Odisha HRD

Odisha should pursue one of the sports and physical education university proposed by the 12th plan working group on Sports and Physical Education

The 12th plan working group report on Sports and Physical Education recommends the establishment of  four regional centres of LNUPE and 5 new sports and physical education universities or physical education colleges. Odisha must vigorously pursue the central government and the planning commission to get one of the proposed 5 sports and physical education universities.

In this regard, please send an email to the Odisha CM at cmo@ori.nic.in with content such as given below:

Dear Esteemed CM:

The 12th plan working group on Sports and Physical Education has recommended in their report at http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/hrd/wg_repsports.pdf that "for meeting the increasing demand of Physical Education Teachers and producing quality PETs, at least four regional centres of LNUPE and 5 new sports and physical education universities or physical education colleges should be opened during 12th
Plan. "

Kindly pursue with the central government regarding having one of these universities in Odisha.

Sincerely,

Following are some rationale behind pursuing a Sports and Physical Education University. Please have a look at it at your leisure. 

While promoting sports,  besides providing good facilities (hostels, stadiums, turfs), what is most important is that the athletes are provided with opportunities to pursue some recognized degree/diploma/certificate of study so that they have alternate avenues of employment. For example, consider the story in http://www.indiablooms.com/SportsVideoDetails/sportsVideoDetails180312f.php.

May 1st, 2012

A scathing op-ed in Samaja from a retired bureaucrat

Following is from Samaja. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but at least they should check facts.

2 comments September 7th, 2010

Odisha higher education taskforce report available

The report is available at http://dheorissa.in/DHE/pdf/FinalTaskforceReport.pdf. Although the report took into account many of my suggestions I am not completely happy with it. I plan to submit a separate individual addendum to it.

Please feel free to comment on the report. I may be able to take them into account in my planned addendum.

The executive summary of the report is as follows:

Task Force on Higher Education was constituted by the Government of Odisha on 7th October 2009 under the chairmanship of Prof. Trilochan Pradhan as requested by the Minister of Higher Education, Tourism and Culture, Sri Debi Prasad Mishra. The mandate of the Task Force was to prepare two annual plans for years 2010-11 and 2011-12, two five year perspective plans corresponding to the 12th and 13th plan periods respectively as well as a draft higher education policy. During a period of four months the Task Force completed eighteen interactive sessions, two State Level Workshops and five Regional workshops, one each in North, South, East, West and Central Regions of the State. In addition to this, sectoral consultations were organized with stakeholders of School and Mass Education, Technical, Medical, Agriculture and Management sectors. The suggestions of the members of the Task Force and citizens from all sectors of the civil society have been received through email, surface mail, written submission and discussions across the table. The Task Force has taken into consideration all these in the preparation of the report. The report embodies the collective endeavour of the members of the Task Force and the stakeholders of regional consultations.

The key recommendations of the Task Force are in three major areas, namely Restoration, Expansion and Consolidation covering the periods of 2010-12, 2012-17 and 2017-22 respectively. Expansion, inclusion and excellence have been the guiding principles of the deliberations of the consultations.

Key Recommendations

1. State Council of Higher Education (OSCHE): A State Council of Higher Education, in the lines of the NCHER, needs to be created. Financial provision must be made in the budget for creation of the council in the coming financial year. Many of the recommendations of the Task Force would be implemented by the OSCHE.

2. Delinking Higher Secondary (+2) from the ambit of Higher Education: The +2 classes need to be separated from the degree colleges. Budgetary support to augment infrastructure and funding from Rastriya Madhyamit Sikhsya Abhiyan (RMSA) may be used to make this a smooth transition.

3. Degree Colleges: All degree colleges should adopt semester system and choice based credit programmes. All vacant posts must be filled with permanent staff. Selected autonomous colleges may be made into branch campuses of universities. Teachers should be regularly evaluated to ensure accountability.

4. Universities: Model University Act. Statutes should be drafted so that universities may use their autonomy for better governance. All regular vacant positions of the universities should be filled up on a priority basis. Faculty need to be regularly evaluated to ensure accountability. Programmes of the universities need to be revamped and choice based credit system may be followed. Each university campus should have about 50 affiliated colleges and a few identified research centres. Each university must have up-to-date web site with all information about the university.

5. New State Universities and Branch Campuses: A number of new affiliating universities, unitary universities, branch campuses of existing universities, a new University of Management Education and a new State Open University have been recommended. Suggestions for locations of these institutions have been received in the consultation process after assessing the educational need. An expert committee may be formed to look in to these and come up with final locations based on the detailed project report based on feasibility.

