: The university has initiated a career counselling scheme for the students which will guide them in selection of the right career for them.
• Establishment of Career Development Centre: The centre has been established in the university for advancing all-round career prospects and overall personality development of the students of the university to brighten their career prospects.
• Co-Curricular Activities: For the all-round development, there are various activities, inter house competitions related to debate, speech, general knowledge, sports, mathematics, science, art and drawing, and music are organized throughout the session. Also, competitions related to cricket, basketball, football, volleyball, athletics, are organized in annual sports.

The Remarkable Collaborations and Achievements

The institute has strong linkages with the corporate world and provides immense exposure to its talented students. It has made constant efforts to invite top business executives to the faculty for delivering guest lectures on topical issues and for interactions with students and faculty members. Further, the senior executives from industry have always been part of the key resource personality in various academic events being organized by the faculty viz., year-long lecture serried, seminars, conferences, workshops, brain storming sessions, FDPs, MDPs and in other training programs. These academic interactions and lectures contribute in strengthening the teaching learning process of the faculty. It has also received enriching suggestion and support from the industry in the process of curriculum revision.

Achievements:

• In the Annie Besant Memorial Football Tournament organized from 6th September, 2017 to 18th September, 2017 the school was the winner.
• The team of Cadet Captain Saurabh Singh Yadav of 5JD Air Wing NCC received Winner Trophies in the Football Tournament and Quiz Competition in the NCC camp.

About Career Development Opportunities

The institute provides with a surplus of opportunities to ensure the career development of the students which includes Gita discourses, a well-furnished cyber library study centre, Central Discovery Centre (CDC), Bone Marrow Transplant and Stem Cell Research Centre, Bharat Adhyayan Kendra, Cancer Hospital, and Up-gradation of Facilities at Sir Sunderlal Hospital.

The Future Steps    

In the upcoming few years, Banaras Hindu University is committed to provide quality higher education to different sections of the society. Currently, the quality assurance is being maintained by a variety of methods both internal and external that are desperate and ad-hoc.

Maintaining its foundational ethos, the institute continues to draw on the visions of its founder Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya amid the lively streams of innovations and discoveries. It aims to serve as the hub of academic excellence by creating a high quality academic ambience and the state-of-the art research, teaching, and learning.