It will be the gift of a revival of the great Indian tradition of the guru-shishya parampara..... rekindled in a world-class institution of higher learning... inspired by the teachings of Gautam the Budha, the Enlightened One... with a mission to match:

As an overall vision, Gautam Budha University will seek to use the age-old Buddhist wisdom of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to organically make pathways for students to scale all the Four Pillars of Knowledge and enable each individual to discover, unearth and enrich his or her creative potential, to reveal the treasure within each of us.

 

 

 Underlying Philosophy of an Overloading Goal
 

To be built on acres, the world-class Gautam Buddha University (GBU) in Greater Noida will set new standards for institutions of higher learning in the country. It intends to create an entity that will aspire to be the best in the country and even reverse the brain drain, which is effectively a "dead loss" for the nation.

Since ancient times, the pursuit of integral knowledge and liberation has been constant endeavor of Indian culture and, over the millennia, the many institution of learning have shone as meteors and showered the world with veritable tomes of wisdom. Among these, Nalanda was truly spectacular as its civilizing influence extended not only to all corners of the country but to lands as distant as China, Japan, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Korea, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tibet.

It is this spirit that the new University at Greater Noida will try to emulate and thus rekindle the great Indian tradition of the guru-shisya parampara that flourished at Nalanda more than elsewhere, in  a modern manner. In fact, this is easy to accomplish if the remarkably prescient words of Gautam the Buddha regarding the mutual interaction between the teacher and the pupil are allowed to take root: " the pupil is also to act as a check, as it were, upon the preceptor, in keeping him steadfast in the faith."

Most significantly, given Gautam the Buddha's desire to alleviate the suffering of the people, the University will seek to become a launching pad for the upliftment of the downtrodden and disenfranchised masses. This will be actively done through affirmative action by reserving half of the seats for students and teachers of the backward and scheduled castes.
   
   

 Modernising Higher Education through Ancient Wisdom
 

In the paradigm of lifelong education, the importance of the institutions of higher education have acquired further strategic dimensions. For instance, higher education development as well as the focal point of learning in society, it is also a repository and creator of knowledge. Moreover, it is the principal instrument for passing on the accumulated experience , cultural and scientific, of humanity. In other words, education is the bridge between the past, present and future, and also a means by which the best of one's heritage is transmitted to new generation for their further progression.

In the modern world , where the resources of knowledge increasingly predominate over material resources as factors of development, the importance of higher education and of higher educational institutes can grow. Moreover, the effect of innovation and technological progress means that economics will increasingly demand competencies that require high-level studies.
   
   

 Reaching the Four Pillars of Knowledge
 
I fit is to succeed in its multi-dimensions tasks outlined above, education must be organized around four fundamental types of learning which, throughout a person's life will, in a way, be the pillars of knowledge: learning to know - that is, acquiring the instruments of understanding; learning to do - so as to be able to act creatively on one's environment; learning to live together - so as to participate and cooperate with other people in all the human activities; and learning to be - an essential progression which proceeds from the previous three.
 
   

 Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path
 

Very briefly, the philosophical foundations of the University will be the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as expounded by Gautam the Buddha:

1.   All life knows suffering.
2.   The cause of suffering is ignorance and clinging.
3.   There is a way to end suffering.
4.   This is the way to end suffering: The Eightfold Path.
 

  • Right Understanding

  • Right Aspiration

  • Right Effort

  • Right Speech

  • Right Conduct

  • Right Livelihood

  • Right Mindfulness

  • Right Concentration
   
   

 Centers of Excellence
 

The strategic way forward in setting up the University in the shortest possible time would be to set up centers of excellence in specific fields which, through their success, would become robust pillars for creating a necessarily complex and vibrant network of colleges and departments concurrently. These are:

  • Oriental Studies/ Humanities (Special chair - Buddhist Studies)

  • Information Technology

  • Bio Technology

  • International Law

  • Business Management Science
   
   

 Key Objectives for Unlocking Higher Education
 
Gautam Buddha University will impart learning across a wide range of knowledge . Beginning with Humanities, Sciences and Technology, Law and Management at undergraduate and graduate levels, the University's ultimate horizons will be boundless. Such studies will necessarily be multi-disciplinary in nature and will creatively synthesize the strengths of different department in different colleges of the University.

As the Institution will seek to benchmark itself with the foremost universities of the world, it will evolve a structure that will not only be transparent at all levels of its functioning but also be adaptable to the rapidly changing needs and trends of the modern world. While not seeking affiliation with any Indian universities, it will seek to establish its presence on its own.

Leveraging the commercial and industrial activities in the surroundings region, the Institution will seek to build an innovative and productive collaborating platforms between its academic programs and industry from the area in order to harness the synergies therein most efficiently.

The university will also evolve ways and means to develop programs that would seek to mainstream the non-conventional courses of study, which have been either ignored by the Indian system or relegated to diploma-bearing institutions.

The underlying theme of the curricula across various disciplines will be to develop a deep understanding of the rapid globalization of knowledge in order to prepare the student integrally  to take advantage of the new horizons being opened up.

The style of education will be liberal with a strong component of self-driven learning. Novel methods of evaluation and grading of students will also be used to ensure high professional competence.

While the University will seek to draw students from the subcontinent, it would also attempt to attract a global mix of students by evolving a viable exchange program with other prestigious institutions.

The University will also offer short-term courses to employees of various kinds of organizations. These courses would be offered on the same principles of social relevance as  the degree courses.

The faculty in the University will have academic and research responsibilities. Research will serve to ensure the continuing relevance of the academic curriculum.

 
Gautam Buddha University
Greater Noida City