Banasthali Vidyapith is the largest fully residential women's university in the world, located in the Tonk district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a deemed university offering programs at the secondary, senior secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate degree levels.
History
Banasthali Vidyapith was founded on 6 October 1935 by freedom fighters and educationists Hiralal Shastri and Ratan Shastri. The institution was declared as a 'Deemed University' in 1983. While NAAC has re-accredited Banasthali Vidyapith at the highest possible ‘Grade A’ level in 2011, the Review Committee of Ministry of HRD also appreciated the overall efforts of Vidyapith in the areas of Institutional Governance, Academic Achievements, Research, Student Progression, Infrastructure etc. and categorized Banasthali Vidyapith under ‘Category A’ list of ‘Institutions Deemed to be University’ in 2010. The university is featured in NIRF, QS I Gauge, and Times Higher Education rankings. In 2020, NAAC has accredited this university with A++ grading. The Vidyapith has had virtual autonomy for its school programmes since the beginning and was affiliated to an outside agency for its university programmes in 1983. In 1983 the government of India, on the advice of the University Grants Commission, notified the Vidyapith as an institution deemed to be university. After attaining university status, The Vidyapith restructured its undergraduate programme. At the postgraduate level, it introduced courses in Computer Science, Operational Research, Electronics and Biotechnology. Teacher Education and Management have been started. New courses include M.Sc., M.Sc. and M.Sc.. Along with professional programmes such as MBA and MCA, all postgraduate courses in the Faculty of Science have a semester system. From 2004 all Social Science, Humanities and Home Science Post-graduate programmes have been run as semester courses.
Campus
The campus is a sprawling 850 acres, located about 80 kilometres from the capital city of Jaipur, in the Tonk district of Rajasthan, India. The campus has been broadly divided into the school division, the University division and the residential blocks. The residential blocks feature 29 hostels each with the capacity of housing up to 438 students. The Laxmi Bai maidan which is approximately 2660 square kms. is used for parades and annual fairs, whereas the Vidula maidan has fields for games such as hockey, volleyball, tennis, yoga, martial arts and mass physical display activities. The Veer Bala maidan is used for horse riding and the Shakuntlam playground is the criket ground of the campus. The campus also features a swimming pool. The campus also features a licensed airstrip of 50,191,418 sq. metres, which is used to train the students in flying and guiding. Banasthali Vidyapith also features its own hospital called Apaji Arogya Mandir, a guest house for parents and official guests, and a community radio station called Radio Banasthali.
Academics
School Education
Banasthali Vidyapith provides school education from elementary to senior secondary. At the senior secondary level, student can opt for Science, Commerce or Humanities as their stream.
Undergraduate Programs
The university offers 18 undergraduate programs in the disciplines of maths, science, commerce, arts, engineering, aviation, education, design, law, and journalism. All the programs are of three years duration except for the Bachelor of Education which is of 2 years, BA LLB which is of 5 years and the Bachelor of Technology which is of 4 years.
Postgraduate Programs
The university offers 61 masters programs and 32 Doctorates in the disciplines of Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences, Law, Education, Commerce and Management.
Management
The main statutory bodies of Banasthali Vidyapith are:
General Council
Executive Council
Finance Council
Academic Council
Officers
President
Vice-President
Vice-Chancellor
Pro Vice-Chancellor
Treasurer
Secretary
Deans, including Deans/Heads of the Centres of Higher Education
MHRD has setup Center of Excellence in Management at Banasthali Vidyapith for developing Annual Refresher Program in Teaching. The online modules are hosted by SWAYAM Portal.
