Odisha HRD

12 Writeup

• 1. Kishore Chandra Das  |  April 14th, 2008 at 10:35 am

  I appreciate the analysis and suggestions given by Shri Citta Baral, which are thougt provoking for the overll educational development in the state and aimed at reducing regional imbalance . I can add one thing here that Govt should also try to have NITER in line with NISER, which would obviously be under Department of Atomic Energy. This institution can be set up at Balesore/Bhadrak/Anugul/Jajpur. However, efforts for converting IIT,Khaaragpur campus at Bhubaneswar to a fullfleged one, having certain unique branches in UG and/or PG level can be taken up appropriately, when announced IIT,Orissa comes to a reality. This issue can be taken up prefereably after genral election and if there is a change in guard in Centre. KCDAS

• 2. Lalit Mohan Pattnaik  |  April 14th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

  I could not have composed a better proposition. Thanks.
  Lalit Mohan Pattnaik,
  Working President, AGAMI ODISHA

• 3. Chitta Baral  |  April 14th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

  Kishore babu:

  On NITER we are just waiting for NISER to have a director. Once that happens, we will bring the NITER proposal and try to push it forward.

  On IIT Kharagpur campus in Bhubaneswar: West Bengal is going to continue pursuing its goal of an IIT Kharagpur campus in Kolkata. We have to be alert and whenever news comes out on that, Orissa can immediately revive its push for the IIT Kharagpur campus in BBSR with the argument that both proposals were mooted at the same time and picking the Kolkata one and leaving out the BBSR one is basically discriminating against Orissa. This is another reason the recently proposed IIT in Orissa has to be at least 100km away from Bhubaneswar.

• 4. Kishore Chandra Das  |  April 14th, 2008 at 8:12 pm

  Dear Mr. Chitta Baral,

  Thanks a lot for sharing your straegy for these two institutions. I fully endorsed your view for opening up IIT, Orissa 100 km away forom Bhubaneswar, that to by the side of railway corider to have strategic advantage. Regarding opening up satelite campus of IIT, Karagpur at Kolkota, I am told that Govt. has taken decision to have such campus at Rajarhat. My information could be incorrect. Besides. through this communication, I would earnestly request everyone to support each other for our greater cause for immedite setting up announced IIT- KCDAS

• 5. Sailen Routray  |  April 14th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

  All the suggestions made by Dr. Baral are quite important, and if implemented will go a long way in meeting the higher education needs of Orissa. What follows are elaborations and some minor additions.

  1. What Orissa, or for that matter India, lack are REAL universities that have all the departments/faculties and provide education from the undergraduate/vocational to the PhD level. The fragmentation of higher educational institutions in Orissa has to stop. The recent move to create health universities etc should be opposed.

  2. All the existing older universities should be made into real universities by a process of aggregation and upgradation. For example, Utkal University can be made into a real university by upgrading Capital hospital to a medical college, and making it into the faculty of medicine of the university. Similarly Center for IT Education (CITE), Bhubaneswar should be made into the faculty of engineering of Utkal. Ramadevi and BJB college can be converted into constituent colleges (as opposed to affiliated colleges). This would make Utkal a real university.

  3. Brahmapur engineering school must be upgraded into a college and made the faculty of engineering of Brahmapur university. Similarly the Brahmapur medical college should be converted into the faculty of medicine of the university. Khalikote college should me made into the constituent college of the university.

  4. The engineering school in Cuttack should be upgraded into a college and made into the faculty of engineering of Ravenshaw University. The Institute of Management & Information Technology should also be made into a constituent institute, and SCB medical college should be converted into the faculty of medicine of the said university. Ravenshaw already has undergraduate courses.

  5. An Ayurvedic medical college can be started at FM university, Balasore. FM college should be converted into a constituent college of FM university. A faculty of engineering should be started at this university.

  6. The Keonjhar Mining College should be developed into a full fledged engineering college, with a focus on mining, and should be converted into the Keonjhar campus of North Orissa University. A faculty of allopathic medicine should be started at the university campus in Baripada. MPC, Baripada should become a constituent college of the university.

