Excerpts of IIT Bhubaneswar director’s speech on the occaision of classes starting in Bhubaneswar

Other reports: Tathya.

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

With the institution of the IIT at Bhubaneswar I can sea a visible change in this region. Bhubaneswar has already earned a place in the list of cities in this country as an educational hub and third in the country so far as the business ambience is concerned.

Very soon there will be more visitors to this city from all over the world for education, business and tourism creating a demand for an international airport and a lot of traffic through sea route,” said IIT Bhubaneswar Director Prof M Chakraborty at its first foundation day function here on Wednesday.

Prof Chakraborty said the day assumes added significance because it is the day, on which the academic programme of the institution began in the city though in a temporary building. Earlier, the classes were going on at IIT Kharagpur. The permanent building of the institute will be established on 936 acres of land at Argul near the city.

“The institute will promote a borderless academic environment, in which distinction between different branches of science and engineering will dissolve. We shall have the concept of schools rather than departments,” Prof Chakraborty said, adding that the institute is planning to open a School of Material and Mineral Engineering, a School of Ocean and Environmental Sciences and a School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the near future. PhD programme is introduced from the current year and steps are being taken to provide Rs 5 lakh to every faculty member to initiate their research programmes.

Besides, there is a proposal to establish a science park with focus on innovations emphasising product design and product creation based global societal needs, he informed.

July 23rd, 2009

Opposition to certain conditions in the Vedanta University act; response embedded in Ila Patnaik’s article

Some news reports mention about opposition to certain conditions in the Vedanta University act. In this regard a recent article by Ila Patnaik in Indian Express is illuminating. Following are some excerpts.

The existing framework for running universities in India has been tried for many decades, and has been shown to have failed. In striking contrast, China has been able to get far ahead of India in building universities. If progress has to be made in India, every assumption of the HRD ministry now needs to be questioned. In addition to removing entry barriers against new private or foreign universities, the four new ideas that need to be brought in are: autonomy of universities (including on budget); reduced core funding combined with more competitive research grants; a flexible salary structure; end of government interference in recruitment of staff and students.

The best universities in India, those that we are particularly proud of, are not well rated by international standards. The Times of London’s Higher Education Supplement ranks universities around the world. In 2008, their data showed IIT Delhi at rank 154 and IIT Bombay at rank 174 globally. No other university in India made this top 200 list. By way of comparison, China has universities at ranks 50, 56, 113, 141, 143 and 144. In other words, China has six universities which are superior to IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay.

Last week, the NBER Digest carried an article by Linda Gorman summarising a research paper by Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Caroline M. Hoxby, Andreu Mas-Colell and Andre Sapir which investigates the sources of success in building universities. The paper is immensely useful in thinking about how to build universities in India; it should be on the top of Kapil Sibal’s reading list.

The paper finds that the first element that pulls down the rank of a university is the process of budgetary approval from the government. The average European university that sets its own budget has a rank of 200 while the average European university that needs approval from the government has a rank of 316. In other words, giving a university autonomy to set its own budget on average yields an improvement of 116 ranks. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give universities autonomy.

The second important feature is the role of government in funding universities. They find that each percentage point of the university’s budget that comes from core government funds reduces the rank of the university by 3.2 points. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give them less money through core funding from the government.

The third issue is inequality in wages. European universities which pay the same wages to all faculty of the same seniority and rank have an average rank of 322. Universities which vary wages for each faculty member and pay different salaries to two people of the same seniority and rank, have an average rank of 213. In other words, flexible HR policies yield an improvement of 109 ranks. The message for India: freeing up HR policies is essential to building high-quality universities.

The fourth issue is the recruitment process for students. Universities which are free to recruit undergraduate students as they like have a rank 156 points higher than those where the government determines the composition of students. The message for India: universities should have full freedom to recruit students as they like, without interference from the government.

The fifth issue is competition. Each percentage point of a university’s budget that comes from a competitive research grants process yields an improvement in its ranking by 6.5. …

Variation across state governments in the United States shows that the best universities come up in states which allow more autonomy, such as independent purchasing systems, no state approval of the university budget, and complete control of personnel hiring and pay.

