Odisha HRD

Feedback on NISER academic and residential township specs

Going through the NISER call for tenders for providing consultancy for the academic and residential townships, available at http://www.dcsem.gov.in/Page/Tender.htm, I have the following suggestions to the advisory specs mentioned in that document.

1. The whole campus should be universally accessible. (For too long public spaces are designed in India without taking into account people with disabilities.)

2. Research labs in NISER should have the space to accommodate all students in the 4th and 5th year of their integrated M.Sc program. In other words, when students are in their 4th and 5th year they should be required to be part of a research lab, and thus the research labs should have space to accommodate them.

3. Instead of just a cafeteria, most US universities have a "Student Union" which has multiple eating places, bank (with ATM), post office, book store, entertainment options (such as chess, pool, etc.), etc. Some even have a movie theater. The student union should be a one stop place where students (and faculty) can not only eat but also transact other necessary businesses.

4. There should be plan for designing the landscape of the campus as a combination of a botanical garden (with trees labeled with their botanical name and their place of origin) and science based sculptures. Local industries may be approached for sponsoring part of this.

5. Finally the whole design should be such that there is room to expand. Otherwise 20-30 yrs down the road, NISER will suffer the same problem that IISc is facing now in terms of lack of room to grow.

December 3rd, 2008

NISER residential township specs

(Following is from http://www.dcsem.gov.in/page/pcdtbrp3.pdf)

RESIDENTIAL TOWNSHIP

December 3rd, 2008

NISER academic township and Sports complex specs

(From http://www.dcsem.gov.in/page/pcdtb1.pdf.)

ACADEMIC TOWNSHIP & SPORTS COM PLEX

1             for Integrated 5-yr M.Sc course (1000 students in full fledged operation): double room w/o attached toilet for first three years. Single room w/o attached toilet for the last two years;

2             for integrated M.Sc + PhD course (300 students total): Single room w/o attached toilet for the first two years (like other M.Sc. students), single occupancy with attached toilet for PhD part;

3             PhD students : total 300 (other than from (2)) : same as other PhD students;

4             Post-doc fellows (150 max.) : flatlets.

Classroom complex (service area is included in the bulk): .

(A) School adm inistration (for  six schools)

School chairman’s offices (100 sq.m .*6) 600 sq ms

Meeting rooms (small, two each, 50sq.m X2*6)) 600

Seminar halls (one each, 150 sq.m . *5) 750

Committee rooms (one each, 120 sq.m . *5) 600

School libraries and outreach halls (200 sq.m .*6) 1200

Total 3750

(B) Faculty and Research Scholaroffices

Each faculty office will be standard size (5.5m X 3.6m ≈20 sq.m .). There will be 200 such offices, senior faculty (150) being given independent offices, and junior faculty (100) sharing two each. Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs), associates and visiting faculty will share (double) a normal faculty office. Since visiting faculty will be both short and long-term type, it is assumed that 50 rooms, seating 100 people, may be adequate. Office space for PhD scholars will be provided by sharing three scholars in one room. A good proportion of scholars are usually accommodated in research labs. However sitting space is provided for about 500.

Faculty offices (200 X 20) 4000

Visitingfaculty(50 X 20) 1000

PDF(150atanygiventime),150X10 1500

PhD scholars 3250

Total 9750

Total 6500

Total 20000

Note: The area mentioned above are indicative. However the Consultant may change the same as per planning requirement

December 3rd, 2008

NISER call for tenders for Providing Consultancy Services for Construction of Residential and Academic Townships

Following is excerpted from http://www.dcsem.gov.in/Page/Tender.htm. The cost estimates are:

• Residential Township : Rs 160 crores
• Academic Township & Sports Complex: Rs 130 crores

(As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31118 each IISER construction budget is 241  crores.)

December 3rd, 2008

Sardar Valabhai Patel Post-graduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack

(Thanks to a reader who pointed us to this.)

Sardar Valabhai Patel Post-graduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack is a post graduate institute. It seems to be an independent institute with some links with the SCB Medical College. Following are excerpts from couple of old articles on it.

From http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/31/stories/2007033113230200.htm:

CUTTACK: With Japanese grant-in aid of Rs. 37 crores, the city-based Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post-graduate Institute of Paediatrics, known as Sishu Bhawan, the only referral centre for children in Eastern India is now ready after a major facelift. The renovated hospital will be inaugurated on April 2, according to its superintendent N.K. Mohanty.

"The expansion project, which got under way in April 2005, was completed as per the schedule," says Dr. Mohanty.

Supervision

The Japan government-sponsored Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has supervised the progress of the project work which includes a two-storied international standard building over an area of 18,000 square feet. Japan-based Yokogawa Architects and Engineers have designed the building while Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Corporation took up the civil work, say JICA sources.

