In a significant boost to its international academic standing, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has secured its largest-ever Erasmus+ grant, valued at approximately ₹8 crore. The prestigious funding from the European Union has been awarded to the Tourism Management section of the university's Faculty of Arts.
A Landmark Achievement for International Collaboration
The grant, worth €780,000, falls under the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) scheme. It will fund a three-year project running from November 2025 to October 2028. University officials hailed this as a landmark achievement, marking the first time the Faculty of Arts has received such an award and representing the biggest Erasmus funding package BHU has ever obtained.
The project, titled 'SacredTravels4Growth: Higher Education and Sustainable Growth through Religious Tourism,' is spearheaded by BHU. It creates a formidable international consortium of 16 partner institutions from eight countries: Albania, India, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Moldova, Malta, and South Africa. From India, the participating universities are Banaras Hindu University and Karnataka University.
Project Aims and Leadership
The core mission of the initiative is to strengthen higher education capacity in key areas like religious tourism, cultural heritage conservation, and sustainable regional development. It aims to facilitate the exchange of best practices between European and partner country institutions.
The BHU project team is led by Dr. Pravin Rana from Tourism Management as the Project Lead. He is supported by Dr. Shyju PJ as Quality Assurance Head, Prof. Jyoti Rohilla as Senior Researcher in Art History, and Dr. Priyanka Singh from RGSC, Barkachha, as a Researcher. The university's Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy Cell (SRICC) will manage administrative and financial oversight.
Dr. Rana emphasized the project's transformative potential, stating it will provide enhanced learning and capacity-building for faculty, students, and other stakeholders. The plan includes four international training workshops and study visits across the partner countries: Albania, Moldova, South Africa, India (BHU), Slovenia, Spain, Malta, and Greece.
Strengthening Global Networks and Academic Excellence
University authorities believe these engagements will significantly expand BHU's global academic networks and foster collaborative teaching and research. The Erasmus+ grant is seen as a powerful reinforcement of BHU's strategic focus on internationalisation and the pursuit of academic excellence.
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi expressed his satisfaction with the European Union's recognition of the Faculty of Arts. The Registrar has formally signed the project agreement with the EU on behalf of BHU.
Prof. Sushma Ghildyal, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, noted that this grant paves the way for further growth. She indicated that several upcoming international projects and memoranda of understanding are in the pipeline, which will open new avenues for global engagement.
The Erasmus programme, launched in 1987 and named after the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, was consolidated in 2014 by the European Union into the Erasmus+ framework. This framework supports a wide range of activities, including higher education mobility and capacity-building projects like the one awarded to BHU.
