Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics - Campus

Campus

The Institute has a serene and beautiful campus of 5.25 acres (21,200 m2) and is located in the urban setting of Pune in Deccan Gymkhana area. The residential campus of the Institute comprising faculty and staff houses, guest houses, and the student dormitories, is built on a separate plot of 5.39 acres (21,800 m2), a few metres away from the Institute. There are two hostels, one for boys and another for girls. Adequate hostel accommodation is available for the existing students. The girls’ hostel was designed by the famous architect and urban planner Christopher Charles Benninger during 1996-1998.

The Institute campus is a mélange of old and new buildings spread over a large and lush green area. It provides just the right sylvan, solitary and peaceful setting required for learning and researching. After having undergone a recent landscaping, the campus attracts many a visitors as well. The campus consists of an academic block, faculty block, administration block, seminar hall and the Dhananjaya Rao Gadgil Library. There is a conference hall, known as Kale Memorial Hall, on the top floor of the Library which is used by the Institute and also let out to others on rent. The austere and majestic buildings radiate the old charm characteristic of the Pune city. On the Fergusson Hill behind the Institute lies the spot where Gokhale took the vows of the Servants of India Society – poverty, obedience, and service to nation - and administered them to three others. It has become a landmark because of the erection of a column there. Gokhale’s bungalow still stands in the precincts of the campus. A massive and graceful banyan tree adds to the charm of the place. This is said to be the tree under which Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi (who regarded Gokhale as his political guru) used to muse over political issues in their times. The residential campus of the GIPE too, is set in the midst of lush greenery and gives the place a uniquely quaint contour, especially in the rains.