A camp office of the new Dakshin Dinajpur University (DDU) announced by the state government was formally opened at a rented building in Chawkbhabani area of Balurghat town, South Dinajpur district, on Wednesday.

This is the sixth university to come up in north Bengal region.

Its classes — postgraduate courses in English, political science and mathematics — are set to start from this October.

The state government has already appointed Sanchari Roy Mukherjee, a senior faculty member of North Bengal University, as the vice-chancellor, and Panjar Kundu, the principal of Balurghat College, as the additional registrar in charge of the new varsity.

On Wednesday, the camp office was opened by South Dinajpur district magistrate Ayesha Rani A., along with superintendent of police Rahul Dey in presence of the vice-chancellor and other varsity officials.

“The camp office of the varsity has been opened today (Wednesday). Under the earlier announcement, we intend to start classes for postgraduate courses in English, political science and mathematics from October this year. The official website of the varsity has also been opened and students intending to pursue postgraduate courses in these subjects can apply till September 15,” the vice-chancellor said.

In South Dinajpur, a separate varsity set up in the district had been a longstanding demand of residents.

“This camp office will function on a temporary basis. For the permanent building of DDU, the administration has already identified land at Mahinagar area of Balurghat town. Till the building comes up, classes of the new university would be held at Balurghat College,” said a source.