Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (GGV) is a central university located in Bilaspur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. The university is named after Guru Ghasidas (1756–1836), the 18th-century social reformer and founder of the Satnami sect in the Chhattisgarh region. It functions as a multi-faculty institution offering teaching and research across the sciences, humanities, social sciences, commerce, management, engineering, and law.
| Name | Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya |
|---|---|
| Type | Central University |
| Location | Koni, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India |
| Named after | Guru Ghasidas |
| Established as state university | 1983 (as Guru Ghasidas University) |
| Upgraded to central university | 2009 |
| Governing legislation | Central Universities Act, 2009 |
| Country | India |
Bilaspur, where the university is situated, is one of the principal cities of Chhattisgarh and a long-standing administrative and educational centre of the region. Before the establishment of the university, higher education in this part of erstwhile Madhya Pradesh was largely served by colleges affiliated to other state universities. The need for a dedicated institution in the Bilaspur region led to the creation of Guru Ghasidas University.
The institution was founded in 1983 as Guru Ghasidas University by an Act of the Madhya Pradesh state legislature, with jurisdiction over a cluster of districts in the Chhattisgarh area of Madhya Pradesh. The naming of the university honoured the egalitarian social and spiritual teachings of Guru Ghasidas, whose movement had a deep influence on the social fabric of the region.
After the formation of the new state of Chhattisgarh in November 2000, the university continued as a state university of Chhattisgarh. In 2009, under the Central Universities Act, 2009, it was converted into a central university and renamed Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, bringing it under the funding and administrative oversight of the Government of India through the University Grants Commission.
The main campus of the university is located at Koni, on the outskirts of Bilaspur, along the Bilaspur–Ambikapur road. It spans a large landholding and houses academic departments, administrative buildings, hostels, residential quarters, a central library, and sports facilities.
The university is organised into several schools of studies covering broad disciplinary areas. Programmes are offered at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels. Major academic divisions include:
As a central university, GGV is headed by a Visitor (the President of India), with a Chancellor as the titular head and a Vice-Chancellor as the principal academic and executive officer. The statutory bodies include the Court, Executive Council, Academic Council, Finance Committee, and Boards of Studies, constituted under the Central Universities Act, 2009.
Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya is the principal central university serving Chhattisgarh and is one of the larger institutions of higher education in the central Indian region. Its conversion into a central university in 2009 was part of a wider expansion of the central university system in states that previously lacked one, and it has since served as a regional hub for postgraduate teaching and research in Chhattisgarh.