Ravenshaw University in two years under the leadership of VC Devdas Chhotray
November 17th, 2008
Following is excerpted from a report in tathya.in.
- With a heritage of 150 years, it has a vision to grow as a Knowledge Center for the South East Asia, with 25000 residents in campus, by 2025 AD.
- Mr. Chhotray, who joined as the first Vice Chancellor of the Ravenshaw University on 15 November, two years ago obtained UGC approval in a record time of 6 months.
- Ravenshaw has also been restructured into eight Schools of Studies and several Centers on the model of JNU.
- … the new administration has introduced semester system of course work, with flexibility in choice of subjects.
- The university has ensured uninterrupted academic sessions, timely results and excellence in performance.
- Ravenshaw has now opened up 153 new faculty positions for which 6500 applications have been received on line.
- Ravenshaw has started its flagship MBA program from the current year in collaboration with XIMB, Bhubaneshwar.
- In collaboration with ICICI Bank, Ravenshaw has launched a PG Diploma Course in Banking and Insurance Management.
- Activities have been intensified for establishment of School of Aviation Management, jointly with the University of Kremb, Vienna, School of Foreign Languages and Master’s Course in Development Management.
- Initiative for establishment of the Center for Contemporary Music, with a large scale of Music Library and Department of Sound, Center for Understanding Orissa and Spoken English Portfolio is yielding results.
- Government of India has funded Ravenshaw for making the first barrier free University in the State and introducing disability studies.
- Ministry of Tourism has consented to set up a School of Hospitality & Hotel Management.
- Ministry of Communication & IT are considering a project for Language Technology Center, and Ministry of Culture will support a Conservation and Documentation Cell in the Ravenshaw Library.
- The Ministry of External Affairs has set up a Regional Centre for ICCR inside the Ravenshaw Campus and the Ministry of I & B have licensed Ravenshaw to run a FM Channel, as ‘Ravenshaw Radio’.
- In the meantime the State Government has cleared the project for a second campus, ‘Ravenshaw II’, by granting 150 acres of prime land in Cuttack free of cost.
- On the co-curricular front, Ravenshaw has floated 30 forums for students including the Ravenshaw Film Society, and has taken measures to set up Art Centre, Heritage Museum, and Ravenshaw Choir, said sources.
- Writing of the History of Ravenshaw College (1868-2006), has been commissioned.
- Under the Project ‘Ravenshaw -200’, two hundred eminent and elderly Ravenshavians are being captured in camera while reminiscencing their college days, to create a base of oral history.
- Ravenshaw has reinstituted many prestigious events like ‘Borasambar Debate’ after decades of discontinuance.
- Ravenshaw has proposed to set up a publication enterprise, the Ravenshaw University Press (RUP), for serious academic works, as well as peer reviewed research journals.
- It is also negotiating with the Ginger Group of Hotels for a 100 room unit as a public private partnership and utilize a part of the facility as a University Guest House for visiting faculties.
Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),Ravenshaw University, Cuttack
7 Writeup
1. R. K. Ghosh | November 17th, 2008 at 3:06 am
It looks impressive in paper. It could be more interesting to know placement scenarios and also the research investments made by Ravenshaw University. 6500 application for 153 faculty positions looks very good in the paper, but what are credentials of these applicants? What are the demographic distribution of the applicants? Will there be a national level selection body for recruitment? Will it be possible to eliminate local pressures in recruitment. What kind of extra perks being planned for attracting good faculty? These are some of the inconvenient questions, but very important for creating a top notch school. I am sure VC must be attending to these issues.
2. Sanjib Karmee | November 17th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Ravenshaw University is a very old institution. But it is not famous like the presidency colleges or Loyola. That is partly because of the influence of local politics. I am sure many of the applicants are PhD from Ravenshaw, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Utkal University. Ravenshaw should recruit young PhDs from IITs, BITs and IISc. As rightly pointed out by Mr. Ghosh, what the VC is doing to attract such candidates as faculty.
None of the Universities in Odisha are quality institutions. So far, Odisha has produced many scientists, who are working in national level institutions in India and abroad. But the fact of the matter is none of them are famous!!!
