The second programme is a masters in economics with specialisation in environmental and resource economics, to be headed by well-known scholar Badal Mukherji. He said 28 out of 30 students for the first batch had already been selected, and they had better scores in their graduation examinations than students being admitted in postgraduate economics courses at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Pachauri and Mukherji said the course would be enriched by the large amount of research material available at TERI.

TERI University was established in 1998 and was granted deemed university status by the University Grants Commission next year. It now has around 350 students in its eco-friendly new campus in Vasant Kunj, southwest Delhi, to which it shifted last year.