Odisha HRD

Business Standard interviews IIT Bhubaneswar director

Following are some excerpts from that interview.

What are the institute’s immediate campus expansion plans?
We received 936 acres from the Orissa government in Argul. The master plan for the permanent and residential IIT-Bhubaneswar campuses is almost ready. Next we will appoint architects and consultants for project and construction management. IIT-Kharagpur will continue to be the mentor institute for IIT-Bhubaneswar for 2-3 years, beginning 2008. We started at the IIT-KGP campus in July 2008 with 100 students. Now we have moved to a temporary campus of 45,000 sq ft in Bhubaneswar. This space is IIT-KGP’s extension centre and was given to us by IIT-KGP. Currently, we are putting up all our students and faculty in a housing complex where we have hired 60 large flats.

Academically, what are your focus areas?
We started with three courses in July 2008. These were BTech degrees in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. We plan to start a school of mineral and material engineering, considering the rich resources of Orissa. Also we intend to start studies in ocean sciences, environmental sciences and disaster management. School of chemical and bio-chemical engineering is also another priority area. Our new campus of 936 acres will have a science park where various industries would come and work with students and faculty. This will ensure our students’ exposure to on-job learning.

Also, we will not have separate departments for each discipline. For instance, we will have only one school of basic sciences which will encompass subjects like Physics, Chemistry, bio-science, arts sciences, and others. Similarly, our school of infrastructure management will encompass everything from construction, architecture to building materials, etc. This will ensure multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research and interaction. Our aim is to encourage product designing and product creation based on societal needs, and in order to do that, a student needs to know right from the material selection to manufacturing to production to finished goods. Therefore, each school of learning should address all necessary knowledge required to build a product specific to that industry.

How many students and faculty do you have now, and what is the plan ahead?
When we started from IIT-KGP last year, we had 100 students. This year we have moved to the temporary campus in Bhubaneswar with 94 second-year students. We have 120 first years and 20 preparatory students. … We have 27 faculty members right now taking care of the first and second year students, and the drive is on for recruiting more faculty. Our plan is to have 2,500 students and 280 faculty within 3-4 years. In 15 years from now, we should have 10,000 students, 1,100 faculty and nearly 1,400 supporting staff.

…

Any specific plans to encourage research?
Research is one of our main focus areas and we are encouraging faculty to join us with their own research scholars. Even professors from other institutions would come to IIT-Bhubaneswar with their projects. All these projects are funded by various government departments and agencies, so once the researchers come to IIT-Bhubaneswar, the research funds would get transferred to our institute. We will soon advertise for research scholars to engage them in creating new knowledge, as then publish the findings. …

IIT-Bhubaneswar is also making provision for up to Rs 5 lakh research grant to a faculty. This would help them to invest in necessary infrastructure they require to carry out their research, like softwares, hardwares, books and journals, etc. Student researchers get a grant of Rs 15,000 per month. International exposure for faculty and student researchers and presenting their research papers at international conferences is another priority area.

1 comment July 20th, 2009

2009 Open-Close ranks for EE and ME at various IITs, ISM and (I)IT-BHU

The following is extracted from http://jee.iitd.ac.in/openclose09.htm.

 (The 2008 open-close ranks are here.)

July 14th, 2009

Selected HRD headlines from our Twitter site

Following is from our twitter site http://twitter.com/orissalinks.

