Bhubaneswar University: Put BJB, RD, CET and Capital Hospital together
December 11th, 2006
All great cities have a university with the same name. In India there is Delhi University, Bombay University, Kolkata Univesrity, Chennai University, Bangalore University, Pune University, Allahabad University, Lucknow University, University of Hyderabad, etc. Now that Bhubaneswar is growing up as a city it needs a university with the same name as the city. (Note that even in Orissa there is Sambalpur University and Berhempur University named after the towns they are in.)
For this one need not start from scratch. BJB College is perhaps the top college in Orissa now. (Ravenshaw, which is now a university, was better in some areas.) R. D. Womens College is also among the top two womens colleges in the state. CET (College of Engineering and Technology) is now preferred over other state engineering colleges. Recently a plan was floated to start M.D at the capital hospital. All these should be put together to make Bhubaneswar University, and because of the quality of its constituent colleges (BJB,RD,CET) and their alumni it will instantly become a reputed university.
Such a Bhubaneswar University will be similar to Allahabad University which consists of a handful of colleges in Allahabad. (Delhi University also has many colleges across Delhi, but the number is much higher.) Besides the imapct on Bhubaneswar’s prestige there are many real advantages of making this University. Some of them are:
- Currently most lecturers and professors posted in BJB and RD do not feel that they have a stake, as all of them can be transferred to any other college in the state at any time. So many don’t really feel an ownership in the college. This has hampered the growth of the colleges.
- Pooling of resources: Having BJB, RD and CET under one umbrela and in the same city means it will be easy to pool resources (especially faculty) to enhance existing programs as well as start new programs. For example, CET can easily and immediately start courses such as MBA, Industrial Management, Biotechnology, etc. For the MBA program faculty from BJB and RD can teach the language and commerce related courses while the CET faculty can teach courses on OR, Information systems, etc. For the Biotechnology program, the Biology courses can be taught by faculty from BJB and RD while some of the technology courses can be taught by CET faculty.
- By such an integration BJB and RD will keep their name.
- With better pooling of resources some classes can be combined leading to slightly less teaching load for faculty and thus more time for research. (Now BJB and RD faculty don’t do much research. They should be encouraged to do research.)
- Bhubaneswar University as a whole can now go for UGC funds.
- By being a university the faculty in BJB and RD could be further improved, especially the new ones would be required to have a Ph.D.
Few years after this is worked out, similar moves may be made in couple of other places, especially in Rourkela. I.e., a Rourkela University could be made by combining Govt. College Rourkela and Sushilavati Govt. Women’s College Rourkela.
Entry Filed under: Central University of Orissa, Koraput,General Colleges,New Universities
16 Writeup
1. S. Tripathy | February 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
I think the author thinks that Bhubaneswar should have another University, so that a great city like BBSR gets some brand value. I need to remind the author that BBSR may be a big city from Orissa’s point of view but it is not even half of the size of Visakhapatnam and one-fourth of the size of Nagpur, all tier-II cities of their respective states. BBSR as the state capital has got Utkal University, OUAT, University of culture, now Vedanta university, Law University and Ravisakar’s University are coming up near BBSR. By the way how many universities the author wants to be located in BBSR, despite the fact that the condition of general universities in orissa is well known. If you feel that BBSRs prestige is at stake then rename the utkal university as BBSR University no body will have any problem.
2. Chitta Baral | February 18th, 2007 at 1:54 am
The point is not Bhubaneswar having one more university; the point is putting together (the currently affiliated) colleges to create a university is a good idea. The Knowldge Commission also suggests something like that. (See http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/recommendations/higher.asp)
Also I can not understand what problem the previous commentator has in having a Bhubaneswar University.
3. Chitta Baral | February 18th, 2007 at 2:16 am
If the first commentator’s suggestion is to first improve the exisiting universities in Bhubaneswar (say Utkal University) before venturing out for a new university, then I am very sympathetic to that. Utkal University has had a glorious past and all efforts must be undertaken to make it better.