There is only one university in India which has autonomy on budget setting, recruits its own students, has flexible HR policies, etc., and this is the Indian School of Business. It is perhaps logical that, in 2008, ISB was ranked the 20th best MBA programme by The Financial Times, and in 2009 this rank was improved to 15. None of the IIMs feature anywhere. This is a striking contrast between enormous state expenditures on the IIMs failing to yield measurable results when compared with an alternative which has landed India in the top rankings of the world.

1 comment July 21st, 2009

Business Standard interviews IIT Bhubaneswar director

Following are some excerpts from that interview.

What are the institute’s immediate campus expansion plans?
We received 936 acres from the Orissa government in Argul. The master plan for the permanent and residential IIT-Bhubaneswar campuses is almost ready. Next we will appoint architects and consultants for project and construction management. IIT-Kharagpur will continue to be the mentor institute for IIT-Bhubaneswar for 2-3 years, beginning 2008. We started at the IIT-KGP campus in July 2008 with 100 students. Now we have moved to a temporary campus of 45,000 sq ft in Bhubaneswar. This space is IIT-KGP’s extension centre and was given to us by IIT-KGP. Currently, we are putting up all our students and faculty in a housing complex where we have hired 60 large flats.

Academically, what are your focus areas?
We started with three courses in July 2008. These were BTech degrees in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. We plan to start a school of mineral and material engineering, considering the rich resources of Orissa. Also we intend to start studies in ocean sciences, environmental sciences and disaster management. School of chemical and bio-chemical engineering is also another priority area. Our new campus of 936 acres will have a science park where various industries would come and work with students and faculty. This will ensure our students’ exposure to on-job learning.

Also, we will not have separate departments for each discipline. For instance, we will have only one school of basic sciences which will encompass subjects like Physics, Chemistry, bio-science, arts sciences, and others. Similarly, our school of infrastructure management will encompass everything from construction, architecture to building materials, etc. This will ensure multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research and interaction. Our aim is to encourage product designing and product creation based on societal needs, and in order to do that, a student needs to know right from the material selection to manufacturing to production to finished goods. Therefore, each school of learning should address all necessary knowledge required to build a product specific to that industry.

How many students and faculty do you have now, and what is the plan ahead?
When we started from IIT-KGP last year, we had 100 students. This year we have moved to the temporary campus in Bhubaneswar with 94 second-year students. We have 120 first years and 20 preparatory students. … We have 27 faculty members right now taking care of the first and second year students, and the drive is on for recruiting more faculty. Our plan is to have 2,500 students and 280 faculty within 3-4 years. In 15 years from now, we should have 10,000 students, 1,100 faculty and nearly 1,400 supporting staff.

…

Any specific plans to encourage research?
Research is one of our main focus areas and we are encouraging faculty to join us with their own research scholars. Even professors from other institutions would come to IIT-Bhubaneswar with their projects. All these projects are funded by various government departments and agencies, so once the researchers come to IIT-Bhubaneswar, the research funds would get transferred to our institute. We will soon advertise for research scholars to engage them in creating new knowledge, as then publish the findings. …

IIT-Bhubaneswar is also making provision for up to Rs 5 lakh research grant to a faculty. This would help them to invest in necessary infrastructure they require to carry out their research, like softwares, hardwares, books and journals, etc. Student researchers get a grant of Rs 15,000 per month. International exposure for faculty and student researchers and presenting their research papers at international conferences is another priority area.

 

1 comment July 20th, 2009

A partial list of engineering colleges that are newly authorized by AICTE to admit undergraduate students

Update2: The possible reason that IIIT, Silicon etc. are not in the BPUT published list despite having received AICTE approval is that BPUT has not completed their inspection of these institutions. It is expected that the inspection will be completed in the next couple of days in time for regular JEE counseling.

Update: The list in BPUT’s web site http://www.jeeorissa.com/newsfiles/news_16.htm is slightly different. The main differences are that it does not have IIIT, Silicon and Xavier and has the following college.

  • SOPHITORIUM ENGINEERING COLLEGE, INFRONT OF COLLECTOR OFFICE, BANIATANGI, KHURDA

The following list is obtained from a link mentioned by reader Parashar Das and another link that lists changes in seats. The later link has BIT and IIIT as BIT got its approval in 2008 and IIIT got its approval as a college in 2007.

