The oldest university-type institution in India is considered to be Nalanda University, founded in the fifth century A.D. This legendary name is being revived today: the university of the same name is “resuming” its classes in 2014.
The Indian Institute of Science, a number of Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management, National Institute of Technology, Modi Institute of Technology and Science and Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Anna University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and other universities are world renowned for the level of education they offer.
In India, some universities are all-India, while others are organizations that offer higher education in a particular state (a practice that began in 1857). Among the latter are, for example, the universities of Mumbai, Madras (which is the old name of Chennai), and Calcutta .
State universities supervise numerous small-town colleges, which are even capable of offering PhD programs. There is also a whole list of universities in Indian education, universities that have received special recognition and autonomy. Among them: The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai; the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Science in Allahabad; and others. Also, as is clear from the above, there are many educational institutes in India that are not universities. Virtual universities are springing up all over the world today. This trend has affected India as well. The University of Madras, for instance, has established a Virtual University in partnership with universities in Mumbai, Calcutta, and beyond. Partnerships have also been established between universities in India and other countries to implement virtual curricula.
Many Indian universities and faculty share free lectures through NPTEL, The National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning, a government-supported collaborative program in engineering education. Distance learning and open education are also highly developed. A case in point is Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the world’s largest university in terms of student enrollment, with approximately 4 million students from around the world.
Despite structural differences, most Indian universities function according to the same rules, and the only difference is the number of working days or, for example, the cultural program.
