Union minister Piyush Goyal along with the Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will dedicate to the nation on December 15 India's first railway university and third such in the world after Russia and China, a senior official of the national transporter said Friday.

The National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI) in Vadodara, Gujarat opened its doors to the first batch of 103 students from 20 states in two fully-residential undergraduate courses in September this year.

Two under-graduate programmes -- B.Sc. in Transportation Technology and BBA programme in Transportation Management -- started, while the university aims to start masters programme from 2019-20 academic session in areas such as Transportation and Systems Design, Transport Systems Engineering, Transport Policy and Economics, among others.

"It is a matter of great pride that such a unique institute offering such diverse courses will be dedicated to the nation on December 15," the official said.

The student body is highly diverse with 17 girls and 86 boys coming from 20 states. Forty-one students are admitted in BBA -- Transportation Management -- and 62 students in B.Sc (Transportation Technology) programme.

The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned Rs 421 crores for the project for next five years.

Approximately 110 acres of land at Pipaliya village in Waghodiya Taluka, District Vadodara has been identified for the university.

Acquisition of the land from the Gujarat government is under process and the master plan of the new campus is being finalised.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)