  1. Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mouza: Barakuda, Post Panchagoan, Bhubaneswar-752 050
  2. Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology, Plot No 4, Village Harapur, Khurda, Pin- 752 054
  3. Einstien Academy of Tech. & Management (EATAM) Bania Tangi Bhubaneswar
  4. Eklavya College of Tech., and Sci., At Kusumati PO Jatni Bhubaneswar Khurda
  5. Gandhi Academy of Tech. & Engineering At/PO Golonthara Konisi, Berhampur, Dist Ganjam Orissa
  6. Gandhi Institute for Education & Technology, At Banlatangi, P.O. Bajpur, Dist : Khurda-752060
  7. Gurukula College of Engineering for Women (GCEM) At- Jamuhari Chhatabar, Bhubaneshwar Dist- Khurda Odisha
  8. Hi-Tech College of Engineering, Rasulghar, Pandara Bhubaneswar
  9. Indotech College of Engineering, Plot No. 144, AT/PO Mallipada, Via Pallahat(Khurda-2) Dist-khurda,Orissa-752056
  10. International Institute of Information Technology, Plot No – 570(P), Gothapatna, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar – 751030
  11. KMBB College of Engineering and Technology AT-Daleiput, PO-Talahat Dist. Khurda,Orissa
  12. Rahul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Govindapur JN Tata Dapalli, Village Konisi, Berhampur, Ganjam (DT) Orissa-761 008.
  13. Shibani Institute of Technical Education , At-PO-Chhatabar,Via, Hanla, Bhubaneswar – 752054, Khurda, Orissa
  14. Silicon Institute of Technology, Sason, Sambalpur -763 200, Orissa.
  15. Spintronic Tech. & Advance Resarch At.Po Taraboi P.S. Jatani Dist Khurda, Orissa
  16. Srinix College of Engineering College At-Ranipatna, Dist Balasore-750001 .
  17. Suddhananda Engg. & Research Centre, Phulnakhara Cuttack At Anchhipur P.O. Bhatapatna Orissa
  18. Synergy Institute of Technology, At : Bhimpur,P.O. Jagannathpur, P.S. Balianta, Dist:Khurda, Orissa
  19. Vedang Institute of Technology, Durga Prasad, P.O. Ramachandi, Dist. Khurda, Orissa
  20. Vikash College of Engineering for Women (VCEW) plot No. 2766, P.S. Dist- Baragarh, Odisha
  21. Vivekananda Inst. Of Tech., at Chhatabar Dandi, Chaatabar, Orissa
  22. Xavier Institute of Tech., Princess Avencue Ghangapatna Bhubaneswar Dist Khurda Orissa

Among the above list, 17 colleges are in the Bhubaneswar area, 2 in Berhampur area, 1 in Sambalpur, 1 in Baragarh, and 1 in Balasore. This will take the number of engineering colleges in Bhubaneswar to close to 60.

Some of the other colleges that were in pipeline, but whose name does not appear in the above lists, are:

  • Rourkela Institute of Technology, At P.O. Kuarmunda, District : Sundergarh Pin 770039 Orissa 
  • Vijayanjali Institute of Technology At Gadabhanga No. 4 P.O. Khantapara, District : Balasore 756043 Orissa
  • Adarsha College of Engineering At Saradhapur, P.O. Kumurisingha Dist : Angul, Pin 759122 Orissa
  • SRM College of Engineering At Giringaput, P.O. Mendhasala, Orissa
  • PJ College of Management & Technology At Kesora, P.O. Bankual, Bhubaneswar 751 002 Orissa
  • Pan Institute of Technology, Knowledge City Unit – 7, Bhubaneswar 751 003 Orissa
  • Pioneer Institute of Technology Village : Ambilijhari Mouza : Machhapangi, PS Choudwar, District : Cuttack Orissa
  • MITS College of Engineering Mouza: Alkar At P.O. Janla, Bhubaneswar 751016 Orissa
  • Kalahandi Engineering College, Bhawanipatna (govt)
  • Parla Maharaj Engineering College, Berhampur (govt)

Note that last year there were 18 new colleges; 12 in the Bhubaneswar area, 3 in the berhampur area, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Balasore and 1 in Rayagada. Taking into account the count of engineering colleges in various areas from last year and this year, the lower bound is:

5 comments July 18th, 2009

A partial list of new engineering colleges that may admit undergraduate students in the upcoming Orissa/BPUT JEE Counseling

The following list is compiled by reader Parashar Das from the various advertisements in Orissa newspapers. The final list should come out before the counseling for engineering starts on 24th July 2009.