6. Attract Private Edupreneurs: Private universities should be established through Acts passed by the state legislatures.

7. Set up Research Centres: Establishment of research centers of excellence in various areas of local relevance must be pursued and these should be affiliated with the existing universities and institutions of national importance such as IIT, NISER, IIIT etc. Central funding for the same must be vigorously pursued to strengthen the existing and planned research centers.

8. Enhance Quality of Education: All plans for expansion must have a major thrust on enhancing quality of education. Hence due care must be taken for developing skills of teachers for enhancing teaching-learning transaction, creating conducive academic environment, improving the learning infrastructure, putting technology enabled learning into practice wherever possible, reforming examination systems, need-based revision of curriculum, etc.

9. Engineering Colleges: The existing state funded engineering colleges need to be revamped and their vacant positions need to be filled at the earliest. In addition 5 new State Institutes of Technologies have been proposed in the model of NIT with a focus on post-graduate education to mainly cater to the faculty needs in the state.

10. Medical Education: By 2022 each of the 13 undivided districts of Odisha should have one operational medical college, be it private, state funded, or PPP based. The three major medical colleges of the state should be upgraded to affiliating Health University status so that institutions in medical and allied subjects such as nursing and pharmacy etc. can be brought under their fold. A Rural Health Practitioner (RMP) program should be introduced in conjunction with all district hospitals to address the critical shortage of medical practitioners in the rural areas of the state.

11. Skill and Vocational Education: Odisha should create a community college system imparting skills that are in demand and providing opportunities for distance education, nonconventional career progression, developmental education, and continuous learning.

12. Education Development Fund: Financial mechanisms need to be devised so that all deserving students can access the opportunity to pursue higher education and finance should not be a constraint. Similarly no educational institution should suffer from lack of long-term low interest capital to pursue their goals of development. For this purpose, Education Development Fund should be set up along the lines of the Educational Financing Corporation being contemplated by the central government to enable infrastructure development as well as provide study loans.

13. From Mineral Resources to Human Resources: All private and public sector companies that are using Odisha’s mineral resources must be encouraged to contribute in creating higher education institutions.

14. Public Private Partnership: Encourage public-private partnership mode to set up institutes of higher learning. The proposed OSCHE needs to have a mechanism to monitor and regulate such efforts for the larger interest of all the stakeholders.

15. Financial Implication: The Task Force proposes that the State funding for Higher Education must increase to meet the cost of proposed expansion. The Task Force has estimated resource requirement of about 55000 crores over a period of 12 years to implement its recommendations at current prices. Similarly it is estimated that similar amounts may be generated through private sector projects and centrally funded projects.

16. Taking advantage of the Central Government Schemes: Taking advantage of the central government’s ambitious plan to achieve 30% GER by 2020, the state should seek all available resources under different schemes such as those for establishment of National Innovation University, IIM, National Institute of Design, Model colleges in Educationally Backward Districts, Tribal University etc. Besides all effort must be made to emphasize the special need of the state to develop its infrastructure in the remote tribal areas and priority funding must be.

Phases of Implementation

The Task Force proposes the following plan for implementation of the above recommendations:

i. Restoration and Preparation for Expansion (2010-12)

a. Separation of +2 from higher education and integration in School Education
b. Filling up of vacancies in regular positions
c. Setting up of Model colleges in educationally backward districts
d. Initiate the establishment State Council of Higher Education and other legislative
actions needed to carry out the recommendations.
e. Set up communication laboratories and high speed broad band internet access
f. Set up Management Information System and e-admission
g. Prepare ground for rapid expansion

ii. Rapid Expansion (2012-17)

a. Set up new affiliating Universities and institutions
b. Set up Unitary Universities by up-gradation of existing institutions
c. Set up branch campuses
d. Take initial steps for setting up research centres

iii. Consolidation (2017-22)

a. Expand Technology Enabled Learning
b. Strengthen quality initiatives
c. Strengthen governance through State Council (OSCHE)
d. Mobilisation of additional resource

The Task Force has taken note of the hopes and aspirations generated through the whole process of its activities. The major recommendations based on the inputs received from the stake-holders centre around three important areas: i) Creation of new institutions, ii) financing of higher education and iii) bringing governance reforms. Hence the Task Force recommends to set up a committee to advise the Government to work out further details.

5 comments June 25th, 2010

ISB Mohali’s genesis

It involves land contribution from the state of Punjab and financial contributions from four industrialists for a total of 200 crores. Following are extracted from a Times of India report.