The building houses OPD, casualty, laboratories, radio-imaging section, OTs, central sterilisation unit and a total of 116 beds, including 21 ICU beds, and 30 newborn special care beds, says Dr. Mohanty.

As per the MoU signed with the Japan government, the hospital now has the state-of-the-art equipments like ultrasound, ventilators, X-Ray, multi-parameter monitors, pulse oxy-meters and defibrillators by the Tokyo-based Ogawa Seikii worth over Rs. 25 crores.

From http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081004/jsp/nation/story_9923481.jsp.

The state government’s bid to overcome deficiencies exposed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) has hit a roadblock.

The MCI had recommended more faculty members in keeping with an increased number of seats for the MBBS course in the three state-run medical colleges.

The State Administrative Tribunal has stayed the recruitment process of 294 posts of senior residents or tutors at the MKCG Medical College and Hospital, VSS Medical College and Hospital, SCB Medical College and Hospital, and Sardar Vallabhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics.

December 2nd, 2008

Walk-in interview during Dec 8-13 for 50 research positions at IMMT (Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology) Bhubaneswar

1 comment December 2nd, 2008

Samaja ad for admission in ATDC Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Rourkela

The web ad at http://aepcindia.com/atdc/atdcAdmissionNotice.html only mentions ATDC Bhubaneswar. I guess the centers at Berhampur and Rourkela are satellite centers. Earlier there was also plan for satellite centers in  Baripada, Sambalpur and Cuttack. I guess they will start later.

There is an Institute of apparel management in Gurgaon in the outskirts of New Delhi.

1 comment December 2nd, 2008

ESIC plans a medical college in Bhubaneswar

Employee’s state insurance corporation plans to establish a medical college in Bhubaneswar. Currently they have the following hospitals in Orissa.

ESI HOSPITAL

ESI Annexes

ESIC Model Hospital
 

Following is a report from Sambada on the proposed ESO Medical College in Bhubaneswar.

2 comments November 29th, 2008

Vedanta and Sri Sri University bills presented in the assembly: Sambada

Hopefully the assembly will continue for a few days and these bills will get passed.

November 28th, 2008

Orissa government to pay for infrastructure costs beyond land for IIT Bhubaneswar

Following are excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government has geared up to meet the requirement of external infrastructure facilities for the proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) near Bhubaneswar.

Apart from providing road communication facilities, the government will also supply water and electricity to the site at Arugul mouza in Jatni Tehsil.

The Centre had asked the Orissa government to provide free land and develop external infrastructure for the proposed institute.

The state industry department has drawn a three-year development plan for the IIT. According to preliminary estimates, the investment will be about Rs 50 crore.

While providing water supply from Naraj to the IIT site is estimated to cost Rs 24 crore, another Rs 20 crore will be spent on supplying electricity at the project location. Besides, a flyover will have to be constructed and roads inside the campus need to be redesigned to bypass the railway line running through the site.

The state government has selected 891 acres in Arugul mouza for setting up the IIT. There is a patch of 20 acres of private land in the identified 891 acres and the state government will acquire it.

… The industry department is in talks with other departments like IT, urban development and science and technology for integrating the water supply system of the IIT with that of Infocity-II, Khurda-Jatni townships and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), coming up in the same area.

If this comes through, the cost of supplying water to the IIT campus will be relatively low, sources added.

Similarly, the electricity requirement of the IIT campus is estimated at 20 Mw. While the cost of 132 KV transmission line will be constructed by OPTCL, the required 33 KV/11KV line will be laid by power utility Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU).

Meanwhile, the visit of the Site Selection Committee (SSC) for the IIT in Orissa has been delayed. …

November 28th, 2008

General Colleges count in various Orissa districts – work in progress

The left four columns(*) in the following list is based on the lists at http://orissagov.nic.in/highereducation/DistBlockWise_College_list.htm and http://orissagov.nic.in/highereducation/actsrules.htm. It seems both these lists are not up-to-date. For example, neither list has any colleges in the Boudha district. However, the Boudha district web pages mention it having 9 colleges. Using Google some of the colleges one can find in Boudha are Boudh Panchayat College and Gandharadi College. The rightmost column (**) is based on going to the district web pages and getting information there. That is also not up-to-date as in recent years numerous junior (+2) colleges have opened.

2 comments November 24th, 2008

Food craft Institute in Balangir – needs attention

The National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology has several (31) affiliated Institute of Hotel Managements and several (7-10) Foodcraft Institutes. Orissa has one of each: Institute of Hotel Management in Bhubaneswar and a Foodcraft Institute in Balangir. The food craft institutes are located in the following places in India.

Following are the courses offered by the Institutes of Hotel Management and the Food Craft Institutes.