  1. Shibani Institute of Technical Education, Chhatabar,Bhubaneswar
  2. Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Chhatabara,Bhubaneswar
  3. Indotech College of Engineering,Malipada, Bhubaneswar
  4. Einstien Academy of Technology & Management, Baniatangi,Bhubaneswar
  5. Aryan Institute of Engineering & Technology, Barakuda, Panchagaon, Bhubaneswar
  6. Ekalavya college of technology & Science, Kusumati,Bhubaneswar
  7. Vedang Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar
  8. Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology, Infovalley, Harapur,Bhubaneswar
  9. Sudhananda Engineering & research centre, Phulnakhara Bhubaneswa
  10. Spintronics technology & advanced research, Argul,Bhubaneswar
  11. Gurukul college for Engineering for women, Bhubaneswar
  12. KMBB college of Engineering & Technology, Bhubaneswar
  13. Gandhi institute for Education & Technology, Baniatangi, Bhubaneswar
  14. Synergy institute of technology, Phulnakhara, Bhubaneswar
  15. IIIT Bhubaneswar
  16. Vikash College of Engineering for Women, Bargarh
  17. Silicon institute of Technology, Sason, Sambalpur
  18. Gandhi Academy of Technolgy & Engineering, Berhampur

It is not clear how many of the above have received AICTE approval so far.

In addition the Orissa government had announced two new government engineering colleges in Berhampur and Bhawanipatna. It is not known if they will be starting this year and take students this year. My guess is probably not. But I could be wrong.

26 comments July 15th, 2009

Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology promises to provide its top five students higher studies and research opportunities in the USA

NOTE: Please note that I am in the board of advisors of BIT. I agreed to join the board because I believe in the people who are making it. Nevertheless I am obviously biased.

The above statement is made in a report about Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology in Pioneer. Some excerpts from that report are:

A group of likeminded eminent NRO academicians have come together to start the Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) and offer students of the State the opportunity for technical education and research of international standard and style. The institute promises its students education by experienced faculty from the US, innovative teaching methods and much more within the framework of the BPUT curriculum.

… There would also be opportunities for students to “Earn while Learn,” “Learn While You Teach” and the top five students would be provided opportunities in the US for higher studies and research, he said. The BIT hopes to achieve all this through its experienced faculty, both visiting and permanent, from places like the US, Canada and Singapore. 

I beleive that the above promise would be honored. That is because:

  • The BIT founders include several professors in the USA, two of whom (Prof. Laxmi Bhuyan and Prof. Prasant Mohapatra) are Chairmen of their departments at University of Califoirnia at Riversive and University of California at Davis respectively.
  • The top students from Orissa are as good as from any other state in India and thus many US universities would love to take them as graduate students and they will believe the quality of these students when these students submit recommendation letters written by professors in the US who know the students closely because of their association with BIT.

BIT’s initial faculty recruitment is also showing their commitment to quality. Its current faculty of thirteen has four Ph.Ds, two doing their Ph.Ds, four with M.Tech/ME/M.Phil degrees and only three with simple B.E/B.Tech degrees.

Even at this early stage of BIT’s recruiting, one may compare BIT with the following institute faculty to get an idea of where BIT is heading.

21 comments July 14th, 2009

Selected HRD headlines from our Twitter site

Following is from our twitter site http://twitter.com/orissalinks.

