By: Express News ServiceMumbai | Updated: January 17, 2026 09:59 PM IST 3 min readThe plan involves collaboration with other state universities starting in July, marking the university's 170th anniversary. (Source: File)Mumbai University will soon implement the concept of meta-university through collaboration with other state universities in the state, Vice Chancellor Dr Ravindra Kulkarni said during the annual convocation held on Saturday. This will be part of initiatives to be taken up under the plan marking the 170th anniversary of the university’s establishment, beginning in July.Mumbai University was established in July 1857. “As India advances toward a developed, inclusive nation, the university’s journey ahead of 170th anniversary must mirror those transitions from access to excellence, from disciplinary silos to interdisciplinary areas and development of docus models to research and innovation-led ecosystems,” said Prof Kulkarni.As varsity is moving toward establishment of specialised technology schools for the purposes of research and development (R&D) in areas such as advance materials, artificial intelligence, data science, cloud and quantum computing, sustainable science, clean energy initiatives among others, Prof Kulkarni highlighted that the varsity will undertake steps for research translation by developing models of commercialisation, management of intellectual property rights, revenue generation etc. “We are also moving ahead with the implementation of the concept of meta-university through collaboration with other state universities in Maharashtra,” he said during his speech.Meta-university, a concept that was introduced more than a decade ago by the then Union government, envisioned collaboration of universities by using the latest technologies available in order to enable the students to benefit from the learning resources available in different institutions, in order to provide a more holistic learning experience to students by offering joint degree programmes. Mumbai University did not share further details on its plans under the meta-university initiative.Mumbai University held its annual convocation on Saturday where more than 1.7lakh degrees were awarded, including 1,49,982 Undergraduate (UG) and 22,540 postgraduate (PG) degrees. Students included 84,318 male and 88,202 females and two others. Females outnumbered males not only in UG courses but also in PG programmes. In UG, with 75,252 students, girls were slightly more than 74,729 boys. Whereas at PG level, with 12,950 students, girls were significantly more than 9,589 boys.By conferring a total of 609 PhD degrees, the varsity recorded nearly 50 percent increase in the number of PhDs awarded last year, which was 401. “This is the highest number of PhDs awarded in the last nine years,” said Prof Dr Ajay Bhamare, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, further highlighting the special emphasis by the university on research and innovation activities. Among total PhDs, the highest (269) were from the faculty of Science and Technology.Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, Prof Dr Ajay Kumar Sood was chief guest for the convocation ceremony. He spoke about the recently launched Union government initiative – Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund to boost private sector R&D. “This is the first time this has happened anywhere in the world. This fund is a game changer providing long-term, low-interest finance to help private companies and start-ups convert deep-tech prototypes into commercial realities,” he said. Gender-wise chartStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Mumbai University