4. S. Tripathy | March 1st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I don’t think having one more university in BBSR is going to solve any problem. The reason behind taking out BJB or RD colleges from the cmplete control of Utkal University was to give them more freedom. Now if we put them under one more university, then the whole purpose of autonomy will get defeated. The other aspect of my argument is we should rather concentrate on improving the quality of teaching and infrastructure in the existing universities, but instead of it if we just count on numbers then I am sorry, as numbers will not solve the problem Orissa is facing at the moment. Do the author knows what is going on in the newly created universities like F.M, North Orissa, Culture or BPUT. So, the orissa intellectuals must compel the state govt. to allocate more funds for the existing universities so that they can withstand the fierce competition from the private players.
5. Chitta Baral | March 1st, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The point of improving the existing institutions is a very good one and that must be done. Having these universities and not funding them appropriately is often worse than not having them at all.
Howevr, the Bhubaneswar University thing is not a numbers game but how to enable BJB/RD/CET to do better.
First their existing autonomy does not prevent govt. to transfer faculty from them to other far flung places. Thus no faculty feels an ownership of these places. Second the UGC money associated with “autonomous” colleges is much smaller than associated with “funded by UGC” category universities.
However, considering Orissa govt’s track record, its also possible that the govt will mess up the whole thing and we will have a BBSR university with “not funded by UGC” tag and the colleges will even lose the money they could get being “autonomous”.
So any execution of this idea must be debated thoroughly and if done, must be done properly.
6. Chitta Baral | March 1st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
One other point: Following the way universities are in the US, the central govt is encouraging universities that besides offering Masters and PhD programs also offer Bachelors program. They were excited when Hyderabad university recently proposed a 5 year integrated BSc/MSc program. A Bhubaneswar University made as suggested above will start of with this integration of Bachelors and Masters and Ph.D program in one place.
Ofcourse, one can introduce Bachelor’s course in the exisiting universities. But that may not be as easy to work out. (Faculty may resists etc.)
Also, in the US the universities do not have this notion of affiliated colleges. They operate on their own or at most may have a couple of campuses. The proposed Bhubaneswar university will be like that with no affiliated campuses, but only a few component colleges.
7. S. Tripathy | March 16th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
We have already made one such experiment with the creation of ravenshaw University. It is highly imporatnt to see the state of affairs in the existing universities, before discussing on one more university. In Utkal University more than seven departments have no professors and in around six departments there is no doctoral research scholar. In Berhampur and sambalpur Universities almost half of the teacher posts are vacant and all these three universities are rated B+ by NAAC, compared to five A grade Universities in Andhra Pradesh. Now when Orissa students don’t prefer these universities, it is but anyone’s guess as to how many students from other parts of the world are doing research here. Till now we have taken Universities as prestige issues, and have never bothered to make them thriving centers of excellence by earmarking resources. So, its very easy to ask for one more university but will that in any way solve the existing problem.
8. Chitta Baral | March 17th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
The points raised by Mr. Tripathy regarding the lackings of the exisiting universities are well made. They need to be tackled urgently.
However, the components of the proposed Bhubaneswar University (BJB, RD, CET, CITE, etc.) already exsist. Putting them together as a university leads to maximizing our resources and *if done properly* would lead to synergy and new programs, new funding opportunities (UGC funding to universities) and new funding streams.
But the keyword is *if done properly*. Here I am not sure if our Orissa government can do it properly. It may mess it up and the resulting “university” will then neither have the “funded by UGC” status and at the same time, BJB and RD will lose their “autonomous” label.
9. S. Tripathy | March 19th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I am really appreciative of the view expressed by shri Baral. But, my concern is that in Orissa we start things with much funfare and at the end of the day we really miss out on the quality aspect. I have no problems if Bhubaneswar University comes into being, but please be informed that after the formation of Ravenshaw University, people in South and Western Orissa are demanding Khallikote and G.M University. The argument being, while Khallikote college is 135 years old and the second oldest of the state, GM is the premier institute in entire western orissa. So, we need to understand the chain reaction behind the popular demands that will be trigerred by going in for numbers. I firmly believe that the state must upgarde our three premier universities atleast to A+ standard in the next couple of years. Imagine what will happen if the desired university comes through, but under the non-funded category, have we the courage to put pressure on the HRD Ministry, which has sidelined Orissa on many issues. So, our focus should be to provide qualitative education and not entertain popular demands.
10. Chitta Baral | March 20th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I need to find out more about Khallikote and GM colleges to analyze their claims. However, it is true that in the last couple of years several new universities are in the process of being made in the BBSR-CTC-Puri area and its natural that other parts of Orissa would want new opportunities in their part of the state.