• Besides Frankfinn Bhubaneswar also has an Air hostess Academy. http://airhostessacademy.co…
• New web site of Human Development Foundation at http://www.hdf.ac.in is now active.
• So far 18+1 (director) new faculty have joined NISER Bhubaneswar. http://niser.ac.in/faculty.php 13 more have been offered.
• NISER Bhubaneswar permanent faculty: Phy (7), Bio (4), Math (3), Chemistry (4+1 Director)
• TOI http://bit.ly/18efsq Utkal university Bhubaneswar signs MoU with Central council for research in ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS)
• kalahandia> e-admission kicked off in Orissa for junior colleges: e-admission kicked off Tathya.in.. http://bit.ly/42CD3
• IIT Bhubaneswar Director could have been more imaginative in the IIT Diro’s meeting. http://bit.ly/1avLnx IIT Hyderabad D most impressive.
• Sand artist Sudarsan teams up with Vedanta University in Puri (near Bhubaneswar) http://bit.ly/4i2ql
• Sibal asked the IITs to expand into new areas like medicine and law and evolve a framework in this regard. http://bit.ly/qjTRI
• orissalinksSibal: “For eg, IIT-Kharagpur can have its campus in Delhi too. Spread your wings like an octopus, I will support you.” http://bit.ly/164HC5
• orissalinksSibal: "Why can’t you have a law school inside your campus. Why can’t an engineering student learn about management, economics and biology?”
• orissalinksIIT Bhubaneswar is just starting so it can not spread wings or have medical schools that soon. But NIT Rourkela can. We should push.
• orissalinkskalahandia> Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandirs perform exceptionally well in Orissa: Sangh schools sco.. http://bit.ly/HvlYs
• orissalinkskalahandia> Dr. Sanjib Kumar Karmee’s Letter to CM of Orissa on Medical College in Balangir: Dear .. http://bit.ly/PXtcL
• orissalinkskalahandia> Bhubaneswar to have railway medical college: Mamata Banerjee announces slew of staff-f.. http://bit.ly/HtNZA
• orissalinks.com> Orissa state cabinet approves bills for Vedanta, Sri Sri and ICFAI Universities: Following is an e.. http://bit.ly/hmqXI
• orissalinkskalahandia> Why not an IIM at Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda (BSJ) region?: Orissa likely to miss IIM .. http://bit.ly/UqN2h
• orissalinkskalahandia> Biju Patnaik Rural varsity to come up in Bhubaneswar: Biju Patnaik Rural varsity to co.. http://bit.ly/cBl6t
• orissalinkskalahandia> New in Ministry of Agriculture Orissa: Horticulture college at Chiplima, agriculture c.. http://bit.ly/FjvJz
• orissalinksVC of Central Univ of Orissa at Koraput urges center for a medical college http://bit.ly/zbfnq
• orissalinksTOI: Delhi to set up knowledge city; land earmarked. http://bit.ly/zLQyf Orissa is gifted one but many stupidly oppose.
• orissalinksXIM Bhubaneswar names its new acad. block as Tata Centenary Learning Centre; Tata Steel contributed about 1 crore to it. http://bit.ly/bwvES

Please consider joining Twitter and following Orissalinks to get similar updates immediately. That site will have original micro-postings (140 characters) as well as the headlines of the Orissalinks, Orissagrowth and Kalahandia blogs.

July 12th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar faculty ad in newspapers (Deadline: 31st July 2009)

June 30th, 2009

Faculty openings at IIT Bhubaneswar (Application Deadline – 31st July 2009)

Following is from http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=7. The application form is at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=8. These were posted in the IIT Bhubaneswar electronic Notice Board at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/index.php.

IIT Bhubaneswar invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in the following disciplines.

Disciplines : Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences (Economics, English, Psychology)

Ph.D. with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in appropriate branch and evidence of the ability to pursue independent high quality research. 

Professor : At least 10 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 5 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor or 3 years as Associate Professor.

Associate Professor : At least 8 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 3 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor

Professor                   : Rs. 18400-500-22400/-

Associate Professor            : Rs. 16400-450-20000/-

Assistant Professor             : Rs. 12000-420-18300/-

Full funding for attending national conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Financial assistance up to Rs.1.00 lakh once in 3 years for attending International conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Reimbursement of 75% of membership fee of one international professional society every year.

Book grant of Rs. 4000/- per annum.

Reimbursement of telephone charges up to Rs.750 per month.

Reimbursement of relocation charges from within India to the faculty members at the time of their joining.

Honorarium of Rs. 15,000/- per month to the teachers who have obtained Bhatnagar Award OR are having fellowship of at least two National Academies. A faculty member is entitled for only one of the two honoraria.

Interested candidates may apply enclosing

•     Curriculum Vitae.

•     List of Publications (with reprints of important publications).

•    Names and Addresses (with e-mail address and fax numbers) of at least three referees.

•     Any other details relevant to the candidature.

•     Reservation for SC/ST/OBC/PH as per Government of India rules.

• Minimum requirement of experience may be relaxed in respect of outstanding candidates.

•     Mere eligibility will not vest any right on any candidate for being called for interview. The decision of the Institute in all matters will be final. No correspondence will be entertained from the candidates in connection with the process of selection / interview. Canvassing in any manner would entail disqualification of the candidature.

·         The Institute reserves the right to call only the requisite number of candidates for interview after shortlisting with reference to the candidate’s qualification, suitability, experience, etc.

