One of India’s first state universities and the oldest in Maharashtra, the University of Mumbai operates across three suburban campuses. It is one of the largest universities in the world, with more than 500,000 students and over 700 affiliated colleges.
The Kalina campus is located just to the south of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and is home to departments offering courses in humanities, sciences, technology and commerce. The Jawaharlal Nehru Library is located here, together with the National Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology and the Alkesh Dinesh Mody Numismatic Museum which displays world currencies. The Marathi Bhasha Bhavan Centre organises cultural activities and academic programs in the Marathi language of Maharashtra, while centres for both African and Eurasian studies are also found here. The Thane campus is located around 25 kilometres to the north-east of Mumbai and where the School of Law is found, while the Fort campus to the south of the city is dedicated to the university’s administration. The Rajabai Clock Tower is its most prominent landmark, built from 1869 by English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and modelled on Big Ben in London. A fourth campus is also located in the town of Ratnagiri, more than 300 kilometres south of Mumbai, where extramural courses are taught. The University of Mumbai has prestigious alumni including Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, Bangladeshi wildlife conservationist Mohammad Ali Reza Khan and Indian human rights activist Baba Saheb.
The University of Mumbai’s Kalina campus is well served by public buses, while the Fort campus is just a short walk south from Churchgate Railway Station. Regional buses head north to the Thane campus, and long-distance trains travel south to Ratnagiri.
The University of Mumbai was established in 1857 and modelled on the University of London in the United Kingdom, with the pre-existing Faculty of Arts at Elphinstone College and Faculty of Medicine at Grant Medical College among its first departments. In its initial years, it only conducted examinations, developed curricula and awarded affiliations to colleges, with its own teaching departments, post-graduate courses and research disciplines introduced from 1904.