More than a decade after its establishment with the vision of promoting the Hindi language, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University in Bhopal is facing an alarming decline in student enrollments. For the 2025–26 academic session, not a single student has taken admission in 18 of its courses, while only four students have enrolled in the MA Hindi programme — the very discipline that defines the institution’s identity.
Founded in 2011 at Sukhi Sevaniya on the outskirts of Bhopal, the university was conceived as a specialised centre for higher education in Hindi.
However, despite its stated objective, the number of students opting for Hindi programmes has been steadily shrinking. In the current session, just 174 students have taken admission against nearly 1,800 available seats.
According to university data, 63 students have enrolled in postgraduate (PG) programmes and 99 in undergraduate (UG) courses, while 13 students have joined certificate and diploma programmes.
The numbers underscore a worrying trend — of 27 PG, 11 UG, and 13 diploma or certificate courses, several have received either no applications or just one or two students. Even as student numbers fall, expenditure on infrastructure and faculty remains substantial. The university shifted to its newly constructed `5 crore campus in October 2020.
In 2023, it appointed 13 regular teachers drawing salaries of up to `1 lakh each per month and 22 guest faculty members paid around `33,000 each. Despite these investments, the university’s courses — including those in Yoga, Performing Arts, Folk Music, Sanskrit, Environmental Science, and Natural Medicine — have failed to attract students this year.
Registrar of the University, Shailendra Jain, told The Pioneer that given the university’s location away from the city, the current admissions are ‘adequate’. He maintained that the institution receives around 200 admissions each year on average, which, he said, is sufficient for a specialised university dedicated to Hindi studies.
“This university cannot be compared with others because it serves a very specific academic and linguistic purpose,” Jain said.
University officials also pointed out that facilities such as hostels and transportation have been introduced for the convenience of students.
They expressed hope that the introduction of new job-oriented and skill-based programmes under the National Education Policy (NEP) from the next academic session will help attract more students.
While the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University was envisioned as a cornerstone for promoting the Hindi language in higher education.
