The ambitious SAARC university will start functioning from a temporary campus in Jawaharlal Nehru University this year with 50 students in two Masters courses.

JNU today agreed to provide its School of Physical Sciences building to be used as the temporary campus of the SAARC university which will offer Masters in Development Economics and Masters in Computer Application with students from all the eight member countries.

In a letter to SAARC University CEO Prof G K Chadha, JNU Vice Chancellor Prof B B Bhattacharya said the building can be used for a year for running classes and administrative purposes, a top official source said.

The campus of the university will be set up later for which land is being acquired in Mehrauli in South Delhi.

Each course will have 25 students each. While 50 per cent of the seats will go to the host country, India, smaller countries will get minimum four per cent of seats.

In case of any reserved seat for a smaller country remaining vacant, it will go to the students of another small country, the source said.

Admission for the programmes will be carried out in July and classes are expected to start in August this year, they said.

The rules, regulations and procedures for admissions were discussed at the two-day SAARC Summit in Thimpu in April this year. The SAARC University, which is the brainchild of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is expected to be a centre of excellence.

The university, which will have campuses in all the member countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, will ultimately have the capacity to accommodate 7,000 students from the region. The University will have a faculty of 500.

India has asserted that there will be no discrimination in visas against any student from any country, including those from Pakistan, although police reporting would be a must.

Pakistan had reportedly objected recently to the requirement of police reporting.