The new things in CTC/BBSR/Puri are NISER BBSR, IIIT BBSR, Ravenshaw U, Utkal U of Culture, Vedanta U, Ravishankar U and ICFAI Univ.
To balance out, the Orissa govt should vigorously push for
(a) a multi-campus KBK university
(b) upgradation of UCE Burla to an engineering and science university at par with Bengal Engineering and science University and Cochin University of Science and Technology.
(c) getting “funded by UGC” tag for North Orissa U, Fakirmohan U, BPUT, Utkal Univ of Culture and Ravenshaw University.
I will write more detail on this soon.
11. S. Tripathy | March 26th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
The state government should enocourage BJB, Khallikote and GM college to try for Deemed University status. This will not only help them retain their autonomus tag but make them eligible for the all important UGC funding.
12. Chitta Baral | March 27th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Mr. Tripathy:
Are you sure that deemed universities can and do get UGC funding? My guess is that although they may be eligible, they rarely get UGC funding.
Otherwise, I wonder why Bengal Engineering and Science University first became a deemed university and then became a state university.
13. S. Dash | April 27th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Dear Sir,
No one is talking of upgradation of UCE burla to IIT status. What is the problem in it? Is it not the duty of Govt of Orissa and Govt of India to upgrade this part of the state to such a level that demand of an IIT becomes Justified? Every body talks of development of Bhubaneswar, which is already and will further be developed. The western part of Orissa includes districts like Sambalpur, Bargarh, Bolangir, Sonepur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Sundergarh, Kalahandi, etc. Just count the number of standard institutes of learning in those areas, you will find one or two. Besides, people in those areas are considered to be backward, poor, illeterate, which is to some extent, a fact. but they also belong to the state to the same extent as others. Why the govt is so much ignorant regarding their development? Now, when a demand of IIT in Sambalpur has been raised, others try to justify its construction near BBSR. Is the thought justified? Don’t we need a full grown Orissa? Won’t we like all parts of the state be grown to the same extent? A Proportionate growth, may be of a body or of a state or of a country is definitely a healthy condition, no one denys. Let’s for a moment think about the whole state. Does it look healthy?
14. Chitta Baral | April 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Dear Mr. Dash:
In this blog we advocate all round development of Orissa and thus we have special sections on KBk Central university http://www.orissawatch.org/?cat=1 (our first topic) and Updating UCE Burla http://www.orissawatch.org/?cat=10 . We also started an email campaign at http://www.orissawatch.org/?p=100 .
Please join in this campaign.
However, we strategize based on what has the best arguments that can convince the appropriate people.
(i) For UCE Burla upgradation the best approach is to follow a two pronged approach with the state to upgrade it to a university and the central govt to then make it an IIEST.
(ii) For a greenfield IIT, I personally think that the best arguments are in favour of South Orissa which is statistically the poorest region of Orissa, yet parts of south Orissa are not that far from BBSR, which is important from acessibility point of view.
(iii) For a central university KBK has the best arguments for it.
(iv) For new medical colleges KBK, Rourkela and Baripada have the best logic
and so on.
Whne one says lets think of all of Orissa, we need to do exactly that.
best regards
Chitta
15. Gopal | May 28th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Dear Mr Dash,
In Orissa following is the state of technical and Higher education institution infrastructure in different regions.
Western Orissa: UCE, Burla, NIT, Rourkela, BPUT, Rourkela, Sambalpur University, Burla.
North-Coastal Orissa: CET, Bhubaneswar, IIIT, Bhubaneswar, IOP, Bhubaneswar, RRL, Bhubaneswar, IISER, Bhubaneswar, Ravenshaw Unitary University, Cuttack, Law University, Cuttack, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Culture University, Bhubaneswar, Proposed AIIMS, Bhubnaeswar, Vedanta University, Puri, ICFAI University, Bhubaneswar, Shri Shri Ravisankar University, Bhubaneswar, National Steel Institute, Puri, Sanskrit University, Puri.
South Orissa: Berhampur University, Berhampur.
Thanks
Gopal
16. Satyanarayan Swain | July 23rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
i am undergraduate student and i want to take admission in integrated MBAin distance mode. Kindly advise me the university name except Utkal University