• The Punjab cabinet has finally given the green signal for the allotment of a fresh parcel of 70-acre land within the upcoming Knowledge City in Mohali for the second campus of the premier B-school.
• to be set up at an investment of Rs 200 crore and will be funded entirely by donations from four India Inc top guns:
  • Max group founder and chairman Analjit Singh,
  • Bharti group CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal,
  • Atul Punj of Punj Lloyd and
  • the Munjals of Hero group.

For its part the ISB administration have roped in top foreign universities to collaborate in the establishment of four schools. Following is excerpted from a report in Economic Times.

• The ISB has joined hands with the MIT Sloan School of Management, to develop two new institutes at the ISB’s upcoming campus at Mohali –
  • The BML Munjal Institute for Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation and
  • The Punj Lloyd Institute for Physical Infrastructure Management.
• In addition to the two institutes mentioned earlier, the school will also establish the
  • Max India Institute of Health Care Management and
  • Bharti Insititute of Public Policy.
• The ISB will continue to have the support of its founding associate schools such as the Wharton School and Kellogg School of Management. The ISB also has the support of the London Business School (LBS) as an associate school.

April 18th, 2010

News compilations: Sericulture R & D institute to come up in Odisha; Pan-IIT plans for faculty mentorship; Mumbai, Pune & Nagpur Univ to be split

1. From a Times of India Report.

Targeting a production of about 500 tons of silk by 2020, Orissa government decided to set up a State Sericulture Research and Development Institute (SSRDI) for speedy growth of the sector.

2. From a Business Standard report:

Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) — an initiative by the Pan IIT Alumni Association — has taken up a US co-guide PhD initiative wherein faculty members of Indian engineering institutes would be able to obtain PhDs in a four-year period, with the mentoring of distinguished US faculty.

… Under the arrangement, interested PhD candidates in India, who are currently teaching in engineering colleges, will identify and register with a PhD guide at an Indian PhD granting institution. The PhD candidate will identify his area of research interest.

If there appears to be matching of interests between an Indian PhD candidate and a US faculty, IUCEE will facilitate the process forward.

Also, the PhD candidate will make a trip to the US institution of the co-guide to ensure exposure to high quality research culture. The co-guide will also visit the Indian institution, to ensure adequate mentoring of the candidate.

… IUCEE is also exploring various avenues for requesting government of India to provide schemes for this purpose.

3. From a Times of India report:

Three of Maharashtra’s premier universities—Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur—will be split to create new universities.

…Spelling out some details, Tope said the University of Mumbai would be split into two campuses, with a pro vice-chancellor becoming the head of the new campus. The name, though, would not be altered, given Mumbai university’s iconic status, he added. He was replying to a discussion on the supplementary demands of his department.

… Maharashtra has also revived the plan to bring private universities into the state. Tope said that plans were afoot to help the corporate sector play a key role in the field of education. The Private University Act is being finalised in this connection, he pointed out.

April 16th, 2010

Criteria for selecting organizations that can set up private universities in Odisha

As evident from https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4229 Odisha needs to have more private universities, some of them in backward areas and with medical colleges, some with unique foci, and at the same time it needs to avoid having 3rd rate money spinning universities. Based on these constraints following is a first take on a guideline on how Odisha should go about allowing foundations and organizations to set up private universities in Odisha. These are preliminary thoughts, so your feedback is most welcome.

0. A  foreign university that is a research 1 university in the US, or has a similar standing in the other foreign countries. (For example, they must appear in the top 300 in the Times UK ranking or the Sanghai Jiao Tong ranking.)

1. Foundations headed by people with multi-billion dollar assets and with interest in building a world-class university e.g. Anil Agarwal foundation, Azim Premji foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation, etc.

2. Foundations associated with organizations that have world-wide presence and demonstrated ability to raise sufficient money (say $100 million = 400-500 crores) to establish a top-notch university. e.g. Art of Living Foundation.

3. Foundations that have built top notch educational institutes in India (in some field). I.e., their institutes or colleges in their universities are ranked in top 20 in India in various rankings. e.g. Xaviers, Amrita University, BITS Pilani, etc.

4. A foundation that has at least one well regarded university in another state and that guarantees investment of 200 crores. e.g. ICFAI may satisfy this.

5. Existing private deemed universities in Odisha. e.g. KIIT, SOA.

6. Existing colleges or college-clusters in Odisha that have been in existence for 10+ years and are among the top 3 in Odisha in terms of student preferences that can be evaluated using the common counseling data. e.g., Silicon, NIST. [Initially 2-3 universities may be made based on this criteria and there after at most 1 university every three years can be created based solely on this criteria.]