  • Besides Frankfinn Bhubaneswar also has an Air hostess Academy. http://airhostessacademy.co…
  • New web site of Human Development Foundation at http://www.hdf.ac.in is now active.
  • So far 18+1 (director) new faculty have joined NISER Bhubaneswar. http://niser.ac.in/faculty.php 13 more have been offered.
  • NISER Bhubaneswar permanent faculty: Phy (7), Bio (4), Math (3), Chemistry (4+1 Director)
  • TOI http://bit.ly/18efsq Utkal university Bhubaneswar signs MoU with Central council for research in ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS)
  • kalahandia> e-admission kicked off in Orissa for junior colleges: e-admission kicked off Tathya.in.. http://bit.ly/42CD3
  • IIT Bhubaneswar Director could have been more imaginative in the IIT Diro’s meeting. http://bit.ly/1avLnx IIT Hyderabad D most impressive.
  • Sand artist Sudarsan teams up with Vedanta University in Puri (near Bhubaneswar) http://bit.ly/4i2ql
  • Sibal asked the IITs to expand into new areas like medicine and law and evolve a framework in this regard. http://bit.ly/qjTRI
  • orissalinksSibal: “For eg, IIT-Kharagpur can have its campus in Delhi too. Spread your wings like an octopus, I will support you.” http://bit.ly/164HC5
  • orissalinksSibal: "Why can’t you have a law school inside your campus. Why can’t an engineering student learn about management, economics and biology?”
  • orissalinksIIT Bhubaneswar is just starting so it can not spread wings or have medical schools that soon. But NIT Rourkela can. We should push.
  • orissalinkskalahandia> Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandirs perform exceptionally well in Orissa: Sangh schools sco.. http://bit.ly/HvlYs
  • orissalinkskalahandia> Dr. Sanjib Kumar Karmee’s Letter to CM of Orissa on Medical College in Balangir: Dear .. http://bit.ly/PXtcL
  • orissalinkskalahandia> Bhubaneswar to have railway medical college: Mamata Banerjee announces slew of staff-f.. http://bit.ly/HtNZA
  • orissalinks.com> Orissa state cabinet approves bills for Vedanta, Sri Sri and ICFAI Universities: Following is an e.. http://bit.ly/hmqXI
  • orissalinkskalahandia> Why not an IIM at Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda (BSJ) region?: Orissa likely to miss IIM .. http://bit.ly/UqN2h
  • orissalinkskalahandia> Biju Patnaik Rural varsity to come up in Bhubaneswar: Biju Patnaik Rural varsity to co.. http://bit.ly/cBl6t
  • orissalinkskalahandia> New in Ministry of Agriculture Orissa: Horticulture college at Chiplima, agriculture c.. http://bit.ly/FjvJz
  • orissalinksVC of Central Univ of Orissa at Koraput urges center for a medical college http://bit.ly/zbfnq
  • orissalinksTOI: Delhi to set up knowledge city; land earmarked. http://bit.ly/zLQyf Orissa is gifted one but many stupidly oppose.
  • orissalinksXIM Bhubaneswar names its new acad. block as Tata Centenary Learning Centre; Tata Steel contributed about 1 crore to it. http://bit.ly/bwvES

Please consider joining Twitter and following Orissalinks to get similar updates immediately. That site will have original micro-postings (140 characters) as well as the headlines of the Orissalinks, Orissagrowth and Kalahandia blogs.

July 12th, 2009

Update on IIIT Bhubaneswar and IIIT Berhampur

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

The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bhubaneswar, is all set to launch B Tech courses in several disciplines from the ensuing academic session.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has granted its approval to the premier institute for intake of 240 students in the disciplines of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Computer Science Engineering and IT. Each discipline would have a seat strength of 60.

The students for the B Tech programme would be taken from the State JEE this year. Plans are to restrict intake from State JEE to between 50 and 60 percent and the rest from AIEE and IIT JEE in the subsequent years. Along with the B Tech courses, the institute will also include Ph.D programmes in its curriculum from this year.

… A proposal would be put up with the UGC for accordance of University status to it once it gets going in full strength. The institute, which is presently conducting M Tech courses in Computer Science and IT with 25 students each from the OCAC building, is expected to shift to its own campus at Gothapatna on the outskirts of the Capital in August this year. The campus would come up as a state-of-the-art facility to provide top standard atmosphere and education to the students. Spanning over 23 acres, the IIIT would then have around 2000 students, Prof Nayak said.

… work has started on establishing a second IIIT at Berhampur. The Government has allotted 100 acres for the proposed institute at Rangeilunda.

30 comments July 11th, 2009

Status of AIIMS-like institutions

Following is from a PIB report.

Rajya Sabha 

The Government approved the proposal in 2006 for setting up of six AIIMS-like institutions in the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). 

The Design-DPR Consultants selected for preparation of designs and the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) have submitted the DPRs for medical college and hospital complex. Project Consultants have also been appointed at all sites and work is expected to start in September, 2009 and get completed by the end of 2011. 

The availability of faculty/medical staff is key to efficient running of these institutions. The work of construction of residential complexes has, therefore, been taken up on priority work has started at all 6 Sites and will be completed at all sites by the end of 2010. 

In addition, it has also been decided to set up two more new AIIMS-like institutions, one each in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in the second phase of PMSSY. 

