Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies

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The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) is a university institute founded in Dharamsala, India in 1967.

The CIHTS was founded by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with Tenzin Gyatso the Dalai Lama with the aim of educating the youths of Tibet in exile in Dharamsala and the Himalayan border students of India.

Originally it functioned as a special constituent wing of Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi but in the early 1970s the Government of India reviewed the progress of the Institute and decided to accord it a status of an autonomous body under the Department of Culture, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India in 1977 with 100% financial support from the Indian government.

The Institute steadily progressed and the Indian government finally declared the Institute as a "Deemed to be a University" on 5th April, 1988. The Institute is currently headed by Prof. S. Rinpoche as Director assisted with faculty members of the Institute with the goal of achieving excellence in the field of Tibetology, Buddhology and Himalayan Studies.