UCE Burla gets conditional nod to be made to a state university
September 25th, 2008
Following is a report from someone who attended the meeting.
Yesterday we (students + alumni + faculty) had a satisfying meeting with CM. salient points –
(1) Ordinance shall be moved to amend BPUT Act to delist UCE as Constituent College of BPUT
(2) CM agreed to move an Act to convert UCE as an Unitary State University subjected to condition given below
(3) CM asked his officials to examine how much acres can be given to UCE
(4) CM said he will look into our claim for Rs 300 crore infrastructure fund which includes Central Funding of 1/3rd.
CM asked what are the benefits of State University. We talked about 12(B) grant from UGC. We talked about an independent Governing Body who can augment the courses/students/faculty/research. We gave examples of BESU & CUSAT. This was contested by VC and Industry Secretary Mr Aditya Padhy. They said that –
(a) UGC fund is very small – may be to the tune of Rs 1 to 2 crore a year.
(b) Guindy College is affiliated to Anna University, Pune Engg College is affiliated to Pune University and yet they are quality college. Why UCE wants University status, and resisting affilitaion to BPUT.
(c) Deemed University status is no inferior to State University as both get UGC grant against 12 (B) and get nearly same grant.
(d) Indian Institute of Science is Deemed University and yet the best institution.
(e) After Revensaw became University, the situation has not improved. They are still struggling for faculty & fund. VC said he is Revensaw’s Seante Member and knows the conditions better than all of us.
Though CM agreed our demand for State University, he asked us (as well Industry Secretary) to prepare a note with examples of other institutions as to how State University will help UCE to grow. Report should contain references to the growth of some Unitary State Universities (in addition to BESU & CUSAT) including Revensaw University. Report has to be submitted within a week.
Entry Filed under: Sambaplpur-Burla-Jharsuguda-Baragarh area (4),UCE Burla (became a university),Upgrading UCE Burla to IIT level,VSS University of Technology (formerly UCE Burla)
6 Writeup
1. Chitta Baral | September 25th, 2008 at 4:32 am
1. The debate regarding why not go for a deemed university is simply a delaying tactics. It can take for ever to satisfy the MHRD requirements for a deemed university.
2. There are definitely good engineering colleges that are not universities on their own. But all three unitary engineering universities (not the degree granting kind like BPUT) have done great. They are BESU, CUSAT and University of Roorkee. The first two are being made to IIESTs and the third has been made to an IIT.
3. IISc is a centrally funded institute. So it does not matter whether it is a deemed university or not.
4. The basic points behind why UCE should become a state university are:
(a) The state does not have to depend on the center to make it a state university. Unlike the “deemed university status” it can be done in an expeditious manner.
(b) Once it becomes a university, it will stand out in India as there are probably no other unitary state engineering universities. If it is then well-funded then it can rise and shine and be a top candidate to be upgraded to an IIT/IIEST/NIT.
(c) As a university it can attract a top energetic professor from an IIT to be its VC. As a constituent college this will not happen.
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Finally the UCE Burla folks should ask the govt, why they want it to be a deemed university? What is the benefit of being at the mercy of the central govt. and wait for, God knows how long, to get the deemed university status. They should put the onus on the government to explain their logic behind going for a deemed university status. From what I can see, it is a delaying tactics possibly by the extremely incompetent vice chancellor of BPUT who after so many years has failed to get 12B status for BPUT and has yet to start even one research center for BPUT among the 5 that were planned when BPUT was established. After so many years BPUT is nothing but a degree granting and exam conducting university and the vice chancellor has to be held responsible for that. UCE Burla must get out of BPUTs clutch as soon as possible. If the CM has any sense he should not listen to the BPUT vice chancellor and take action so that BPUT also has a chance to do better.
2. Digambara Patra | September 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I am not sure whether all state Government run Deemed University get UGC grant like state University? One should ask state Government to give some exmples of state Govt funded deemded University and the grant received from UGC (except central Govt run institution then UCE can think over it.)
BUSU and CUSAT are two examples. One should be enough for the state Government, why it asks few more?
Our dream is not to make UCE like Guindy college but like Anna University in education (except in administration and exam conducting). Guindy college is an excellent engineering institute still it lacks many things in funding. As such quality of education UCE provides is also one of the best in the state, so comparing with Guindy college is not a point to discuss at this moment except to confuse people on this issue (since state Govt was already agreeing to make Deemed University status for UCE).
With a Deemed University status if state Govt. provides additional 300/400 acres of land and 100 crores and make sure every year it gets support from UGC through Deemed University I think it should be fine for UCE. However, will the state Govt. deiliver it is a big question?
It seems state Government is not sure about the UGC rules though its governing the state.
3. Biswa | September 25th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Its sad to note that, the State govt is behaving so carelessly.
There is no political will-power in our politicians to resolve any problem.
They just want to get rid of the problem, instead of solving it.
Play the blame game with opposition/centralGovt and delay things as much as possible.
If such mentality of the state govt continues, I can clearly see the future of Orissa.
4. Sabyashachi | September 25th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Could someone please write, what fraction of current UCE student population belong to MTech/ME and PhD courses?
Also, please provide a rough figure about what fraction of UCE BE/BTech students end up in Masters and PhD programs.
5. agnish ghatak | October 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY IS A STATE UNIVERSITY IN WEST BENGAL. IT IS THE 11TH BEST COLLEGE IN INDIA AT PAR WITH IITS IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACULTY. THIS CAN PROVE TO BE A STRONG POINT IN THE DEBATE.
6. R. K. Ghosh | October 16th, 2008 at 3:10 am
I think Sabysachi’s comment is bang on. I agree with his point that an institute is known by its strong graduate and masters programs. Whether an institute is funded by state or center is not the point. Institute of Mathematical Sciences Chennai . was started as a state institute, Similarly, Chennai Mathmatical Institute started by SPIC Foundation and registered with University of Bhoj for its degrees. Now both are known internationally. CMI’s undergraduate program has been very successful. Even their BSc students are accepted as doctoral students in top class foreign universities. The two key points are (i) the fundamentals should be strong and (ii) intervention should stop.