The Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (CIBS) offers under-graduate and post-graduate courses and is now affiliated to Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi.

 

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has supported the institute's application for deemed varsity status and the proposal is under the consideration of the Union HRD ministry, sources said.

The institute is an autonomous organisation under the ministry of culture. It was set up in 1959 to conduct research in Buddhist philosophy and impart education to the residents of Ladakh, in Buddhism as well as modern subjects. "It is a special institution and should be given deemed status under the de-novo category," a UGC official said.

Under the de novo (new) category, institutions specialising in some emerging or innovative areas are promoted with the grant of the deemed varsity status. The tag is reviewed every five years.

UGC sources said the ministry had raised some queries on whether CIBS met infrastructure and faculty norms. The institute has some constituent schools, and the ministry wanted to know if the institute, minus the school buildings, met the basic requirements.

" De novo deemed universities cannot focus on anything other than their area of specialisation," former UGC secretary R.K. Chauhan said, adding a food technology academy in Haryana's Sonepat was the last to get such a status, in 2012.