Final decision in March next year

The Ministry of External Affairs is understood to be pitching for locating the university in Delhi but a decision will be based on consensus among the Saarc countries, official sources said.

The university is being seen as a way of bolstering cooperation among the South Asian countries and Gowher Rizvi, director of Ash Institution of Democratic Governance and Innovations at Harvard University, was given the task of preparing a concept note on the proposed institution.

After discussions among the stakeholders across the Saarc countries, it has been suggested that the SAU should be set up as a non-profit public private partnership venture in view of funds constraints of governments in the region and profit-making private universities.

It has also been proposed that all governments of Saarc countries would have to contribute to initial funding of the residential university.

However, the governments would not be providing annual subsidies to the university whose authorities then have to ensure financial viability of the institution, said the sources.

The Saarc countries will also discuss the admission policy and procedure, fee structure as well as legal framework of the university.

The model for the SAU, particularly relating to the legal framework, has been suggested in the light of Budapest-based Central European University and the University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan.

The governments of Saarc countries are in a very advanced stage of discussions on the details pertaining to the establishment of the university.