The construction of an academy for Tibetan Buddhism began Monday in Chengdu, southwest China.

The 116 million yuan (18.9 million U.S. dollars) project was funded by the Sichuan provincial government and will cover an area of 7.73 hectares.

Sichuan Tibetan Buddhism Academy is expected to open next year.

The school will enroll 400 students , and its curriculum will include Buddhism classics, Tibetan culture, IT and policies, according to Li Xiaoxiang, Communist Party of China secretary of the academy.

Students will study for three or four years, Li added.

Sichuan Province is home to 2.1 million Tibetans.