Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, was established in 1954, in the famous temple city of Tirupati, South India, under the auspices of Late Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and with support of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. The University was started with six departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Economics and Philosophy initially. With a sprawling campus of nearly 1000 acres (6 km²) ,one of the largest universities in India,and buildings of majestic beauty and architectural splendor whose architect was the famous Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya. The University has eight constituent colleges concerning various conventional and advanced subjects. The University has 58 departments, wherein 71 different PG courses and several Diploma and Certificate courses are being run with a total academic faculty strength of 400 and 1500 non-teaching and a student strength of 5000, including research scholars.