·         The candidates should be preferably below 35 years of age for the post of Assistant Professor

•     The Institute reserves the right to fill or not to fill any or all the posts advertised.

·         Candidates possessing the requisite qualification & experience may submit their application on the prescribed form to the Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar – 751013 (email : registrar@iitbbs.ac.in).

·         NO INTERIM ENQUIRIES WILL BE ENTERTAINED.

Download Application Form

Application form can be downloaded from the Institute website (www.iitbbs.ac.in). The candidates applying from Government Organizations and Public Sector Undertaking should have their applications duly forwarded by their present employer. Applicants desiring to apply for more than one discipline should send separate application for each discipline.

Last Date for receipt of completed application forms: 31^st July 2009.

June 29th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar student and faculty housing

The following pictures are from the blog of a couple of IIT Bhubaneswar first batch students. (Thanks to Pradosh, who took the pictures.)

2 comments June 25th, 2009

Rajasthan uses a balanced approach in choosing locations for its national institutions

Update on 27th April 2011: The Central University location has been changed to Bander Sindri near Ajmer and only 80 kms from Jaipur. The Innovation University (previsouly referred to as National University) aiming for world class is now pushed for Jaipur. [Times of India]

The panel set up by the CM of Rajsthan has picked the following places to recommend to the central government for the various national institutes and universities coming up in Rajasthan. (From a Times of India report and another Times of India report)

• IIT : Jodhpur
• IIM: Udaipur
• National University aiming for world-class: Ajmer 
• Central university: Bikaner.

The committee also recommended:

• a "futuristic" heritage conservation and museology centre in Jaipur
• an institute of Food Technology in Hadoti region of Kota

Currently the following national institutions exisit or are being made in the following places in Rajasthan:

• NIT: Jaipur
• LNMIT (private but top-notch): Jaipur
• National law School: Jodhpur
• AIIMS-like institution (being made): Jodhpur

The institutions are nicely distributed between various cities of Rajsthan, although people of Jaipur and Kota are not happy. The population of these locations are:

• Jaipur (World Gazetteer 2009): 3.1 million (has inetrnational air connectivity)
• Jodhpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 988K  – (332 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
• Udaipur (World Gazetteer 2009): 457K – (400 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
• Ajmer (World Gazetteer 2009):  604.7K – (131 kms from Jaipur)
• Bikaner (World Gazetteer 2009): 624.6K – (321 kms from Jaipur)
• Kota (World Gazetteer 2009): 823 K (242 kms from Jaipur)

In contrast in Orissa the distribution of national institutions are more Bhubaneswar centric. Following is the status:

• IIT: Bhubaneswar
• NISER: Bhubaneswar
• AIIMS-like (being made) : Bhubaneswar
• National Law University: Cuttack (part of Bhubaneswar metroplex)
• IIIT (state-funded) : Bhubaneswar
• National University aiming to be world class: Bhubaneswar
• Vedanta University (private): Puri
• NIT: Rourkela
• Central University: Koraput
• IIIT (centrally funded): state wants it in Berhampur; center has identified as Bhubaneswar

Unfortunately, one of the reason given behind the above selection is the lack of connectivity and the size of places. Following is some information on that.

• Bhubaneswar (World Gazetteer 2009): 1.67 million  (has airport but no inetrnational connectivity)
• Rourkela (World Gazetteer 2009): 551 K  (no air connections) – 334 kms from Bhubaneswar
• Berhampur (World Gazetteer 2009): 403 K (no air connections) – 160 kms from Bhubaneswar
• Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda: 200K+ (no air connections) – 499 kms from bhubaneswar
• Puri (World Gazetteer 2009): 185K – 60 kms from Bhubaneswar 
• Sambalpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 258 K (no air connections)  – 321 kms from Bhubaneswar
• Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar: 200 K (no air connections) – 374 kms from Bhubaneswar; 50 kms from Sambalpur

For the future, following are some of the steps that Orissa government needs to urgently take regarding developing more larger urban areas and having the national institutions more evenly distributed:

