Visva-Bharati is a public research central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India. Until independence it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament. The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, zamindar of Kirnahar and he set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town. Visva-Bharati University is located about 160 km (99 mi) by road from Kolkata in the twin towns of Santiniketan and Sriniketan, in the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. The nearest railway station is Bolpur (Santiniketan) on the Eastern Railway and the air terminal is Kolkata Airport. The institute's buildings and departments are scattered among the two towns.Visva-Bharati offers various courses in higher studies like Pre-degree(10+2 level), Under Graduate, Post Graduate, Ph.D., etc. In order to take admission at Visva-Bharati, every student needs to go through the process properly. Applications can be made .