After having set up many reputed colleges and schools in Ahmedabad, the city’s leading industrialists have come together to gift the city one more institute of learning – Ahmedabad University.

The lead this time is taken by Sanjay S Lalbhai of Lalbhai Group, Sudhir Mehta of Torrent Group, Shrenik Kasturbhai and Naishad Parikh, all governing members of the Ahmedabad Education Society (AES). The city is home to the Gujarat University and Gujarat Vidyapeeth along with several other leading institutes.

The Ahmedabad University (AU) formed by the Ahmedabad Education Society is scheduled to start operating from June 1. The admission process for its bachelor’s program will begin on the same day.

The university will have 11 schools; each headed by a dean and will have graduate as well as post-graduate programs to be headed by a program director.

In the first year (2009-2010), the AU will begin with the School of Management and Commerce and the School of ICT with student capacity of 3135. The number of students in the next 10 years is targeted to grow to 21,790 (15,890 diploma seats and 5,550 master’s degree seats) students.

While the university will start with 124 faculty members, it plans to have 959 in the next 10 years.

The university’s academic calendar will be based on a trimester system and will have a continuous evaluation system. The university will also offer a limited number of seats to candidates from other states, NRI candidates and NRI-sponsored candidates. The university’s BBA honours program will be a one of its kind program launched in the state.