The Institute of Rural Reconstruction was founded in 1922 at Surul, 3 K.M. away from Santiniketan. It was formally inaugurated on 6 February 1922 with Leonared Elmhirst as its first Director.
Second but contiguous campus of Visva Bharati came to be located in 1923 at a site which assumed the name of Sriniketan. It took over the work of training in handicrafts already began by Silpa Bhavana. But the main object was that it bringing back life in is completeness to the villages and help people to solve their own problems instead of solution being imposed on them from outside. An emphasis was laid on a scientific study of the village problem before a solution was attempted.