  7. GM College should become a constituent college of Sambalpur University. The VSS medical college should become the faculty of medicine. A faculty of engineering specialising in new areas such as aerospace, and nuclear technology can be established. Five year integrated LLB course should be started in the department of Law.

  8. Rayagada college, Rayagada, Rajendra College, Bolangir, Government College, Bhawanipatana, and Government college, Rourkela should be each made into a university, and attempts should be made to convert them into real universities in a liimited timeframe, of say, 10 years.

  9. Jharasuguda engineering school must be upgraded and made into the faculty of engineering of the Rourkela University.

  10. As the National Knowledge Commission recommends, there needs to be a serious rethinking of the current affiliating system of colleges. There should be a single affiliating university for the whole of Orissa for all the private general colleges, whose only job will be curricular innovation, conducting examinations, and maintaning quality. All the other government colleges that are not cnstituent colleges of universities should be similarly governed by another affiliating university.

  Hope this comment generates some debate.

  Regards,

  Sailen Routray.

• 6. Sailen Routray  |  April 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

  All the suggestions made by Dr. Baral are quite important, and if implemented will go a long way in meeting the higher education needs of Orissa. What follows are elaborations and some minor additions.

  1. What Orissa, or for that matter India, lack are REAL universities that have all the departments/faculties and provide education from the undergraduate/vocational to the PhD level. The fragmentation of higher educational institutions in Orissa has to stop. The recent move to create health universities etc should be opposed.

  2. All the existing older universities should be made into real universities by a process of aggregation and upgradation. For example, Utkal University can be made into a real university by upgrading Capital hospital to a medical college, and making it into the faculty of medicine of the university. Similarly Center for IT Education (CITE), Bhubaneswar should be made into the faculty of engineering of Utkal. Ramadevi and BJB college can be converted into constituent colleges (as opposed to affiliated colleges). This would make Utkal a real university.

  3. Brahmapur engineering school must be upgraded into a college and made the faculty of engineering of Brahmapur university. Similarly the Brahmapur medical college should be converted into the faculty of medicine of the university. Khalikote college should me made into the constituent college of the university.

  4. The engineering school in Cuttack should be upgraded into a college and made into the faculty of engineering of Ravenshaw University. The Institute of Management & Information Technology should also be made into a constituent institute, and SCB medical college should be converted into the faculty of medicine of the said university. Ravenshaw already has undergraduate courses.

  5. An Ayurvedic medical college can be started at FM university, Balasore. FM college should be converted into a constituent college of FM university. A faculty of engineering should be started at this university.

  6. The Keonjhar Mining College should be developed into a full fledged engineering college, with a focus on mining, and should be converted into the Keonjhar campus of North Orissa University. A faculty of allopathic medicine should be started at the university campus in Baripada. MPC, Baripada should become a constituent college of the university.

  7. GM College should become a constituent college of Sambalpur University. The VSS medical college should become the faculty of medicine. A faculty of engineering specialising in new areas such as aerospace, and nuclear technology can be established. Five year integrated LLB course should be started in the department of Law.

  8. Rayagada college, Rayagada, Rajendra College, Bolangir, Government College, Bhawanipatana, and Government college, Rourkela should be each made into a university, and attempts should be made to convert them into real universities in a liimited timeframe, of say, 10 years.

  9. Jharasuguda engineering school must be upgraded and made into the faculty of engineering of the Rourkela University.

  10. As the National Knowledge Commission recommends, there needs to be a serious rethinking of the current affiliating system of colleges. There should be a single affiliating university for the whole of Orissa for all the private general colleges, whose only job will be curricular innovation, conducting examinations, and maintaning quality. All the other government colleges that are not cnstituent colleges of universities should be similarly governed by another affiliating university.

  Hope this comment generates some debate.

  With warm regards,

  Sailen Routray.