The Bachelor of Science programme in Hospitality and Hotel Administration is offered jointly by the National Council for Hotel Management and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The Three-Year programme equips students with all the required skills, knowledge and attitude to efficiently discharge supervisory responsibilities in the Hospitality sector. The programme also involves in-depth laboratory work for students to acquire required knowledge and skills standards in the operational areas of Food Production, Food and Beverage Service, Front Office Operation and House Keeping. The programme imparts substantial management inputs in area such as Sales and Marketing, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Hotel and Catering Law, Property Management, Entrepreneurship Development, Computers with special focus on Tourism Studies.

…

Admission to the following courses is regulated by the respective Institutes. Announcement for admission is released by them between May-July each year. Candidates meeting the prescribed entry-level requirements may apply to the concerned Institute. Admission will be based on the candidate’s merit in the qualifying examination.

A recent news item in expressbuzz.com mentions some problem with respect the Food Craft Institute in Balangir.

Uncertainity looms large over the Food Craft Institute here which is unique in Orissa. Reason: The State Government is yet to allot the plot, where the institute is presently located, in the name of institute. As a result, the financial assistance of Rs 1.3 crore from Centre to construct the hostel and part of institute building may return.

The government had decided to set up the institute in 2004 to boost the tourism and hospitality sector in the region. At present, the institute is being run by Ministry of Tourism. Orissa government had signed an MoU with Centre according to which the latter will provide financial assistance to run the institute for five years. Since the State Government is yet to hand over the land to the institute, the stipulated period (five years) of running the institute will elapse soon resulting in closure of the institute.Sources in the institute said if the State government does not do anything, then the institute will face closure in 2009. The Centre is seeking utilisation certificate (UC), which the institute has not been able to submit as the money is yet to be utilised in building the required infrastructure. When asked, Works Minister (former Tourism minister) and local MLA Ananga Udaya Singhdeo admitted that Centre would ask for return of funds if the UC is not submitted. “I have reminded the Tourism Department many times but they are not taking any step in this regard. The land should be allotted in the name of the institute as per the MoU,’ said the Minister.So far the institute has produced hundreds of students, who are well placed in hospitality industry. At present, around 55 students are studying in the institute.

1 comment November 23rd, 2008

Locations of the new regular central universities, new IITs and IIMs

The Indian government has announced to have 16 central universities in states that do not have any. Following are the states and the locations in those states that are being championed by those states. In some states existing universities will be upgraded to central university status:

1. Bihar – Near Motihari, East Champaran District
2. Chhatisgarh – Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)
3. Goa – Goa University was approved by cabinet; but now the state has changed its mind ??
4. Gujarat – Gandhinagar
5. Haryana – Mirzapur Bachhor Village In Mahendergarh District
6. Himachal Pradesh – Kangra
7. Jharkhand – Khunti (near Ranchi)
8. J & K – Dual Campus in Jammu & Srinagar
9. Karnataka – Suntanur-Kadaganchi on the Aland Road , Gulbarga
10. Kerala – Kasaragod
11. Madhya Pradesh – Dr. Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)
12. Orissa – Koraput
13. Punjab – Bathinda
14. Rajasthan – Bikaner
15. Tamil Nadu – Tiruvarur
16. Uttarakhand – Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University will be upgraded (approved by cabinet)

The location of the new IITs are (the existing ones are at Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee and IT BHU is to be upgraded):

1. Andhra Pradesh – Hyderabad
2. Bihar – Patna
3. Gujarat – Gandhinagar
4. Himachal Pradesh – Mandi
5. Madhya Pradesh – Indore
6. Orissa – Bhubaneswar
7. Punjab – Rupnagar
8. Rajasthan – Jodhpur

The location of the new IIMs are (the existing ones are at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kozhikode and Lucknow) :

1. Uttarakhand – Dehradun
2. J & K – Srinagar
3. Chhatisgarh – Raipur
4. Haryana – Rohtak
5. Jharkhand – Kanke, Ranchi
6. Tamil Nadu – Tiruchi
7. Meghalaya – Shillong

5 comments November 22nd, 2008

IITs may become real universities and have more non-technical programs

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India. (Thanks to Prof. Ratan Ghosh for the pointer.)

In the coming years, the IIT palette will have on offer a range of shades beyond the cut-and-dry coding courses. A bunch of doctors, historians, perhaps policy makers too, could boast of IIT degrees.

… the XIth five-year committee for higher education is working with these centres of excellence to expand their charts. The committee, headed by educationist Yash Pal, that is meeting IIT heads on Friday will discuss how the tech schools can change their character and, like American universities, enlarge their menu.

