Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new campus of Nalanda University in Bihar on Wednesday.
The modern campus of the university, which flourished for hundreds of years before it was burnt down by invaders in the 12th century, is located near to the site of the ancient ruins of the Buddhist centre of learning in Bihar.
The new Nalanda University was established in 2010 through an act of Parliament which implemented decisions taken at the second East Asia Summit in the Philippines in 2007 and at the fourth East Asia Summit in Thailand in 2009.
The decisions made during these two summits had called for setting up an international institution for pursuit of intellectual, philosophical, historical and spiritual studies.
The idea to construct a new campus for the university got a major push under the soon after the BJP government was installed at the centre in 2014.
The Nalanda University started functioning from a makeshift location with 14 students.
Construction work on the university began in 2017, with the government focusing on creating an institution that reminded the modern world of the eminence of the ancient Nalanda University, which was set up in the 5th century and attracted students from across the world.
The inauguration ceremony is expected to be attended by external affairs minister S Jaishankar and ambassadors of 17 participating countries, including members of Asean.
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The 17 countries that have signed memorandums of understanding in support of the university include Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
The university, which currently offers 137 scholarships to international students, including scholarships sponsored or funded by the Asean-India Fund, Bimstec scholarships and the Bhutan Scholarship of the external affairs ministry, has postgraduate and doctoral research courses and short-term certificate courses.
The number of students are expected to increase as the new campus of the university opens up gates to the students of the world.