This information was given by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

4 comments July 10th, 2009

BIT (Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology) and IIIT are good alternatives to CET and UCE (VSSUT) for top ranked students in Orissa/BPUT JEE

NOTE: Please note that I am in the board of advisors of BIT. I agreed to join the board because I believe in the people who are making it. Nevertheless I am obviously biased.

Update: Expressbuzz.com has a nice report on Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology.

This year IIIT Bhubaneswar is starting B.Tech courses. See http://www.iiit-bh.in/ It could be a good alternative to CET and UCE.

Similarly, BIT, although private, could be a good alternative to CET and UCE as BIT is being made by several top professors in the USA. See http://www.bit.edu.in/. Just to elaborate on the later, following is the promoting body of BIT, as obtained from their web site http://www.bit.edu.in/promoting.htm. I know several of the professors in the BIT promoting body and they are very well respected internationally. I strongly believe that they will make BIT a top engineering college in Orissa.

 Prof. Rabi N. Mahapatra, Chairman
Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University, USA
Mrs. Sumita Panda, Managing Trustee
Bhubaneswar, India

Prof. Laxmi N. Bhuyan, Trustee
Professor and Chairman, Department of Computer Science, University of California, Riverside, USA
Mr. Binoy K. Dash, Trustee
Software Engineer, Cisco Systems, California, USA
Major General P Pinak Das (Retd.), Trustee
Defense Research Development Organization, New Delhi, India
Mr. Rabindra Gaan, Trustee
Satellite Radio Broadband Consultant, Bell Labs, New Jersey, USA
Mr. Neelamadhaba Mahapatro, Trustee
General Manager and Partner, Microsoft Corp. USA
Dr. Gopal K. Mohapatra, Trustee
Geophysical Advisor, Hess Corp., Houston
Prof. Prasant Mohapatra, Trustee
Professor and Chairman, Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, USA
Dr. Sujata Mishra, M.B.B.S, M.D, Trustee
Consulting Physician, Bangalore, India

14 comments July 10th, 2009

Orissa state cabinet approves bills for Vedanta, Sri Sri and ICFAI Universities

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

… The Bill for setting up Vedanta University was approved during the State Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The other two private universities approved by the Cabinet are the ones to be set up by Sri Sri Ravishankar Trust and Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI).

However, the Cabinet put some riders while approving Vedanta University Bill.

The provision for permitting the university to set up off-shore campus and centres was deleted from the Bill. This means no campus or centre of Vedanta University can be set up by the management outside Orissa. The decision was taken after perusal of the Supreme Court judgment in the Yashpal versus Chhattisgarh Government case. The land requirement for the university has been scaled down to 6,000 acres after largescale protest by the locals.

The Bills for Vedanta and Sri Sri Ravishankar universities were introduced in the last Assembly. However, the two Bills were not passed in view of large-scale protest against the establishment of Vedanta University. The Bills had lapsed along with the Assembly. The Cabinet decided to re-introduce the Bills now with some minor changes. While Vedanta and Sri Sri Ravishankar University Bills will be debated during the budget session, a decision on ICFAI Bill is yet to be taken.

The State Government has already identified 185.97 acres of land near Cuttack for setting up Sri Sri Ravishankar University. …

July 7th, 2009

Foundation stone laying of ICAR Foot and mouth disease (FMD) lab

Update:Following is an article from Dharitri about what Foot and Mouth disease is.

 

1 comment July 6th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar faculty ad in newspapers (Deadline: 31st July 2009)

June 30th, 2009

Faculty openings at IIT Bhubaneswar (Application Deadline – 31st July 2009)

Following is from http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=7. The application form is at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=8. These were posted in the IIT Bhubaneswar electronic Notice Board at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/index.php.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BHUBANESWAR

IIT Bhubaneswar invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in the following disciplines.

 

Disciplines : Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences (Economics, English, Psychology)

 
Minimum Qualification
 

Ph.D. with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in appropriate branch and evidence of the ability to pursue independent high quality research. 

 
Experience
 

Professor : At least 10 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 5 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor or 3 years as Associate Professor.

 

Associate Professor : At least 8 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 3 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor

 
Assistant Professor : At least 3 years teaching / research / industrial experience.
 
