Patna: The Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG), headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen that is overseeing the opening of an international university in Nalanda in Bihar, will submit its report at the fifth East Asian Scholars Summit (EAS).

"The report will be helpful for the centre to take suitable measures to draft an international agreement by member countries of the EAS. The report will also be helpful to identify the role and responsibilities and funding mechanism towards the establishment of Nalanda University," said Amartya Sen.

An 11-member NMG team along with Amartya Sen recently visited the site for the varsity.

The internal process of passing the Bill through Parliament to recognize the international status of the university at Nalanda will be undertaken by the Centre.

An agreement to elaborate the roles in administrative affairs of the varsity including the grants will also be inked among the Centre, Bihar government and the Nalanda University.

The idea of the university was first mooted in the late 1990s but it was President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's initiative in early 2006 that gave shape to the project, which is to come up at the ancient site of Buddhist learning.
Former President Kalam will be offered the post of visitor in the proposed university.

The proposed university will be fully residential, like the ancient Nalanda seat of learning. In the first phase, seven schools with 46 foreign faculty members and over 400 Indian academics will be established.

The university will have courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism along with other subjects. A renowned international scholar will be its chancellor.

Nalanda is the Sanskrit term for giver of knowledge. Nalanda University, which existed until 1197 AD, attracted students and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey, besides being a pedestal of higher education in India. The excavated site of the ancient university is protected as a place of national importance.