"The dream for DON BOSCO UNIVERSITY was born out of an imperative in the psyche of Don Bosco Society that the society has to be emphatically present there where the professionals and the leaders of the society are being formed. Focussed work on setting up the University began in early 2006 after Fr. Joseph Almeida and Fr. Stephen Mavely held a preliminary meeting on 24 February 2006. The whole of 2006 could be viewed as a gestation period during which the focus was on clarifying ideas, preparing concept papers, making presentations before potential stakeholders, and forwarding a formal application to the General Council at Rome to obtain the final go-ahead – time well-spent as it resulted in clarifying the vision, the objectives and the approach to the entire project. The Rector Major and the General Council of Don Bosco Society gave the final approval to proceed with the project of establishing the university on 10th January 2007. This year saw hectic activity to get the project off the ground – endless meetings of ‘ad hoc’ committees, ‘core’ committees, finance and fund-raising committees, drafting committees, short-listing and hiring of consultants, preparation of Detailed Project Reports, search for suitable land, etc. It culminated in a presentation of the project to the then Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Tarun Gogoi and his cabinet colleagues and top government officials on 23rd October 2007. The formal proposal of Don Bosco Society, submitted to the Government of Assam on 8th November 2007, to set up a private University was examined by the Expert Committee of the government; and, as recommended by the Committee, the government, on 29th March 2008, issued the Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Salesians of Don Bosco to establish the University at Guwahati in Assam."