7. Existing colleges or college-clusters in Odisha that have been existence for 10+ years, are in the top 40% in terms of student preferences that can be evaluated using the common counseling data and serve a tribal district (40% or more tribal population) without a university. E.g. Gandhi Institute in Gunupur; JITM Parlakhemundi. The head quarter of a university created this way must be in the backward district and more than 50% of its students must be enrolled in that campus. [Initially 2-3 universities may be made based on this criteria and there after at most 1 university every three years may be created based on this criteria.] (The goal here is to encourage establishment of universities in tribal districts.)

8. Existing colleges or college-clusters in Odisha that have been in existence for 5+ years, are in the top 50% in terms of student preferences that can be evaluated using the common counseling data and that have a medical college, preferably in a district without a pre-existing medical college. e.g., Hi-Tech group may satisfy this, and would be a preferable candidate when its medical college in Rourkela is up and running. [Initially 1-2 universities may be made based on this criteria and there after at most 1 university every two years may be created based on this criteria.] (The rules are relaxed here to encourage establishment of more medical colleges in districts that don’t have any.)

9. A institute that has a strong partnership with a Research 1 university in the United States or similarly recognized university in other foreign countries. By strong partnership we mean that the foreign university is willing to list this location as one of its branch campus and gives degrees that have the emblem of the foreign university. (This is to encourage collaboration with top foreign universities.)

10. A unique institute, in existence for more than 5 years, preferably promoted by a foundation with past experience in building a university, or by an internationally reputed academic. By unique, we mean something whose equivalent does not exist in the country. e.g., KISS

2 comments April 11th, 2010

New dynamic VCs lead the Sambalpur region towards a knowledge hub

UCE Burla becoming VSSUT and the hiring of dynamic vice Chancellors at VSSUT (Prof. D K Tripathy from IIT Kharagpur) as well as at Sambalpur University (Prof. Arun Pujari from the University of Hyderabad) has given a huge momentum in making the Sambalpur area a knowledge hub and together with similar progress at Rourkela a western knowledge corridor is now in the making. In this write-up we will focus on the greater Sambalpur area ranging from Bargarh in the west of Sambalpur to Jharsuguda and Sundergarh in the north and north east.

• Universities: Two exists; 2 more in the making
  • There are two universities with dynamic leadership at their helm: VSSUT and Sambalpur University
  • Sambalpur University has received approval and funding for a SU-IIT (Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology) and is pursuing a sports institute.
  • VSSUT has significant expansion plans.
  • There is a proposal to upgrade GM college to a unitary university.
  • The health minister had announced to upgrade VSS Medical College to a university.
  • Branch of OUAT in Chipilima.
• Engineering Colleges: Besides VSSUT, there are five more engineering colleges in the area. 2 in Baragarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh and 1 in Sason (Silicon West).
• Management Institute: XIMB plans a campus in this area.
• Centrally funded Institutes: IIHT (Indian Institute of Handloom Technology) in Baragarh.
• Research Institute: CIFT Burla.
• Other Colleges: Panchayat College Baragarh, NSCB College Sambalpur, Govt. Womens College Sambalpur, Govt. College Sundergarh and Govt. Womens College Sundergarh.
• Demography: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2715
• Infrastructure:
  • Rail Connectivity: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2005
  • Airport: Jharsuguda airport is under construction.

The above gives the current status of this area. In addition to the efforts mentioned above, following should also be pursued.

• The VSSUT must be upgraded to a national level institute such as an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
• An STP must be established in Sambalpur.
• Operationalization of Jharsuguda airport must be expedited.
• One of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. needs to open a research center here.
• The Orissa government should push to upgrade the VSS Medical College to the AIIMS level.
• Establishment of private medical colleges in this area must be encouraged.
• The OUAT college in Chipilima needs to upgraded and expanded
• A regional university (similar to the old regional engineering colleges, with 50-50 partnership between the state and the central govt.) should be established in Jharsuguda. (This could be part of the 12th five year plan starting from 2012.)
• A state university should be established in Jharsuguda during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• A state university should be established in Baragarh during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• Considering the rapid industrialization of the area, the Govt. Engineering School in Jharsuguda should be upgraded to an engineering college, perhaps as a constituent college of VSSUT.

NOTE on Comments: Only constructive comments will be allowed. Please do not submit comments that advocate separatism, conspiracy theories, shifting, badmouthing, etc.