Odisha should take initiative to nurture young and unknown talents; so that, we can see tomorrows CV Raman, Meghnad Saha and RN Tagore coming out from our own soil instead of US. I am very skeptical if present institutions in Odisha will serve this purpose. We need to balance between quantity and quality.
For this we need good institutions. We need to popularize science. We need to look beyond IT. We need to look beyond the US.
3. TRILOCHAN PATRA | November 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Odisha people must be given preference in the university.
4. R. K. Ghosh | November 17th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I think many still have belief that giving opportunities to castes, regionalism, and other groups ahead of deserving people would help in creating good institutions. Equal opportunity and affirmative action is not the same as caste, group or regional based quota. In fact, this has undone our country as a whole. I came across NKC (National Knowledge Commission) letter to PM on decline of our educational standard across the country and more particularly need to have quality Ph. Ds. I am quoting some excerpts from Sam Pitroda’s report to PM.
“Historically, India has had an enviable standing in the world of research. However, the current situation is unsatisfactory across multiple dimensions, and the reasons for this are manifold. An important factor which impacts the quality and quantum of research is the scarcity of talented and dedicated manpower engaged in research. We need qualified doctorates for our research laboratories, to teach and engage in research in our universities and to work for research and development in all sectors of the industry. The number of researchers in India was 112 per million inhabitants compared to 633 in China and 4374 in USA in 2002. The growth in the number of doctorates has been only a modest 20% in India from 1991-2001 compared to 85% in China during the same period.1 The current state of affairs thus requires urgent policy intervention.”
So, it is very important as Sanjeeb Karmee has pointed out we can not depend on assembly line Ph.D. as teachers for creating a top not school. Given everything equal giving preference to locals is fine. But we must remember having a quality school is going to only benefit the neighborhood of the school in long run.
5. Amiya Ranjan Swain | November 19th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The initiatives taken in the last two years seem quite impressive. I realize that the present Vice Chancellor is an efficient person in terms of his achievements. It is worth mentioning that Ravenshaw University is passing through a period when the educational scenario around the globe is noticing a rapid change. To convert this University as a so-called Knowledge Center for the South East Asia, the management must have to take timely and appropriate steps for providing quality education. The students and staffs of the University should be provided with the best facilities as compared to other renowned Universities. Following few lines can calculate the ongoing progress of the University:
• Are the existing courses offered by the University ‘sufficient,appropriate,timely and up-to-date’?
• Has the University taken appropriate steps for providing quality education?
• Has the University taken steps to hire best faculties and initiated any skill enhancement & career enhancement programmes for existing faculties?
• Does the University Campus look like a World Class University(I mean, up to a satisfactory level to qualify as a so-called Knowledge Centre)?
• Has the University taken appropriate steps to carry out Research & Development work in various departments ( because all major Universities are known for their R& D work)?
• Has the University hosted any national and international conferences and seminars in the last two years, and what initiatives have been taken in this direction?
• Does the University provide best facilities to the students and staffs as compared to other reputed Universities?
• Does the University attract student from various parts of India (so that one can estimate it’s influence factor)?
• Has the University taken any initiative for collaborations with other Universities, R&D organizations and any other organizations of interest?
• Has the University formulated any plan for providing best placement to the students?
These are few questions that can estimate the status and progress of the University. I hope that the VC must be trying to sort out these problems.
6. D.K Sahoo | September 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
According to some news papers the Ravenshaw university authorities have completed shortlisting and supposed to call candidates in 1:7 ratio. I wonder, by shortlisting without checking the credentials mentioned in the online application by applicants(which may be as extrapolated in many CVs) and without giving a chance to previous applicants to produce their updated resumes as per the extended last date of application, how will they do a justice to all the applicants. By this shortlisting there is a possibility that there might be the favoritism and nepotism. Overall if the shortlisting has completed why it has not been posted online as has done for first groups of applicants?
7. D.K Sahoo | September 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Hope VC of Ravenshaw will kindly look into this side of avoiding his strict regulationfor faculty recruitment for a better faculty driven Ravenshaw University.