Banasthali Vidyapith, established in 1935, is the world’s largest residential university for women, doing pioneering work in its field for more than eight decades.
Only of its kind origin: The ‘Banasthali story’ has no parallel across the globe. It originated in only of its kind situation when a father lost his promising daughter before its hour and decided to train other girls the same way. Thus, Banasthali embarked upon its journey with only five students way back in 1935 when the concept of education for the girl child virtually didn't exist. The founders went door-to-door to recruit students. There was no question of charging any fee and they also went door-to-door to collect donations to carry out their dream.
Phenomenal Growth: That small experiment, over the last eight decades, has blossomed into world’s largest fully residential women’s university having 11000 students on its 850-acre campus situated amidst rural settings in Rajasthan, having a distinct educational ideology and offering a variety of programmes from nursery up to doctoral level across a wide spectrum of disciplines to prepare enlightened citizens with strong value-base.
Banasthali has been on the forefront ever since it commenced an innovative experiment in women’s education. As a premier university for women’s education, the university known the world over for educational facilities; is nestled in a serene and pious environment amidst an ambience of Indian ethos and culture. Banasthali aims at synthesizing and balancing scientific achievements and spiritual values of the east and west to prepare women for enlightened leadership roles in all walks of life.
Distinct Educational Ideology: Banasthali’s educational ideology is based on the concept of five-fold education comprising physical, practical, aesthetic, intellectual and, above all, moral aspects to develop an integrated and balanced personality of the students besides providing the requisite professional training. It believes in simple living and high thinking. The Vidyapith has kept pace with changing times but has never compromised with its core principles.
Banasthali is a comprehensive university offering graduate and post-graduate programmes in a vast variety of disciplines such as Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Biotechnology, Bioscience, Computer Science, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Electronics, Engineering, Earth Sciences, Fine Arts, Management, Aviation, Education, Home Science, Design, Pharmacy, Law, Commerce, Journalism & Mass Communication.
World Class Campus & Learning: The campus has world-class infrastructure including 25 academic blocks, 50 hostels for students and more than 800 staff quarters. Vidyapith has its own flying club and licensed air strip, fleet of aircrafts and a well recognized and approved Aviation School. Banasthali is the only university in India with its own flying club. Besides world-class infrastructure, Vidyapith has its own FM Radio station, 100-bed hospital, horse-riding facility and excellent sports facilities. The university provides high quality education at most affordable cost to women hailing from all parts of India and overseas.
Experiential Learning is emphasized and practiced to increase the overall effectiveness and elevate the level of engagement of students. Banasthali provides world class intellectual education with emphasis on learning by doing. Young students are prepared for the roles and responsibilities they must be ready to take on in their years ahead, which is extremely crucial in a culturally, socially, linguistically and ethnically diverse society.
Research & Innovation: Keeping in perspective the societal relevance, trans-disciplinary nature, innovation quotient, national importance and global significance, Vidyapith identified the following major thrust areas of research: Sustainable Energy Systems, Water Remediation, Stress Biology, Earth Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Traditional Knowledge Systems. Collaborative research in these areas has resulted in better perception and visibility and faculty members have won several awards and are implementing multi-institutional projects with reputed institutions from India and abroad. With the exponential increase in the number of indexed publications and citations in the last decade, Banasthali has become a truly research driven university.
Now, Banasthali is equally rapidly building its IP regime and focusing on some grand challenges with transfer of technology from lab to product development to the market. To facilitate innovation and nurture budding entrepreneurs, NITI Aayog, Government of India joined hands with the Vidyapith and The Atal Incubation Centre was established. It has contributed immensely to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and within a very short span, 65 women led start ups have come up.
Nurturing leaders for Generations: Banasthali has many firsts attached to its name! Just to name a few, Smt. Meira Kumar, the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha (in Parliament of India) did her schooling from Banasthali. Similarly, the first and only woman Speaker of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, Smt. Sumitra Singh completed her entire education from Banasthali. Ms. Sunita Godara became first woman ever to win a marathon in 1986 and holds a world record of winning most number of marathons. More recently, Banasthali graduate Avani Chaturvedi became the first woman fighter pilot of the country, continuing the trend.
The University provides ample opportunity for industrial interactions through trainings, internships and attains close to 100% placements in various technical fields. Banasthali graduates are known the world over for their leadership qualities and have become governors, corporate chief executives, international sportspersons, renowned artists and musicians, leading administrators, eminent educationists, social activists, and have by and large brought radical transformation in their families, organizations and surroundings.
Marching towards Excellence: In the last few years Banasthali Vidyapith has made its mark in the rankings and ratings. The Vidyapith has received the highest possible accreditation, A++ from NAAC and is the only Women’s’ University to feature among the top 100 Universities in the NIRF university rankings of India; an accomplishment, that it has been achieving continuously since the ranking commenced. The university has also been felicitated with FICCI’s ‘The University of the Year’ Award 2015, and the ‘Best Value Based Educational Institution Award’ in 3rd CCI Technology Education Excellence Awards 2015.