March 14th, 2010

300 page 6.2 MB UGC Report of the HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA Issues Related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality and Finance.

The link is http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/report/12.pdf. This was published in November 2008 with 500 printed copies. Its been recently put in the UGC website at number 12 in the page http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/.

This 300 page document has all kinds of data on higher education in India and is a must read for anyone interested in higher education vis-a-vis India.

An Expressbuzz report by Sanjeev Patro tries to distill out some data with respect to Odisha from the above document. It is a good start and it made me look for the original document (Thanks), but I think a more careful analysis is needed.

March 1st, 2010

Karnataka’s higher education vision – some initial glimpses

Following are excerpts from this news item.

• … general universities should be set up in all districts of the state. There are, at present, nine such universities in the state. The aim is to have one general university in each district, or one university for every 100 colleges. This means that ideally, there should be at least 22 such universities in the state’s 29 districts.
• Another important vision of the council is to make the universities and colleges work round-the-clock as learning centres.
  “At present, colleges are isolated units, active only in a limited period. It is necessary to make them work round-the-clock, through the year, as learning centres. We would also like to grant greater autonomy to more colleges,”

Following are excerpts from this news item:

• Have you thought of studying Biology with Hitory or Physics with Economics? Have you thought of taking a break from the regular confined course to take a break at any point of time and continue whenever you want? Wouldn’t it help if you had a choice on choosing when to write your exams? How would you feel if you had a choice of changing the University within the State in the middle of your course? Students from Karnataka can expect their dreams come true.
• … students can change a subject midstream — from Arts or Science or Commerce — instead of going through the fixed combination. They can change, not only the subject combination, but also the university. This concept is based on the Cross Learning System in Universities in US and Europe. 

1 comment January 14th, 2010

The importance of a community college system in India: Excerpts from an interview with Prof. Yash Pal

Following is an excerpt from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-Universities-are-for-bringing-subjects-together-/560254.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of students in colleges and universities in Gujarat is still pathetic according to UGC. Tribal areas in the state have a high school dropout rate. What needs to be done in Gujarat?

There is a community college system in the US, which is very flexible (unlike the polytechnics in India). In this system, the class hours are highly flexible. As part of the adult education, the students can enrol for any subject. But in India, we have strict rules such as a student should be a matriculate, etc. In north Gujarat, artisans are doing fine work in Bandhani (tie and die). No one else can do that. There should be a system that can educate them separately so that they are literate enough to use their skills in a better way. I do not believe in measuring methods such as GER. A minimal education is important but it is the skills that make a person knowledgeable. Gujarat may have private or deemed universities, but they are for the classes and not for the masses.

1 comment December 28th, 2009

Proposed expansion of the university system in Orissa: feedback requested

After studying the university systems in major states of US and taking into account various feedback received my latest thoughts on the expansion of the university system in Orissa is at http://www.orissa2020.org/proposed-university-system-of-orissa. The highlight of the proposal is as follows:

1. Two new regional universities: Western Orissa University Bhawanipatna and Central Orissa University Angul
2. One new general unitary university: Rourkela University
3. One new Metropolitan University: Bhubaneswar Metropolitan University
4. Upgrading of two colleges to new unitary universities: GM and Khallikote
5. Five new specialized Universities: Tribal University (HQ Phulbani), Sports University (HQ Rourkela), Skill University (HQ-TBD), Health University (HQ-TBD), Education University (HQ-TBD)
6. Several new branch campuses of existing universities to reduce affiliation load on existing universities with a clear path on how they can become independent universities. Each branch campus will have enough independence to chart its own course. Special attention paid to branch campuses at Balangir, Phulbani and Keonjhar.
7. A clear road map for development of comprehensive western style universities that have multiple disciplines, including engineering and medical colleges.

I would appreciate any feedback on this. Please read the details at the above mentioned site.

23 comments December 15th, 2009

Sports Universities in India

Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55906.

LOK SABHA 

There are two institutions at the National level viz. Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education (LNUPE), Gwalior and Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala imparting physical and sports education at graduate and post graduate levels in addition to conducting diploma and certificate courses. The Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil informed the Lok Sabha today, in a written reply to a question by Sh. Sajjan Verma. The sports being State subject, the Ministry does not maintain data regarding sports universities in the States and also State Governments are expected to take necessary steps to promote sports universities, the Minister added. 