• Make sure the centrally funded IIIT is established in Berhampur
• Establish functioing airports in Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Koraput at the earliest
• Push for international flights to Bhubaneswar
• Push for upgradation of UCE Burla (Sambalpur area) to an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
• Push for the establishment of a branch of IGNTU (Indira Gandhi National Tribal University) in Phulbani
• Push for the establishment of IIM outside of the Bhubaneswar area
• Push for the establishment of a centrally funded KBK Inst of Engineering and Technology (along the lines of SLIET and ABAGKIET) in Kalahandi or Balangir.
• Push for upgrading another medical college (Berhampur or Sambalpur) to AIIMS level.
• Push for establishing NID in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
• Push for establishing NIPER in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
• Push for a BITS Pilani campus in a location outside of Bhubaneswar

9 comments June 12th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar students will stay near Jharpada and take bus to their classes

Update: Dharitri reports that so far 18 faculty have been hired.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

"Last year, we admitted 120 students to three streams: civil, mechanical and electrical (40 students each). The number would the same this year," IIT-Bhubaneswar registrar B K Ray told TOI. According to him, 240 students (of both batches) would be taught at IIT-Kharagpur Extension Centre building here. "Three laboratories are being set up. Everything should be ready in time," Ray said.

"Since no hostel is available now, we have taken 50 new apartments on rent at SBI Colony in the Jharpada area for students’ accommodation. A private party would do the catering job, while for transportation of students from the apartments to classrooms the distance is seven km we will hire three-four buses," the registrar said.

Around 935 acre has already been earmarked at Kansapada in Jatni, about 30 km from here, for construction of a permanent campus of IIT-Bhubaneswar.

"It will take at least three years to build the new campus. We aim to start classes on the permanent campus in 2011," Ray said….

IIT officials said they have got approval to open courses in different subjects, but as of now they want to concentrate on civil, mechanical and electrical streams to ensure no dilution of quality took place.

"There is no need to rush. We have started recruiting teachers. Apart from IIT-Kharagpur teachers, some retired IIT and Institute of Physics and National Institute of Science, Education and Research (NISER) teachers will join us," Ray added.

May 30th, 2009

150 students from Bhubaneswar are in the IIT JEE list (including the EML); 11 from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay in Mundali make it

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

A preliminary estimate puts the number of successful candidates from the State at about 200 – including those who secured All India Ranks (AIR) and those who figured in the extended merit list announced on Monday.

While 150 students are believed to have cleared the test from Bhubaneswar alone, 11 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mundali, in Cuttack notched up good ranks.

Initial reports said approximately 10 students from Berhampur and another 20 from Rourkela made it to the extended merit list.

This IIT success rate is probably the best ever in the State with one student, …

JNV, Mundali, where about 39 students were given special coaching for IIT, saw its student Abhisek Rai getting AIR 1,948 (placed 258th in OBC category list).

Another student, Pratapbandhu Solanki, has secured 12th rank in Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, whereas Sourav Ginnore got 232nd rank in Scheduled Caste category.

Similarly, Ravindra Chourase (324), Saroj Nayak (437), Ranu Choudhury (543), Rakesh Malick (692), Soumya Ranjan Sahoo (731), Nitesh Patra (831) and Kamlesh Ahirwar (953) are among the successful candidates in the SC list, school principal S B Rao said.

The private IIT tutorial institutions were ecstatic about the results. Akash Institute claimed at least 91 of its students cleared the all-India entrance.

Director A B Singh said 24 of its students were on the merit list, while the rest were on extended list.

Similarly, Vidwan claimed 56 students followed by Naidu with 11 and Kalinga Bharati with about 20 students.

… From Kharagpur zone, of 52,176 students, only 928 students qualified. The result percentage in Kharagpur zone is below 2 per cent. 

3 comments May 26th, 2009

MHRD sends appointment letter to IIT Bhubaneswar director designate

Update: IIT Bhubaneswar web page now lists Prof. Madhusudan Chakroborty as the director.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Times of India.

Functioning under temporary arrangement for over a year, the newly-created six IITs have now got their regular directors.

Prof U B Desai, Prof M K Surappa, Prof Sudhir Kumar Jain, Prof Prem Kumar Kalra, Prof Madhusudan Chakroborty and Prof Anil Bhowmick will head the IITs at Hyderabad, Ropar, Gandhinagar, Rajasthan, Bhubaneswar and Patna respectively.

"The Union Cabinet has given its go ahead for the appointment of the directors who were selected by the search committee. We have issued appointment letters to the new directors last week," a senior HRD ministry official said.

