Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University


Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, formerly Nagpur University, is a public state university located in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of India's oldest universities, the second oldest in Maharashtra. It is named after Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj, a renowned spiritual leader, orator and musician from Vidarbha. The university is a member of the Association of Indian Universities and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

History

The University was established as Nagpur University on 4 August 1923 with six affiliated colleges and 927 students. By 1947, the number of students had increased to about 9,000, offering significantly more subjects. The library and sports facilities expanded during these years. In 1958, departments in arts and social science opened and in 1963, several additional science teaching departments were added. These departments were moved to buildings on the main campus in 1972 and 1973. Career-oriented courses were later introduced in fields such as business management, fine arts, mass communication, library science and physical education. In May 1983, the university was divided to form Amravati University. In 2005, the university was renamed Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, and in September 2011 the university was again divided to create Gondwana University.

Jurisdiction

Initially, the university jurisdiction extended over 11 districts of eastern Maharashtra called Vidarbha. With the establishment of Amravati University in 1983, the jurisdiction was reduced to six districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Gondia. Chandrapur and Gadchiroli were transferred to Gondwana University in September 2011. Since then, the university has jurisdiction over districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara and Gondia.

Campus

The university has two campuses:
The university is composed of the Faculties of Arts & Humanities, Science, Social Sciences, Home Science, Medicine, Commerce, Education, Engineering & Technology, Law and Ayurveda, consisting of 39 Postgraduate teaching departments and three constituent colleges. The departments and college buildings are spread over seven campuses with an overall area of 327 acres. 842 colleges are affiliated to the university.

Rankings

The National Institutional Ranking Framework ranked it 144 among engineering colleges in 2020.

Research

The research programs in almost all thirty-nine departments and three colleges are made up of M. Phil., Ph.D. and Post-Doc researchers.

Library

The Bhausaheb Kolte Library was constructed in 1923. Earlier, the library had been housed in the main university building. The foundation stone of the building was laid on 29 March 1954. The building was designed to have two floors with a total floor area of 57,480 sq.ft. and to provide a stacking capacity in 4 tiers to hold 350,000 volumes and accommodate 250 readers. Construction consumed almost three years. The university library shifted to its new premises in July 1957.
The P. V. Narasimha Rao Library was inaugurated on 5 December 1978.

Affiliations

842 colleges are affiliated to the University. Prominent colleges affiliated with the university include Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, College of Agriculture Nagpur, Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Government College of Engineering, Nagpur, Government College of Architecture. From 1923 to 1946, Government Science College, Jabalpur, the oldest science college of India was affiliated to the university.

Vice chancellors