Manipal institute to set up second campus at Bengaluru's Yelahanka

BENGALURU: The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) will soon set up a second campus in Bengaluru at Doddaballapur Road. 

The work has already begun and the project is expected to complete by the start of the academic year in 2022, officials of the deemed-to-be university said.

The institute already has a campus-based in the city functioning out of Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru. The university wanted to expand but there was a lack of space (at the Manipal Hospital Campus), said Vice-Chancellor of MAHE Lt Gen Venkatesh.

The institute also has other constituent units and centres of excellence functioning (CoE's especially in the field of management) in different areas in Bengaluru. The plan is to consolidate all those institutes in one locality, Lt Gen Venkatesh said. "We hope that the campus would be fully functional from the year 2022-23," he added.

This holistic campus of MAHE will also have an Engineering College and there are plans to also setup a law college on the premises. Srishti School of Design which is now a constituent part of MAHE will also be located in this Yelahanka campus.

Running reporters through the procedure, he said that an empowered committee visited MAHE and accepted the institute's five and 15-year plans. Following this, the Centre recognised MAHE as an Institute of Eminence (IOE).

"The IoE status gives privileges of exemption from certain regulations. Now we can develop our own programmes and curriculum and freely interact with universities offering the dual recognition and certification, and also opens up investment opportunities and ability to raise funds," Lt Gen Venkatesh said.

It also comes with responsibilities -- to achieve the stated growth in terms of research and internationalisation and developing infrastructure, and maintaining social responsibility.

The institute is committed to a corpus of USD 1 billion towards supporting social causes by 2028, he said.

The institute is subject to annual reviews by the expert committee, while it works to achieve their objectives in the next five to seven years, Lt Gen Venkatesh added.