• 7. Digambara  |  April 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

  I totally agree with Prof Baral. Though in the last 15 years the state government has established 5 universities (North Orissa Univ., Fakir Mohan Univ., BPUT, Utkal Univ. of Culture, Ravenshaw Univ.), School of mining (in Keonjhar) and Capital Medical college, it has not yet etsblished a single government medical college, engineering insitute or univerisity in South Western Orissa or KBK region in last 60 years. I feel apart from Univs state government should also establish one or more engineering college in this region. Often we argue that nobody is interested to serve in KBK region. The fact is when we have shortage of profesionals (doctors, lecturers, engineers) in Orissa why should one prefer KBK region or other rural pockets over major towns. I have not seen any national institute in India struggling to get professionals because of its location in rural/backward part including north eastern states. Unless we establish more new institutes the present mind set of people will not change for KBK region in coming years. Some of our policy makers forget that even if we try all our institutes will not be Harvard, so social responsibility should not be down played.

• 8. Chitta Baral  |  April 15th, 2008 at 7:44 am

  Kishore babu:

  My impression is that all the branch campus stuff including the Rajrahat branch campus are on hold (or cold storage) When you have time, please do a search and let us know if you find any recent news article (or any web site etc.) on this.

  I am told that West Bengal was really trying hard but did not succeed this time. I am sure they will keep trying and we have to watch like a hawk.

• 9. Chitta Baral  |  April 15th, 2008 at 7:49 am

  Dear Sailen:

  Very good points and I think consolidation is necessary. I will send you some of my thoughts on this by email.

  One issue though: The idea behind the health university is to put all the medical colleges under one university.

  I agree with your suggestion with a minor modification.

  The private medical colleges can perhaps be better controlled if they are under one university.

  But the govt. medical colleges should be part of the local university to create better synergy between various departments and to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration.

• 10. Digambara  |  April 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  Dear Mr Routary,
  Your vision for higher education in Orissa is highly appreciale.
  In January 2007 I sent a similar letter to our CM somwhat related to this topic though some are not feasible at this point. Below is copy of it.
  With best regards
  Digambara

  Sirs,
  Politically and socially one has to consider over geographical distance between universities beside population. At least one University in each undivided districts will minimize regional differences (please look at the attached file for detail analysis). As a tribal state, Orissa has lots of mixing of various tribal languages, cultures, food habits etc in social life and this will come out with developments. That is what sometime we are observing recently.

  Cities like Bhubaneswar (along with Cuttack, Puri, Khorda), Rourkela, Sambalpur (along with Bargarh and Jharsuguda), and Berhampur definitely should have additional universities. But backward region like KBK should also given equal attention.

  The national knowledge commission of India is suggesting more universities and less number of colleges affiliated to it for better functioning and quality education. To obtain large share of UGC grants and keeping all the above points in mind, the government should make following changes with immediate action.

  (i) UCE Burla should be made a state University, which would be converted as deemed university.

  (ii) Since Government Autonomous College Bhawanipatna is a Potential Center of Excellence by UGC certification and located in KBK region, it would be ideal (to get UGC approval) to upgrade it to a state university for Kalahandi and Nuapada districts. This Kalahandi University should be established with the present autonomous college in Bhawanipatna and an administrative branch would come in Nuapada (affiliated college).

  (iii) Koraput University should be made for Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, and Nawrangpur districts by distributing with all the autonomous colleges in the region, for examples in BD College Jeypore and Rayagada College and administrative branches of this university would come in Malakangiri (affiliated college) and Nawrangpur (affiliated college).

  (iv) Balangir University should be established for Balangir and Subarnapur districts with the autonomous Rajendra colleges in Balangir and an administrative branch of it would come in Sonpur (affiliated college).

  (v) Phulbani University (or Central Orissa University) should be established for Kandhamal and Boud districts with the autonomous Phulbani colleges in Phulbani and an administrative branch of it would come in Boud (affiliated college).

  (vi) Keonjhar University should be made with all the autonomous colleges in Keonjhar.

  (vii) Sundergarh/Rourkela University should be made with all the autonomous college in Sundergarh districts including Rourkela.