RM/AS- PQ 2 – USQ 3998 – LS

In http://www.orissa2020.org/sports-university I have proposed the establishment of a Sports university in Orissa with HQ in Rourkela. The programs that could be offered by the sports university may include:

• Coaching
• Refereeing and Sports officiating
• Physical Education
• Sports journalism and broadcasting (together with a nearby journalism school) 
• Sports management (together with a nearby management school)

1 comment December 15th, 2009

State of Delhi’s knowledge centric moves and roadmap; What VSSUT can learn from Delhi Tech U?

Earlier this year Delhi College of Engineering became a state university and changed its name to Delhi Tech University. On November 10th, after 100 days of its completion as a university its VC had the following to report.

The Vice Chancellor informed the gathering that four new undergraduate courses and six new postgraduate courses have been added from 2009-10 in areas of high relevance to the country. "Nano-Science and Technology, VLSI Design, Microwave and Optical Communication, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Power Systems are the areas in which DTU has made a modest yet committed beginning," he said. The University has also forayed into management education this year by establishing ‘Delhi School of Management’ to offer MBA program in innovative areas like knowledge and technology management.

With a view to encourage excellence in education and research, DTU has established an ‘Innovation Fund’ with a seed money of Rs. 10 lakh and has introduced cash awards of Rs. 10,000 for the toppers of each semester, in each discipline and Reward of Rs 10,000 for faculty members who publish research papers in International Journals of High Impact Factor. The University has also recruited about 22 new faculty members at various levels recently.

… The thrust areas of R&D at DTU are going to be Biofuel and Clean Energy Technologies, Future Automobile Solutions, Nano Scale Devices and Photonics, New and Smart Materials, Conducting Polymers, Broadband on Power lines, Info Security and Network Management and Socially Relevant Technologies

Following are some quotes from another article about this.

"The total student strength in DTU will be almost three times of its current student intake in the next five years", the VC says.

The VC also announced the beginning of new programs including dual degree programs and integrated Master’s programs in areas of relevance to our country in Medical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Bio-informatics, Clean Energy and Environment Technology, New and Smart Materials and Nano-Technology.

Speaking to an NNE correspondent, the VC said that DTU’s board of management has already given its nod to construct a multi-storey academic block; a teaching block housing ICT enabled lecture theatres and additional hostel facilities for both boys and girls.

"As a part of our academic and research plan we shall set up transform selected research laboratories as world class test houses cum research centres, establish a knowledge park cum Technology Incubator in DTU campus to foster i2IP, student and faculty led techno-enterprises and facilitate effective industry institution interaction," Prof. Sharma added.

A finishing school in partnership with the industry and alumni to further boost employability of their graduates is also in the wish list of the VC.

A Staff College for Tech faculty development will also be set up in DTU to support the Faculty Development mission.

Following are excerpts from another recent article on this. 

In an endeavour to attract the best talent to teaching and research, a leading technology university here has initiated 25 teaching-cum-research fellowships (TRFs), including 20 at the doctoral level and five at the post-doctoral level. …

Each teaching-cum-research fellow will be enrolled for a full-time Ph D. programme and will take 10 hours per week of teaching work at the B.Tech or M.Tech levels, a DTU statement said.

The incumbents will be initially appointed for two years, which will be further extended depending on academic and research performance.

The expenditure involved in the grant of TRFs has been estimated around Rs.60 lakh per annum, the statement said.

The first ordinance of the university relating to B.Tech. courses has already been approved by the government. The ordinance for M.Tech and MBA programmes was approved by the DTU board Saturday.

Highlighting the achievements of the institution during the last three months, DTU Vice Chancellor P.B. Sharma told the board: "Apart from a major R&D tie-up with US aerospace major Lockheed Martin for developing a next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle,the university has entered into a collaboration with the Groupe Des Ecoles Des Mines of France to foster collaboration, provide opportunities for global experience and facilitate advancement of knowledge in the field of engineering."

Overall Delhi plans 6 specialized universities. Following is an excerpt from an article about this. 

Titled `Delhi as the knowledge capital’, and jointly organized by the Department of Training and Technical Education, government of NCT of Delhi and Delhi Technological University (DTU), the conference on Wednesday discussed a strategic framework for giving shape to the varsity system. Three out of the six universities are already functional. They include the National Law School University (NLU), IIIT-Delhi and Dr B R Ambedkar University.

"Under the new model of higher education, a number of discipline-focused smaller universities are being set up, which would be managed by a common apex system. The new institutes planned are the University of Science and Technology, University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, and University College of Medical Sciences,” said Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta.

The conference is being seen as a platform for creating a plan of action for the proposed initiatives of the Delhi government. It also discussed the public-private partnership model (PPP) of education where the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) was cited as an instance. In this system, a majority of the affiliated colleges are privately run.

