Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University (RKMVU)

Over a century ago, Swami Vivekananda, the prophet of modern India and apostle of Vedanta in the West, strongly emphasized the importance of broadening the scope of education from being merely a book-learning and information-collecting exercise to becoming a man-making and character-building assimilation of life-giving ideas. Further, for an effective system of education, he suggested combining the best elements of ancient spiritual traditions of the East with modern scientific traditions of the West. During his short but intensely active life, Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji) also sowed the seeds for future development along this front, by nurturing a culture of education in the newly-established Ramakrishna Math, facilitating and directly establishing educational initiatives as well as inspiring others to do so, most notably Jamshedji Tata, who went on to establish the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI) is a humble initiative started by the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, the worldwide spiritual humanitarian organization established by Swamiji, towards implementing this vision of education more comprehensively.

KMVERI is a university with a difference, being neither a regularly government-funded grant-in-aid institution, nor a self-financing or private university with a focus on financial viability of programmes. It offers programmes in mathematical sciences as well as in subjects related to Indian heritage, thus providing an environment conducive for the growth of well-rounded personalities harmonizing diverse but complementary ideals. Notably, the university places special emphasis on areas of study and research (which we term as “thrust areas“) that are of immense importance and social relevance but are nevertheless under-represented in the Indian educational framework, such as fundamental sciences, rural and tribal development, disability management, disaster management, etc. Further, the permanent faculty are paid salary at UGC scales whereas students are charged modest tuition fees which do not add up to any substantial fraction of the educational expenses. The tremendous challenge of running such a university with limited governmental support of only a few one-time grants is addressed by attracting contributions from philanthropically minded well-wisher donors, admirers and devotees of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. The growth of the university from its inception to its present stature is testament to the solid foundation laid by its ideals of truth, selfless service and purity of motive bequeathed by Swami Vivekananda.