The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) is planning to set up 15 private universities in various states by 2010 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. It had chalked out plans to set up the campuses in the wake of nine states enacting legislations facilitating establishment of private universities. Other states in the country are expected to introduce similar legislations. "We have so far established seven private universities in the states of Uttaranchal, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Jharkhand. In addition, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan have issued letters of intent to set up universities in their respective states," ICFAI University vice-chancellor, V Panduranga Rao, told Business Standard. Rao said ICFAI has acquired land in Nagpur (54 acres), Kanpur (60 acres) and Chandigarh (50 acres) to establish these university campuses. To set up a university in Jaipur, the Rajasthan government has allotted 40 acres of land. According to Rao, ICFAI is building a 1.5-million square feet campus spread over an extent of 93 acres in Hyderabad. The first phase of the Rs 175-crore campus has been completed and the second and final phase would be completed by this year. This will be converted into a university once the Andhra Pradesh government implements its decision of introducing a Bill facilitating the establishment of private universities in the state. In Dehra Dun, ICFAI has started building a one-million square feet campus at a cost of about Rs 90 crore, the first phase of which would be ready by June this years. Similarly, the institute is expecting to complete the construction of a 4-lakh square feet campus in Agartala by May. The Agartala campus is being built at a cost of Rs 60 crore. "By the end of 2007, we will have three full-fledged campuses with residential accommodations for students and faculty and sports facilities," Rao said. Stating that the new universities would be funded through internal accruals and bank loans, Rao said ICFAI had the required experience, expertise, infrastructure and sound financial background to provide highly professional quality education. Jasbir Singh Learning Resource Center (LRC) Jaypee University of Information Technology Waknaghat Disst Solan (H.P) India http://www.juit.ac.in/ --------------------------------- Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.