Banaras Hindu University or BHU, founded in the year 1916, is a public university situated in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the major universities offering largest student accommodation in entire Asia. It has more than 20,000 students (including 650 international students from 34 nations). This university has been ranked 2nd among the top 50 universities in India, for the year 2012 (as per the survey of India Today).
Campuses
The university has two modern as well as well-equipped campuses. The major campus of BHU started in the year 1916. It comprises:
- More than 60 hostels to accommodate over 12,000 students
- On-campus housing facilities for full-time faculties
- A main library with 1.3 million books, 3 institute libraries, more than twenty five departmental libraries and 8 faculty libraries
- Art and archaeological museum on the campus
- A teaching hospital, having the name Sir Sunderlal Hospital, for the Institute of Medical Sciences is present in the campus
Another campus, popularly known as the South campus, houses several administrative offices, faculty housings, hostels, libraries, a lecture complex and the Agricultural Science Centre (Krishi Vigyan Kendra).
Institutes and Departments
Benaras Hindu University has a total of 4 administratively autonomous institutes. These are:
| The Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) / IITV |
|
| Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS) |
|
| Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) |
|
| Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development (IESD) |
|
On the other hand, 16 faculties have been providing immense knowledge in various disciplines including arts, commerce, education, law, management studies, performing arts, science, social sciences, visual arts, etc. BHU also has 4 interdisciplinary schools:
- School of Biotechnology
- School of Life Sciences
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences
- Centre of Food Science & Technology
Academics
The prestigious university has a large number of undergraduate, post graduate, PhD, PG diploma, UG diploma, and special programs to offer the aspirants. They can enroll in the undergraduate as well as postgraduate programs offered by BHU after clearing the national level undergraduate entrance test (UET) and postgraduate entrance test (PET). However, admissions to engineering, technology and pharmacy programs are done through JEE and GATE. To study MBA and MIBA in BHU, students must submit their IIM-CAT score. For pursuing PhD, either the qualification of National Eligibility Test (NET) or the scores of Common Research Entrance Test (CRET) is considered.