Premji's dream university from July

Azim Premji University,  planned by Wipro's billionaire chairman to cater exclusively to the education and development sectors, is likely to become operational in the coming academic year.

The Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation under whose aegis it is being set up, said on Wednesday the university would launch three courses in the first year of operation, to begin this July.

The university will start functioning from rented premises, a nine-storied building near Electronic City on the outskirts in Bengaluru.

Once its own campus, under development on 100 acres off the Sarjapur Road will be ready in the next 18 months, the varsity will be consolidated in a single campus.

In the first year, Azim Premji University will offer three MA programmes -- in education, in development and in teacher education. Each will have a two-year duration.

There will be an all-India entrance test across 38 centres in the country on April 17.

A bachelor's degree holder in any discipline will be eligible and selection will be on performance in the written test and a subsequent interview.

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The test will examine the candidate's proficiency in English, analytical ability, general and social awareness, and knowledge of relevant subjects, said the university.

In the first year of admission, the intake of all these three programmes put together will be 2,000, to be raised to 2,500 in the fifth year, said Anurag Behar, co-CEO of Azim Premji Foundation. He said the fee structure was being worked out and would be announced in the coming weeks.

The university has hired 28 faculty members, including a few foreigners and some Indians who've willingly returned from the US to join.

The curriculum has been developed with an eye to the requirements of India, said Behar.