The above has some lessons for Orissa, its VCs and its higher education task force. In particular, the VC of VSSUT, Burla must take note of the speed at which Delhi Tech U is moving. The VSSUT VC must take the opportunity provided by the document being drafted by the Orissa higher education task force and put into it a visionary plan for VSSUT. In regards to BPUT it may have a new VC soon. Hopefully the new VC will help BPUT Rourkela transition from an administrative unit operating from Bhubaneswar to a real university operating from Rourkela.

The VSSUT VC has announced some plans. Following is an excerpt from http://www.alumniuce.com/messages.asp?id=300.

(1) VSSUT is going to organize its First Convocation to award degrees to its 2009 batch graduands in December -2009/January-2010 in the auditorium with an invitation to a reputed personality from the country to deliver the convocation address as Chief Guest.

(2) A Webgroup with teachers and students be formed to develop and maintain our University website to make it one of the best website in the world.

(3)Construction of one 600 seated Boys hostel and 60 seated guest house.

(4) A digital library and 24X7 internet connectivity in the university campus, students hostels and staff quarters.

(5) Appointment of 39 new teaching faculties in next three months time and Phone, PC and Internet facility in individual faculty office rooms.

(7) Revision and Up gradation of Curriculum taking IIT-Kharagpur as a model.

(8) A Big Notice board at the Entrance near Golden Jubilee gate for coverage and information of all events of the University.

(9)Construction of A Big bounded campus with New staff quarters.

(10) Construction of another big auditorium with 2000 capacity.

Following is an excerpt from http://www.alumniuce.com/messages.asp?id=297.

Our priority will be to make the institution as one of the best of the country and for this we are planning to introduce few new branches of engineering courses. Textile engineering is one among them which will help to strengthen the development of the Sambalpuri fabric. We also plan to introduce Nano-science technology, Bio-medical engineering and surgical engineering soon”, the vice chancellor Dr Tripathy told.

According to him, several modification and changes are to be taken place in the infrastructure of the institution once it becomes university. But since it requires lot of expenditure we want to change it in phase manner. “I am meeting the industry secretary soon to place our immediate requirement. I am hopeful the government would give proper attention to solve the problem of the institution. We have shortage of faculty members. About 44 new faculty members are required immediately. So we advertise this in our website and soon we are able to fill up the posts”, Dr. Tripathy told.

These are good steps. VC Tripathy should take the Delhi Tech Univ plans as well has his own plans to our government and use that to leverage more support from the government.

In this regard I would like readers to comment on some future directions for VSSUT. We will collect those and give it to VSSUT VC as well as to the higher education task force. Thanks in advance.

4 comments November 22nd, 2009

Making Rourkela a Tier II city of India – HRD and other development of Rourkela (work in progress)

Update: See also https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4308.

Rourkela is the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa with an official metropolitan population of 550,668 but perhaps much more (at least 700 K) if one takes into account nearby places like Biramitrapur and Rajgangpur. It is probably the most cosmopolitan area of Orissa. Because of its steel plant it has world-wide name recognition. It has a lot of young talents; I am told that Rourkela youngsters have done much better in entrance exams like IIT JEE than from other parts of Orissa. Rourkela and the Sundergarh district have produced many national hockey players (both male and female), some of whom have gone on to captain the Indian national side.

Being an important station in the Mumbai-Howrah line, Rourkela is very well connected to both. The National Institute of Technology at Rourkela is often ranked among the top 5 NITs of the country; in recent years it has done much better and is in the process of starting a business program. Rourkela also has two private engineering colleges and at least one more is in the works. Rourkela has at least two good magament schools: Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (sometimes ranked nationally) and Indian Institute of Production Management, Kansbahal.  

Overall, Rourkela has the potential to be a Tier II city of India at the level of Vizag, Chandigarh, etc. But unfortunately, that has not happened so far and active organized efforts need to  be made to achieve that.

So here I will list some of the things that should be pursued so that Rourkela becomes a Tier II city of India.

