Team Blitz Special
DELHI University turned 100 and a special guest at its birthday celebrations was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To get the real feel of student life, PM Modi undertook a journey in the Delhi Metro to reach the North Campus. He was accompanied in the train by some students.
Later, while addressing an event at the university, the PM shared his experience of travelling in the Metro: “Students have a lot to talk about. Kaun si film dekhi, OTT pe woh series achhi hai, woh wali reel dekhi ya nahin dekhi.”
Foundation stone laid
During the programme, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology and the academic block.
While turning 100 is a glorious milestone in the life of an educational institution, this seems like just the beginning of a journey. Across the world, educational institutions of repute are usually a thousand-year-old and above.
Europe has been the seat of high learning since the millennia. The oldest university of the world was established in Italy in 1088. Called the University of Bologna, it has produced at least three Popes, several businessmen and Italian politicians. The University of Oxford was set up in 1096 and its alumni include 28 prime ministers of the UK, 27 Nobel laureates, 50 Nobel Prize winners and the one and only Sir Stephen Hawkings.
Universities in Italy
The University of Salamanca was established in Spain in 1134. Elsewhere, in France, the University of Paris was established in 1160. The University of Cambridge came up in 1209. In Italy, at least three major universities were set up in early 13th century – the University of Padua in 1222; the University of Naples (1224) and the University of Siena (1240).
In India, the history of universities is mostly sub200 years, i.e., of universities which exist even today. There is an exception of the Serampore University of West Bengal which was established in 1818. Among the lost universities, of course, were the University of Nalanda, which has now been set up again on 2010, and the Takshashila University.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
NEW DELHI: Over the course of its 100 years, the Delhi University has been the alma mater of at least nine heads of states and governments and one Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, who studied political science here in 1964.
Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1998, taught economics at DU from 1963 to 1971. The list of actors, artists, writers, directors produced by this university is almost endless.
Among the prominent ones are Amitabh Bachchan and Kulbhushan Kharbanda (Kirori Mal College); Nandita Das and Mallika Sherawat (Miranda House); Richa Chadda and Roshan Seth (St Stephen’s) Shahrukh Khan (Hansraj); Vishal Bhardwaj (Hindu College); Aditi Rao Hydari and Deepa Mehta (LSR) and Neha Dhupia (Jesus and Mary College).
Among the industrialists who took their degrees from DU are Ajay Singh Banga, Rahul Bajaj, Samir Jain, Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Siddharth Lal, all from St. Stephen’s; Naina Lal Kidwai and Shikha Sharma, Lady Shri Ram College.
The legal luminaries, who studied at DU, include the 46th Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi; Rohinton Fali Nariman; Gopal Subramanium and Pinky Anand. Among the famous literateurs are Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai, Upamanyu Chatterjee and Shiv Khera. Famous politicians produced by DU include Hardeep Singh Puri, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Kiren Rijiju, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ranbir Singh Hooda, Smriti Irani and Subramanian Swamy.