Scale of Pay

Professor                   : Rs. 18400-500-22400/-

Associate Professor            : Rs. 16400-450-20000/-

Assistant Professor             : Rs. 12000-420-18300/-

plus allowances as admissible to Central Government employees.
(Pay and allowances are likely to be revised as per Sixth Central Pay Commission)
 
Academic reimbursements and other incentives

Full funding for attending national conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Financial assistance up to Rs.1.00 lakh once in 3 years for attending International conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Reimbursement of 75% of membership fee of one international professional society every year.

Book grant of Rs. 4000/- per annum.

Reimbursement of telephone charges up to Rs.750 per month.

Reimbursement of relocation charges from within India to the faculty members at the time of their joining.

Honorarium of Rs. 15,000/- per month to the teachers who have obtained Bhatnagar Award OR are having fellowship of at least two National Academies. A faculty member is entitled for only one of the two honoraria.

 

Interested candidates may apply enclosing

 

•     Curriculum Vitae.

•     List of Publications (with reprints of important publications).

•    Names and Addresses (with e-mail address and fax numbers) of at least three referees.

•     Any other details relevant to the candidature.

 
Notes

•     Reservation for SC/ST/OBC/PH as per Government of India rules.

  • Minimum requirement of experience may be relaxed in respect of outstanding candidates.

•     Mere eligibility will not vest any right on any candidate for being called for interview. The decision of the Institute in all matters will be final. No correspondence will be entertained from the candidates in connection with the process of selection / interview. Canvassing in any manner would entail disqualification of the candidature.

·         The Institute reserves the right to call only the requisite number of candidates for interview after shortlisting with reference to the candidate’s qualification, suitability, experience, etc.

·         The candidates should be preferably below 35 years of age for the post of Assistant Professor

•     The Institute reserves the right to fill or not to fill any or all the posts advertised.

·         Candidates possessing the requisite qualification & experience may submit their application on the prescribed form to the Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar – 751013 (email : registrar@iitbbs.ac.in).

·         NO INTERIM ENQUIRIES WILL BE ENTERTAINED.

 

Download Application Form

 

Application form can be downloaded from the Institute website (www.iitbbs.ac.in). The candidates applying from Government Organizations and Public Sector Undertaking should have their applications duly forwarded by their present employer. Applicants desiring to apply for more than one discipline should send separate application for each discipline.

 

Last Date for receipt of completed application forms: 31st July 2009.

 
Registrar
Advt. No.F.5-4/2009-P&A dated 26th June 2009

 

June 29th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar student and faculty housing

The following pictures are from the blog of a couple of IIT Bhubaneswar first batch students. (Thanks to Pradosh, who took the pictures.)

2 comments June 25th, 2009

Latest information on Sri Sri University and AOLHET

Update: I talked to one of persons associated with AOLHET. He said that AOLHET is the US arm of Sri Sri University and its main goal is to raise $250 million (about Rs 1200 crores) for the Sri Sri University. He said many of the trustee members listed below have significant experience in fund raising for a university. With a budget like that, the freedom from government by virtue of being a private university,  the world wide admiration and visibility of Sri Sri Ravishankar, and the world-wide network of Art of Living, this university could challenge the proposed National University in Bhubaneswar.

I stumbled across a new site for this at http://aolhet.com. AOLHET is Art of Living Health and Education Trust. It has more up-to-date information. From the pages there we have the following information. 

Trustees: 

Dr. Alfred Balitzer, former United States Special Ambassador to Brunei and Professor of American government, political philosophy and U.S.-Asia relations at Claremont McKenna College, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Raj Shah, Chairman and CEO of Capital Surini Group International, Inc. and Capital Technology Information Services, Inc., is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Salim Aziz, a Cardiothoracic and Thoracic Surgeon and CEO and Medical Director of Capitol Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates and Millennium Scan International, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Jeffrey Houk, Board Member of the Art of Living Foundations, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Dean Harmison, a Specialist in General Dentistry, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Raman Poola, a physician specializing in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Arif Diwan, President and Founder of WILLIGENT Corporation and Managing Director and General Partner at Chrimatos Investments, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Faculty/Staff

Dr. TN Seshan, former Chief Election Commissioner of India (1990 – 1996) is the President Designate of Sri Sri University

Dr. S Ramaratnam is Vice Chancellor Designate of Sri Sri University

Dr. NV Vasani, Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Nirma University is on the Advisory Board of Sri Sri University

Mr. S.B. Ganguly, Chairman of Exide Industries, is on the Advisory Board of Sri Sri University

