UNESCO To Declare the World’s First Living Heritage University

UNESCO aims to declare Visva-Bharati University as the world’s first living heritage university

If all goes according to plan, Visva-Bharati University was founded by Rabindranath in 1921. It will soon receive the UNESCO 'heritage" tag. This will allow it to be the first university of living heritage.

Bidyut Chakraborty, Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, stated that the university would be designated a heritage university. He stated that the university will be the first to receive the heritage label from UNESCO.

The university covers 1,130 acres and was named after Nobel laureate RabindranathTagore. Visva-Bharati Society registered it as an organization in May 1922. According to reports, some of the Nobel Laureates' property, including land, and a bungalow, were donated to the society.

It was a college from Independence. In 1951, the Central University status was granted to the institution by a central Act. Rathindranath Tagore was the first vice-chancellor. He was Rabindranath Tagore's son.

According to records, Rabindranath believed strongly in open-air education. He introduced it at the university and it is still there. Further, the vice chancellor added that there was no other university where cultural experiments could be conducted continuously.

According to reports, this development is 11 years after Union Culture Ministry applied for the status as UNESCO heritage site Santiniketan ("Visva Bharati") and secured recognition for Tagore’s cultural ark during his 150th birthday.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com