Knowledge and HRD aspects:

• Metropolitan University: Rourkela is perhaps the largest metropolitan area of the country, or may be the whole world which does not have a general university. This needs to be rectified at the earliest. IMHO, the best model to follow would be of Delhi University. So a Rourkela Metropolitan University should be established  with graduate programs as well as with a few constituent colleges spread (offering Bachelors as well as Masters degrees) across the metropolitan area, but with no affiliated colleges. The exisiting government colleges in Rourkela (Govt. College, Rourkela; SG Women’s, Rourkela and Rourkela College) would be made constituents of this university.
• Medical College: Although a WODC sponsored PPP-based medical college is in the works, we must continue pursuing an ESIC medical college here. SAIL, which is making a medical college in Bokaro, should also be pushed to establish a medical college here.
• BPUT: BPUT must become fully operational from Rourkela.It  needs to have real departments and centers and offer its own courses. It should be expanded to have programs in Science and Humanities.
• Research Centers: The state should pursue one of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. to open a research center in Rourkela.
• Centrally funded University: At some point a centrally funded university should be pursued for Rourkela.
• More private institutions: Rourkela has the population base and the amenities that metropolitan areas offer to have more private institutions such as engineering colleges, management institutions etc. A multi-pronged apporoach should be taken.
  • Local big industries should be cajoled to participate in this. For example, SAIL is also planning an engineering college in Bokaro. They should be pushed to have one in Rourkela.
  • Local people should also open private institutions on their own.
  • Educational foundations inside and outside state that have developed good private institutions should be approached and invited to open institutions in Rourkela. Inside Orissa, institutions like Silicon and NIST should be approached. 
• STP: The STP at Rourkela should be expanded.
• IT/BPO: Because of the cosmopolitan nature of Rourkela, it would be a good place for BPO and call center operations. This should be pursued.
• Sports Institute/University: Sundergrah district is considered by many to be the Hockey cradle of India, both in men’s and women’s hockey. It has produced both Men’s and Women’s hockey team captains in Dilip Tirkey and Jyoti Sunita Kullu. Orissa government should pursue to establish a National Sports Institute (of the kind in Patiala) in Rourkela. It should include programs in physical training, coach training, official training etc. This would specially contribute  in the enhancing the employment opportunities for Adivasis who constitute 50.74% of Sundergarh’s population.

Connectivity Aspects:

• Rail Connectivity -Trains: While the connectivity to Mumbai and Kolkata is marvelous, connectivity to other places needs improvement. Dilip has a good list of new trains needed for Rourkela at http://rourkelarail.wetpaint.com/page/DEMANDS. This list is:
  • Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express( Day Time)
  • Rourkela-Berhampur Gajapati Express
  • Rourkela-Secundarabad/Hyderabad Express
  • Trains to New Delhi from Bhubaneswar via Rourkela OR Rourkela-Nizamuddin/New Delhi Express (Any extension of Ranchi-Hatia or Tatanagar trains will also work)
  • Trains to Patna and Eastern U.P.
• Rail Connectivity-Others: The Talcher-Bimlagarh line must be fast-tracked.
• Roads: The 4-laning of the state highway 10 connecting Sambalpur and Rourkela must be expedited.
• Air Connectivity: Rourkela airport must be made functional with commercial flights at the earliest.

Metro area:

• A larger metropolitan area for Rourkela that includes Kansbahal and Rajgangpur in the west and Biramitrapur in the North must be formally established.
• The state government should pursue Rourkela to be included in JNNURM.

(The above is from Google Maps.)

(The above is from "sarini: Occasional papers, No. 4, Adivasis of Rourkela")

Work in Progress…

43 comments November 15th, 2009

Higher Education Task Force Ad in Samaja

1 comment October 30th, 2009

14 new polytechnics on the way; center to fund Rs 12.3 crores each for infrastructure, state to take care of the rest

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

The Centre has sanctioned funds for establishment of Government polytechnics in 14 districts of the State.

Each of the institutes will receive a one time grant of Rs 12.30 crore from the Centre for infrastructure development while the State Government will take care of the recurring expenditure, including staff salary and administrative expenses.

The Government polytechnics will be located in districts having no such institutes.

Orissa has 13 technical institutes including three women polytechnics offering diploma courses in various trades. However, these institutes are limited to only nine districts and most of them are located in coastal region.

The new polytechnics will be opened in seven Naxal-affected districts of Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Sambalpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh and Deogarh.

The other districts selected for the Centrally assisted technical institutes are Boudh, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Sonepur.

Sites for the proposed polytechnics have been selected in respective district headquarters.

The Government will provide at least 10 acres of land for each of the polytechnics free of cost.

The new polytechnics will start functioning from the next academic session. …

According to a conservative estimate, each polytechnic will have at least 50 staff. The Government will take a decision on recruitment of staff on permanent or contractual basis.

The Government had already submitted a proposal to the Centre for financial assistance for opening Government polytechnics in the remaining seven districts.

3 comments October 29th, 2009