Colleges, Academic Departments and Programs

• College of Management
Bachelor’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Marketing
   Business Management
   Human Resources
   Banking and Finance

• College of Arts and Humanities
Bachelor’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Cultural Studies and Anthropology
   Performing Arts

• College of Government
Bachelor’s degree (2 years) and Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Mass Communication
Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
  Sustainable Development
  Pharmacology
  Agriculture
  Biotechnology

• College of Material and Transportation Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Textile Sciences
   Transportation Sciences

• College of Engineering
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Electronics and Telecommunications
   Computer Sciences
   Information Technology
   Mechanical Engineering
   Electrical Engineering
   Instrumentation
   Electronics and Electrical Engineering
   Civil Engineering

• College of Ayurveda
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Vedic Sciences
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Physical Sciences
   Chemistry
   Mathematics

• College of Medicine
Medical Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Law
Bachelor’s in Civil Law degree (5 years).

Sri Sri University

Sri Sri University will provide a unique educational experience that blends academic and personal development, which will nurture, educate, and empower students to become leaders in public service. A world-class academic institution, the University will feature multidisciplinary curricula to promote the pursuit of truth through educational and spiritual empowerment. Unparalleled didactics coupled with self-reflection will prepare students of all cultures and creeds for personal and professional excellence globally. A key objective of Sri Sri University is to foster scholarship and collegiality among its students, to inspire them to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve humanity.

The Art of Living Foundation and the Government of Orissa signed a Memorandum of Understanding on December 18, 2006 to establish a full-fledged multidisciplinary university near the state capital, Bhubaneswar within two to three years. The goal of the university would be to provide holistic education that is firmly embedded in Indian culture and ethos to the global leaders of tomorrow. Admission into the university will be based on merit alone, which will be assessed based on an entrance examination. Admission into the proposed varsity will be open to Indian as well as foreign nationals.

The proposed campus is being constructed in approximately 186 acres of land along the banks of the Mahanadi River in Naraj, about 20 miles from Bhubaneswar. The campus will include academic buildings, recreational facilities, meditation halls, and a sports complex. It will be designed to cater to the needs of 1,500 faculty members, an equal number of non-academic staff members, and 15,000 students. In 2007, the international consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was appointed to chart the strategic plans for Sri Sri University. Under the execution plan developed by Deloitte, Sri Sri University will establish the following colleges between 2009 and 2014:

Year 1: Management, Law, Government
Year 2: Mass Communication, Cultural Studies
Year 3: Engineering, Medicine
Year 4: Ayurveda, Vedic Sciences, Biotechnology
Year 5: Research Sciences

A Sri Sri University education will seek to inspire students to explore, create, serve and lead. 

Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital

The goal of the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital is to provide primary, preventive and educational healthcare. The Teaching Hospital will offer state-of-the-art, affordable medical care to communities in underserved areas by using an integrated approach that combines traditional health care and modern technology.

       In the period between 2009 and 2014 the Art of Living Health and Education Trust aims to:      

 • Design and construct the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital with specialized facilities on campus;

 • Build 25 primary care satellite clinics in locations determined by a feasibility study, to be conducted in 2008-2009;

 • Offer telemedicine services in primary care clinics with the capability to transfer patients with specialized medical needs to appropriately staffed and equipped clinics;

• Emphasize community-driven development through the International Association for Human Values’ 5H program [Health,Hygiene, Homes, Harmony in Diversity, Human Values]; and

• Develop a replication strategy using the design, construction, and operations of the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital
as a prototype, in collaboration with other NGOs and charitable organizations, to extend the His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s vision of affordable primary, preventive and educational healthcare to other parts of the world.

Sri Sri University: Key Milestones:

• December 2006 – Memorandum of Understanding signed with State Government of Orissa to establish Sri Sri University

• January 2007 – University President Designate Mr. T.N. Seshan (Former Chief Election Commissioner) contracts Deloitte to chart strategic plans for University

• June 2007 – Governing board appointed and faculty recruitment launched

• November 2007 – Hong Kong architectural firm begins blueprint for environmentally friendly campus

• February 2008 – Orissa State Cabinet approves status as an Autonomous Educational Institution

Campus

”Home to more than 15,000 students and 1,500 academic faculty from around the world, Sri Sri University campus will be located less than 15 miles from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa.

 

1 comment June 24th, 2009

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