  (viii) Dhenkanal University (or Central Orissa University) should be made for Angul and Dhenkanal districts with all autonomous colleges in Angul and Dhenkanal districts.

  (ix) Kalinga University should be made for Cuttack, Jagatsingpur, Kendrapada, and Jajpur districts with all autonomous colleges in these districts.

  (x) Proposed Law University should be established in twin cities Cuttack-Bhubaneswar region.

  (xi) Health University of Orissa should be established in Bhawanipatna as it is central to the most backward KBK, Boud and Kandhamal districts and the region does not have any access to good health facilities within 200km of radius. [as such state capital, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur have at least better governmental medical facilities]

  (xii) Ramadevi Collge should be made Women University of Orissa.

  (xiii) Khalikote College should be made a unitary university.

  (xiv) BJB College should be made a unitary university.

  (xv) G M College could be made a unitary university.

  (xvi) Utakal University will continue to have all the autonomous colleges in Puri, Khorda and Nayagarh districts. Opening of Kalinga, Dhenkanal and present Fakir Mohan universities will reduce the administrative load to this university.

  (xvii) Sambalpur University will continue to have all the autonomous college in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, and Deogarh districts. . Opening of Kalahandi, Balangir, Sundergarh and Phulbani universities will reduce the administrative load to this university.

  (xviii) Berhampur University will continue with all the autonomous colleges in Ganjam and Gajpati districts. Opening of Koraput and Phulbani universities will reduce the administrative load to this university.

  (xix) North Orissa University will continue as it is and include all the autonomous colleges in Mayurbhanj district.

  (xx) Fakir Mohan University will continue as it is and include all the autonomous college in Balasore and Bhadrak districts, so that it will take more administrative assignments and reduce some of the work load for Utkal University.

  (xxi) Ravensha Unitery University will continue as it is.

  (xxii) BPUT will continue as it is and according to its act.

  (xxiii) OUAT will continue as it is and according to its act.

  (xxiv) Jaggannath Sanskrit University will continue as it is and according to its act.

  (xxv) Utkal University of Culture will continue as it is and according to its act.

  ORISSA STATISTICS: Total Number of Universities: 15 (proposed) + 10 (established) = 25

  In this proposal, districts which do not have any autonomous college could have a university branch, such as a branch of Koraput University could come in Malkangiri etc and the proposed university in the undivided district would automatically include all the affiliated colleges in the undivided districts into its arm.

  I also think for Bhubaneswar and periphery area (including Cuttack, Choudwar, Naraj, Barang, Puri, Konark, Khorda) we should fight for many more national institutes including IIT, IIM, IIPH etc (because its the only capable region in the sate having all infrastructure and air connectivity) and there is a fair chance. A central university and few national institutions should be demanded in the backward KBK region.

  In the mean time as a responsible government, the state government should focus at least to a minimum extend in the regions like Kalahandi, Balangir, Koraput, Phulbani for higher education, which do not have any state government institution of higher learning (except few private engineering colleges and recently proposed private medical colleges which are progressing in snail’s pace).

  I hope the government would pay urgent attention in this regard.

  Thank you and with kind regards

  Sincerely

  Digambara Patra

• 11. R. K. Ghosh  |  April 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  Dear Prof. Baral,
  It is not entirely true that all satellite centers of IITs are on hold. IITB’s Ahmedabad center was opened very recently. Of course I understand, minster of MHRD did chide the director IIT B for being a party to it. May be IIT KGP center will not run into this kind of opposition from MHRD as state is ruled by their partners in power.

  Best
  R K Ghosh

• 12. Chitta Baral  |  April 15th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

  Dear Prof. Ghosh:

  You are right they oked the satellite center. MHRD is ok with satellite centers like the one that is already there in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. My understanding is that at present they are opposed to branch campuses that will offer regular IIT degrees (say like B.Tech). The proposed branch campus in Bhubaneswar was supposed to be like that. But Kolkata will keep pursuing and at some point the central govt. may give in to Kolkata.