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Osmania University
Public state university in Hyderabad, Telangana

Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a firman calling for its creation on 29 August 1917. It is the third oldest university in southern India, and the first to be established in the erstwhile Kingdom of Hyderabad. It was the first Indian university to use Urdu as a language of instruction, although with English as a compulsory subject. As of 2012, the university hosts 3,700 international students from more than 80 nations.

Osmania is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 300,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. The Osmania Medical College was once a part of the Osmania University System. However, it is now under the supervision of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences.

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History

In 1917, Sir Akbar Hydari, in a memorandum to the Education Minister, emphasised the need to establish a university in Hyderabad with Urdu as the medium of instruction, "as it is the language of the widest currency in the state".12 On 26 April 1917, the Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan issued a firman to establish the Osmania University.13

The university began functioning in 1918 in a building adjacent to the Nizam College at Basheerbagh.14 Arts and theology were the only two faculties offered, and the first batch consisted of 225 students and 25 faculty members.15

The government invited Patrick Geddes and Edwin Jasper to set up a permanent campus of the university.16 Geddes surveyed prospective locations and presented his report in 1923.17 Jasper drew up the building plans and the Nizam laid the foundation stone for the campus on 5 July 1934.18 After Jasper left Hyderabad, the state architect Zain Yar Jung supervised the construction of the campus.19

Post-Independence (1947-present)

After independence and the accession of Hyderabad State in 1948, the university fell under the purview of the state government. After the election of the first state government, the central government announced plans to convert Osmania University into a central university with Hindi as the medium of instructions. However, this led to protests and with pressure from the Mulki agitation, the plan was dropped.20 Eventually, English replaced Urdu as the medium of instruction, and the Nizam's crown was also removed from the university seal.

Seal

The original seal featured the Nizam's crown as the crest, along with the phrase Noorun Ala Noor. It also contained the hadith, "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate".21

The present emblem contains inscriptions in Telugu and Sanskrit. The new logo has the Urdu letter Ain in between.

Campus

The Main campus is a chief intellectual centre in Hyderabad, and its alumni and faculty members include many distinguished individuals, including former Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao. Admission to Main campus departments of Genetics, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Engineering, Management, and Law is highly competitive.22 The state government has appointed Prof S.Ramachandram as vice chancellor of the university. The university is accredited by the NAAC with an 'A+' Grade and conferred with the status of 'University with Potential for Excellence' by the UGC, New Delhi.23

The University Colleges are located in begumpet university. There are ten such colleges: the University College of Arts and Social Sciences, University College of Commerce & Business Management, University College of Technology, University College of Engineering, University College of Law, University College of Science, Institute of Advance Study in Education, and PG College of Physical Education. The university offers courses in Humanities, Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Law, Engineering, Medicine, Technology, Commerce and Business Management, Information Technology and Oriental Languages. In 2001, Osmania was awarded five-star status by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) of the University Grants Commission, part of the Government of India.24

The university has a campus of nearly 1600 acres (6 km2) with 300,000 students (counting all the campuses, constituent affiliated colleges and district centres) making it one of the largest higher education systems in India. Nearly 5000 faculty and staff are employed at Osmania.25 It attracts students from across the nation as well as from other countries.26

Organisation and administration

Constituent colleges

Osmania University is a confederation of university colleges, constituent colleges, and affiliated colleges. The constituent colleges of the university include:27

Other Autonomous Centers

Affiliated Engineering Colleges

The affiliated engineering colleges of the university are mostly scattered throughout the GHMC area and offer various undergraduate and post-graduate engineering courses.28 The affiliated engineering colleges include (in no particular order):

Academics

Admissions

Osmania is a non-profit university which is funded and managed by the government. Admissions into the Bachelor of Engineering, Masters and Doctoral programs in main campus is on a merit basis, evaluated by national entrance examinations (EAMCET, GATE, BCFSBTGMES-N&D, TSLAWCET, O.U. PhD Entrance Exam, DOST etc.) for each of the courses offered.

Further information: Osmania University Common Entrance Test

Library

The University Library is the main library of the university and it was founded in 1918 along with the university. It has close to 500,000 books and more than 6000 manuscripts, which includes rare palm leave manuscripts. It also has various journals, government documents, etc. The main library coordinates a library system, which connects the libraries in the entire campus and other constituent college libraries.293031

Rankings

Osmania University has ranked 1201–1400 in the world and 401–450 among universities in Asia category by the QS World University Rankings of 2023.3233 The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it 1201–1500 globally in the 2023 ranking34 301–350 in Asia in 202235 and 301–350 among Emerging Economies University Rankings 2021.36

In India, the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked Osmania University 43rd among Indian universities and 70th overall in 2024.3738

Research

The research activities are funded by various autonomous agencies of the government of India. Foreign students are also admitted to the university via UFRO (University Foreign Relations Office) that allots admissions with minimum criteria. Indian students living overseas Non-resident Indian are also admitted through UFRO that are usually ineligible to get admissions via the entrance exams quota.

Notable alumni and faculty

Main article: List of Osmania University people

Notable alumni of Osmania University include 9th Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao,39 Jaipal Reddy, cabinet minister, 16th and last Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh with Telangana Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, CEO Adobe systems Shantanu Narayen and senior advocate Subodh Markandeya.

Other alumni include spiritual guide and founder of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur, Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji,40 pro chancellor of khaja bandanawaz university Syed Muhammad Ali Al Hussaini, former Indian Cricket team captain Mohammed Azharuddin, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, novelist Venkatesh Kulkarni, author and poet Sneha Narayanan, PDSU founder George Reddy, former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India Yaga Venugopal Reddy, chemist Garikapati Narahari Sastry, Metallurgist and former Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University Patcha Ramachandra Rao and physicist Raziuddin Siddiqui. Rakesh Sharma, cosmonaut and the first Indian to travel in space, was a graduate of Osmania.41 Karan Bilimoria, founder of Cobra Beer, Member of the House of Lords, and the seventh Chancellor of the University of Birmingham earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Osmania in 1981.42 Rafi Ahmed, a well-known virologist and immunologist graduated from Osmania University in 1968.

Notable former faculty members of the university include Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Dravidianist and linguist, and founder of linguistics department at the university, physicist Suri Bhagavantam, and linguist Masud Husain Khan.

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References

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