Work for new RBU campus in New Town to start after Durga Puja

Kolkata: Work for the third campus of Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) in New Town will begin soon after the Durga Puja. The campus will come up on a plot of 8-acre that has been handed over to the varsity by New Town Kolkata Development Authority at Action Area II. The new campus will have an administrative building and a state of the art students' hostel.

RBU has the highest number of foreign students in eastern India with the present strength being more than 150.

A large number of students from the SAARC countries like China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc take up courses like Arts, Visual Arts and Fine Arts.

"These students have to stay as paying guests in different parts of the city. We are concerned about their safety and security but as we have no hostel facilities we can do nothing once they go out of our campus after studies.

The new campus will have a state of the art hostel," said Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury.

A senior official of the varsity said the foreign students often face a lot of problem with the food they eat as the places where they stay as paying guests serve normal Bengali food on a regular basis that do not satiate

their taste buds.

"We will have the infrastructure for kitchen facilities at the hostel so that they can cook food of their choice," the official added.

As per plans, the campus will be a green one with a refurbished guest house, an auditorium, a modern gym and facilities for a number of indoor games.

Talking about the academics, the RBU V-C said the varsity has plans to start courses on Natural Science and Atmospheric Science on the new campus.

"We are also planning to have a Foreign Language Study Centre encouraging research activities. The campus will be fully digitized," the official maintained.

As per plans , the proposed university building will have solar power connection and courses dealing with Fashion Designing, Animation, Architecture will be taught. The campus will also have a state of the art library.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has plans to develop a part of Action Area II in New Town as an Education Hub. Campuses of various universities have already come up, including St. Xavier's University, Aliah University, Amity University, Presidency University to name a few.