The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, formerly called Central University for Tibetan Studies, is a Deemed University founded in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, in 1967, as an autonomous organisation under Union Ministry of Culture. The CIHTS was founded by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai of Lama, with the aim of educating Tibetan youths in exile and Himalayan border students as well as with the aim of retranslating into Sanskrit and translating into Hindi and other modern Indian languages lost Indo-Buddhist Sanskrit texts that now exist only in Tibetan.
Early growth
The founding of the institute occurred after a year-long conference organized by Dudjom Rinpoche gathered exiled spiritualleaders from the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. As overseen by the 14th Dalai Lama, the conference focused on preserving the culture and spiritual heritage of Tibet, and on salvaging buddhist teachings carried by the exile community in India. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche attended the conference and became the institute's first Nyingma Professor in 1967. The institute steadily progressed and the Indian government declared it a Deemed University on 5 April 1988. Formerly headed by Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin the Samdong Rinpoche, and Ngawang Samten, also a former alumnu. In 2016, Lobsang Norbu Shastri became the institute's leader. Assisted by faculty members, the institute's goal is achieving excellence in the fields of Tibetology and Buddhology. The university attracts a large number of students from many regions of the Himalayas, considered as family coming from Kinnaur, Lahaul, Spiti, Ladakh, Monpas from Arunachal. Students from Nepal include Sherpas, Lamas and many more from the bordering Tibetan regions of Mustang and Dolpo. Students also come from Bhutan and Mongolia. The university also offers courses in Tibetan medicine, Tibetan Astrology, and Fine Arts.
University
On 14 January 2009 the institute was officially declared as a university and the inauguration was made by the XIV Dalai Lama. Now the name of the university is Central University of Tibetan Studies.