"Currently, the IITs are premier undergraduate engineering schools doing some postgraduation and research work. Now, we want to give them a bigger role," Yash Pal told TOI. The noted scientist said that he had discussed his suggestions with some IIT directors and that a clearer picture would emerge after this week’s meeting.

While the IITs will be given more oxygen in terms of starting courses of their choice, it’s difficult to predict whether the new subjects offered will compare in excellence with the engineering departments, or be relegated to the sidelines, like the IITs’ management schools. However, Yash Pal said, "All great universities around the world offer a range of undergraduate courses. Our IITs can’t be great unless they think in that direction."

The committee is looking at the Big Daddy of engineering colleges for inspiration. "If MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or Caltech (California Institute of Technology) can offer a wider range of programmes that are well-known, why not the IITs? Our IITs have produced wonderful engineers for the country. It’s time they looked at offering more," he added.

Former Indian Institute of Science director Govardhan Mehta, who’s also on the committee, said that the country was currently at a stage where an institute running one programme was also being termed a university. "However, a university, as defined in the ninth century, is an institution with a confluence of many disciplines where research and teaching are carried out. While expansion of courses in the IITs is what our committee is thinking of, Friday’s meeting will give us a chance to know what’s in the IIT heads’ minds," he said.

 … IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua said, "There has been some suggestion that the IITs start programmes in areas other than science and technology. I do not have a problem with doing that if our focus is clearly defined."

… Educationist and former director of IIT-Chennai P V Indiresan, who has spent a large part of his life in the IIT system, said the institutes had been synonymous with excellence and they must not start any programmes unless they got very good faculty for the same.

How the IITs will rise to the challenge remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that the flow charts on their lush campuses are set to be redrawn.

November 20th, 2008

Disagreement on the WCCU and National university plans

Update: See also this article in Times of India.

Following are excerpts from a report in Telegraph.

The Prime Minister’s plans of setting up a new class of universities to specifically compete with global institutions are being held up by differences between key government arms.

The HRD ministry has proposed a category of “Navratna” institutes comprising 14 new universities and existing top state varsities, government officials have said.

These institutes would be on a par with “world-class” universities but would be known by the new name because some people are against the earlier nomenclature.

The universities of Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai are being considered for Navratna status.

However, the University Grants Commission has opposed starting institutes with the specific mandate of competing with the world’s best, sources said.

… The UPA government had promised 14 new world-class universities, including one in Calcutta, under the eleventh five-year plan. But the differences have led to an impasse and the plans, though not yet shelved, are headed for the backburner, the sources said.

… At meetings with universities in July, September and last week, HRD ministry officials were questioned on how a new university stood a better chance of becoming “world-class” compared with established institutions.

So, the ministry — through higher education secretary R.P. Agrawal — suggested that instead of having just 14 new world-class universities, a new category could be created.

This could be called the Navratna category and it could include top state universities apart from the 14 new ones aspiring to world-class standards.

But UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat apparently said that creating another category would introduce a new Brahmin into an already layered “caste system” in higher education.

Under the “caste system”, central universities receive maximum attention from policy makers, followed by state universities. Deemed-to-be universities are a rung lower.

… Officials have also questioned the basis on which state universities would be given Navratna status.

“For instance, if Calcutta University is given the status, how can we refuse Jadavpur University?” an official asked.

The concept of “world class universities” is a part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plans to make India a “knowledge economy” — a global hub of myriad branches of education and learning.

The initial plan sees them as unified centres of excellence in engineering, the sciences, humanities, management and medicine — on a par with the IITs, IIMs and the AIIMS.

November 19th, 2008

Indian student numbers in the USA

(Thanks to Bijoyraj for the pointer in an orkut message board.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Economic Times.

… For the seventh year running, India is the leading source of foreign enrolments on US campuses, sending a record 94,563 students 

during the academic year 2007-2008.

Indian students now constitute 15 per cent of the total US university foreign enrolment which stood at 623,000 in this academic year, a 7 per cent increase over the 583,000 foreign students who came here in 2006-2007, according Open Doors, the authoritative annual report on the subject released on Monday.

The Indian increase of 13 per cent (up from 83,833 in 2006-2007) is only marginally overshadowed by the resurgence of interest in the US from Chinese students, whose numbers jumped up from 67,723 in 2006-2007 to 81,127 this past year, a 20 per cent increase. But since 2001/02, when it took over from China, India has remained the leading place of origin for students coming to the United States.

South Korea (69,124), Japan (33,974), and Canada (29,051) round off the top five countries sending students to the US, together accounting for 49 per cent of all international students.

… Among the many noteworthy facts in the 2008 Open Doors reports was the surge in students from Nepal coming to the US. There was a 15% increase in enrolments from Nepal this past year, putting it at number 11 with 8,936 students, following a 28% increase the previous year.

1 comment November 18th, 2008