The National Museum Institute — India’s premier school for museology, conservation and art — has finally received funds to build a campus, 25 years after it was started.
The institute, currently housed within the National Museum on Janpath, was started in 1989 to train India’s museum professionals. It was developed as a centre for research on art and cultural heritage. While three acres were acquired for the campus in Noida’s Institutional Area in Sector 62 back in 2002, the project remained on the anvil for more than a decade.
Vice Chancellor Venu Vasudevan explained that a key factor that led to the approval was that the Central Public Works Department’s (CPWD) design and estimates. The project estimate of Rs. 90 crore was approved in April and the first installment of Rs. 15 crore has been sanctioned on August 19.
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“There were several ideas floated in the past which did not materialise. Finally, we asked the CPWD to plan it and it was approved. We can soon move from this notional space to a proper campus befitting of the national mandate this institute has,” he told
The project is expected to take three years. Currently, the institute has 120 masters and Ph.D scholars in its three departments of Museology, Conservation and History of Art. Additionally, there are around 200 students who attend five-month certificate courses in art appreciation.
The strength would be raised to 1000 students in the new campus in which two departments — Epigraphy, Palaeography & Numismatics and Structural Conservation & Site Management — would be added. There would also be hostels for at least 200 boys and girls, Registrar Bipin Thakur told this paper.
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The institute currently functions from a few rooms on the first floor of the museum. There are no hostels right now.
The Institute almost lost its deemed varsity status in 2013 over several factors that include the lack of facilities and staff. However it continues to grant degrees under a stay from the Supreme Court. The new campus would help it to fulfill the University Grants Commission’s guidelines to be deemed to be a university.
“Currently we have six regular professors who are assisted by 50 visiting faculty. The proposal for filling a number of vacancies is pending with the Ministry of Culture. We receive around 100 applications for each department which have 20 to 25 seats. India needs more such institutes as there are several institutions and monuments which need professional conservation,” Dr. Thakur explained.