May 26th, 2009

OTV says that 300 Orissa students cracked the IIT entrance; Dharitri says 700

Orissatv.com reports in http://orissatv.com/NewsDetail.asp?newsId=NS3601 that 300 Orissa students cracked the IIT entrance. If that means they qualify for the IIT then it is a great improvement over previous years. If the 300 includes the exttended merit list then one needs the data  regarding how many are in the EML and how many qualified for the IITs. If even half of the 300 qualified for IIT then also it is an improvement over the previous years. The article goes on to say:

The state students performed well only after the establishment of an IIT in Bhubaneswar recently.    

However, Orissa is still far behind other states. For example, 2000+ qualified from Andhra Pradesh. Comparable to Orissa is Gujarat from where 167 qualified to the IITs and 175 are in the extended merit list.

Update: Dharitri says 700 qualified from Orissa.

May 26th, 2009

IIT Hyderabad to start Masters and PhD this year

Update: The comment below is correct. They have had the Ph.D program since January 2009. Perhaps the MHRD found out about it recently and put out a PIB release and as a result various news items came about.

Following is from http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1255708.

The newly-created Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, will offer Masters and PhD programme from the coming session.

It will offer Masters of Technology (M Tech) Degree in five subjects — Chemical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, the HRD Ministry said in a statement today.

Similarly, students can pursue PhD in nine subjects. These are Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and Physics.

Meritorious candidates can avail scholarships. The institute will entertain only on-line applications. The last date for applying for the courses is May 20.

I have not heard about similar offering of post-graduate courses in the other new IITs.

16 comments May 13th, 2009

The tragedy at IIT Kharagpur – lack of proper healthcare facilities; a simple proposed solution

Rohit Kumar, a student at IIT Khargpur died today because of lack of facilities at BC Roy Hospital (should not really be called an hospital). Having spent a night at that hospital after an insect flew inside my ear, I have first hand experience involving BC Roy as well as the lack of proper medical facilities at Kharagpur.

The bigger tragedy is that when the lack of healthcare facilities in BC Roy hospital was pointed out by the students three years ago in the student newspaper, the authorities decided to punish the student paper and shut it down for some time.

I hope this time the authorities will take it seriously and find a long term solution. The current director of IIT Kharagpur has in the past implemented many innovative and bold ideas and here is a bold idea (bold in the context of West Bengal and its unions) that may solve the problem.

IIT needs to close down BC Roy operations and contract its health care operations to a reputed private company such as Apollo. (The company Vedanta is doing something like that.)  A student and employee committee can come up with a specification of what medical services should be available on campus and invite bids from reputed health care companies and then pick the best. I don’t think money would be a problem. This is the way to go as health care is not a core competency of IIT Kharagpur and someone very good in that field should be the one taking care of the health care facilities at IIT Kharagpur.

This should be the model used in other universities and institutes that are in places without good health care facilities; or perhaps in all universities and institutes. Note that a lot of the proposed new central universities are being located in small towns without proper health care facilities. This is the time to take this issue into account and plan properly.

3 comments March 23rd, 2009

IISc will admit students to its Ph.D programs with just B.Tech and without GATE/NET

(Thanks to Abi for the pointer.)

In the document here just above Section 1.7 it says:

NOTE: Candidates with BE/ B Tech/ M Sc or equivalent degree who may not have qualified in any of the above mentioned National Entrance Tests will also be considered for the Ph D program in Engineering. Short listing for interview of such candidates is based on their academic performance in the qualifying degree (upto 3^rd year in BE / B Tech, or 1^st year in M Sc), and their performance in 10^th and 12^th /PUC examinations. 

I have heard from a friend in IIT Kharagpur that this is also possible in the IITs but could not find it in the Ph.D program page of IIT Kharagpur. If one is interested they may directly contact a faculty in the apropriate IIT regarding this.

1 comment March 10th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar plans to hire 60 faculty soon; M.Tech via video conferencing from July: Samaja

March 2nd, 2009

Last year people got into an IIT by scoring 45% in the IIT JEE

(Thanks to Jagmohan Swain for suggesting to write about this.)

See the data at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1303.

Aggregate Total for every 500th rank in Common Merit List

… first paper of IIT JEE 2008 consisted of 69 objective question with 246 marks. Second paper was also of same marks. So the full marks of IIT-JEE 2008 examination was 492. All questions were of objective type with negative marking. The duration of each paper was three hour.

… For OBC quota cutoff will be around 170 marks for rank 4000.

Based on the above and the open-close numbers given at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1303 one can see that one can get into an IIT by scoring 45% in the IIT JEE.

March 1st, 2009