The Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill paving the way for the setting up of the first private university in the Calcutta municipal area.

The Bhawanipur Global University Bill envisages a campus on a three-acre plot in Tollygunge that will offer courses in business administration, law, design and those related to technology, healthcare and hospitality.

“We will blend AI in all our courses and there will be hands-on training for students in AI every year so by the time students graduate, they are ready to join the workforce. We do not want to create only bookish degree courses but give our students hands-on training,” Miraj D. Shah, vice-chairman of the sponsoring society of the university, told Metro.

The Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society, which runs a private college in Bhowanipore, will run the university.

Once the university is up and running, the Society will have two units: Bhawanipur Education Society College, affiliated to Calcutta University, and Bhawanipur Global University.

Shah said: “There are certain key elements that we will keep in mind. When we are designing the curriculum we will incorporate inputs from professors who are abroad. We will also partner with Bengal-based people who have started global enterprises for internship opportunities and we will offer our students opportunities to do one or two semesters abroad.”

The university will admit about 1,200 students every year.

Speaking in the House, education minister Bratya Basu said several private universities are being set up to make higher education more accessible.

When Opposition MLAs raised concerns about “privatisation” of the education system, Basu said: “The number of state-sponsored universities in Bengal far exceeds that of private universities. Bengal has the highest number of government-sponsored universities among all states.”

Once the new university starts functioning, Bengal will have 15 private and 30 state-aided universities.