Neither the Bihar government nor the Centre is doing enough to preserve the glory of the ancient Nalanda University, the ruins of which were recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site earlier this year, said an award winning archaeologist who, apart from his many finds, once took the Obamas on a tour of Humayun's Tomb.

Karingamannu Kuzhiyil Muhammed, retired regional director (north) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said it wasn't enough for a site to get Unesco heritage status.

"World Heritage is a big title. But many feel that the status changes the funding arrangements for the site. Unesco or the Centre doesn't pump in more funds when a site gets World Heritage tag. The responsibility is on the site authorities, the district administration, the state and the Centre. It's a collective effort to push for the publicity of the site," said Muhammed, who has received the Saarc environmental award for conservation of the Bateshwar temple complex, situated around 50km from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Muhammed, who has excavated the Buddhist stupa of Kesaria built by Emperor Asoka and has received four national awards for maintaining properties such as Sanchi Stupa, Qutb Minar and Humayun's Tomb, said a World Heritage site should strive to become truly universal.

"Foreigners, the differently abled and locals, all should feel proud of the property. Look how the Taj (Mahal) is being maintained. The Nalanda University is the first universal varsity because by the 7th century it had students from across the globe. Paris University came up in the 12th century, the ones at Oxford and Cambridge in the 13th century AD. Yet they did not have students from all over the world. Nalanda did. It had a student-teacher ratio of 10,000:1,500. Isn't it humongous considering the time it was making heads turn?" Muhammed said.