The University of
Mumbai (informally known as Mumbai University or MU) is a public state university located in Mumbai,
Maharashtra,
India. It was known as the University of Bombay until 1996 when the city of Bombay was renamed as Mumbai. University of Mumbai was established in 1857 consequent upon "Wood's Education Dispatch", and is one amongst the first three Universities in India.
The university was founded by Dr. John Wilson (Founder: John Wilson Education Society, Wilson College, Mumbai (1832)) in 1857 and is modelled on the universities of Britain. Bombay university primarily imparts education through its affiliated colleges. The affiliated colleges of the university are spread throughout the city of Mumbai and four coastal districts in Maharashtra:
Thane, Raigad,
Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
Kalina Campus
A large campus is situated in Kalina,
Santacruz in suburban Mumbai. Much of its 230 acre area (930,000 m²) is reserved for the development of future disciplines. It has on-campus graduate training and research centers. Several departments offering courses in the streams of science, technology, commerce and humanities are located here. However, most colleges of engineering affiliated to the University of Mumbai are privately-owned.
Fort Campus
The original campus is at Fort, Mumbai, near the southern end of the city of Mumbai. It houses the administrative division of the university. It is built in the Gothic style of architecture. The Rajabai
Clock Tower is located in the lawns of the campus. The convocation hall of the university has been accorded the status of a heritage structure.
The Rajabai Clock Tower
One of Mumbai's landmarks, the Rajabai Clock Tower is situated in the Mumbai University campus at Fort. It houses the University Library. Based on plans by British architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and completed in the 1870s, it was modelled on the Big Ben clock tower of London. A businessman, Premchand Raichand contributed monetarily to the construction of the tower.
Other institutes
Several departments of the University of Mumbai are located at places other than the Fort or Kalina campus. These include the Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology, formerly (UDCT), the Alkesh Dinesh Mody Instituted for Financial and Management Studies (ADMI), etc. The departments of Medicine and Medical Research are spread out across several prominent hospitals in Mumbai.
Libraries
Jawaharlal Nehru Library
The central library, Jawaharlal Nehru Library (JNL) is located in the campus at Kalina. It houses 850,000 books, documents and scientific journals, theses, encyclopedias, along with over 30,000 microfilms and over 1,200 rare manuscripts, International Monetary Fund reports, census records and several hundreds of e-journals. The library catalogue is computerised. Most books in the library are on topics of basic sciences, social sciences and behavioural sciences.
The technology and applied research journals and books of the University of Mumbai are kept at other libraries including those at Institute of Chemical Technology,
Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and Tata Memorial Hospital. Together the University of Mumbai collection of books and scientific journals includes over a million documents.
Faculties and Departments
The University of Mumbai has several hundreds of affiliated colleges offering undergraduate and post-graduate education, and conducting research, in areas of science, commerce, arts, engineering, management, law, etc. Each college has its own campus and specialized departments/centres.
