The following quotes are from an article in pagalguy.com.
… a push from the state government, cheap land prices, a pool of students from the neighbouring states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and the North East as well as investments by large corporate houses are slowly changing the eastern state’s identity. After Hyderabad, it is Odisha which is steadily becoming the focal point for educational institutes to set up their campuses.
… Ratnakar Rout, Joint Secretary, Department of Technical Education, Odisha. “We want to make Bhubaneshwar an educational hub,” he said. “The government wants institutes of international repute to start up so that students from the entire eastern belt can come here for education.” Rout added that many industrial houses, investors and institutes (including foreign universities) are also interested to start operating from Odisha. …
… Dr Somayajulu Garimella, director of IMI Bhubaneshwar, says that it is primarily the Odisha government’s proactive stance towards investment in the state that is paving the way for this migration. “The government is acting like a catalyst and there is fantastic support from them in terms of clearances,” said Garimella.
… According to Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi, director BIMTECH, the saturation of b-schools in other states, low living costs and burgeoning middle class population of urban Odisha are some other reasons for b-schools to choose to come to the state.
The Odisha government has been cooperative in terms of allotting land at cheaper prices, say educational administrators. “The government is friendly and we were alloted 30 acres of land at the cost of Rs 8 lakhs per acre,” said Chaturvedi. This was in stark contrast to the price of land in neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where, according to Chaturvedi, land prices can go upto Rs 2 crores for an acre. “We should not invest too much on physical infrastructure like land, as it is expensive,” added Chaturvedi.
… Harivansh Chaturvedi has answers for some of these doubts. “Our target is not just the local students, but the aim is to tap the pan-India market,” he said. “Also, in terms of competition we are looking at the future and within five years there is a possibility that the government might allow foreign universities to set foot in this part of the country.” BIMTECH and IMI are also not very worried about the initial years in terms of placements as their Delhi campuses will mentor the ones in Bhubaneshwar until they can stand on their own feet.
… Sri Sri University, which does not enjoy the reputation that IMI or BIMTECH have as far as business education is concerned, has other ways of getting their graduates jobs. “The ‘Art of Living’ community boasts of one of the largest corporate following,” informed Malaya Malla, marketing manager of the university. “The university has received strong commitments from corporates for offering summer projects and final placements.”
October 3rd, 2011
(Thanks to a reader for the tip.)
The website of the Institute of Management Studies of Sri Sri University is http://ssuims.org/.
Their inaugural year will be 2011. For that year the programs offered are BBA and MBA. Following are excerpts from http://ssuims.org/introduction.html about their MBA program.
At Sri Sri University – Institute of Management Studies, we are looking for individuals who are eager to broaden their horizons and will make the Institute an inspiring place to learn. The following programs are being offered for the academic year 2011 – 2012:
1. Two Year Full Time Masters in Business Management – MBA General Management
2. Two Year Full Time Masters in Entrepreneurship Management – MBA Entrepreneurship
3. Two Year Full Time Masters in Agribusiness Management – MBA Agribusiness
… The size of the founding class will be 120 students for MBA General Management, 30 students for MBA Entrepreneurship and 30 students for MBA Agribusiness Management. The date of commencement of the programs will be 22nd July 2011.
They have assembled an excellent group of visiting faculty and corporate and academic mentors. One needs to wait and see the kind of permanent faculty they hire. That will really determine how good this institute and university will become.
Following is the message of the President of Sri Sri University as given in
http://ssuims.org/premsg.html.
" His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has envisioned establishing Sri Sri University under the aegis of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust – the educational arm of the Art of Living – to revive the pre-eminence of India as the centre of world education. The Orissa Government has enacted the Sri Sri University act for establishing the University, which has been notified in the official gazette. The 185-acre sprawling campus is situated near the city of Cuttack in Orissa, overlooking the Kathjodi River. The campus is proposed to be self-sustaining, environment friendly, pollution-free and green. At optimum capacity the fully residential University campus will cater to over 7,500 students and around 2,000 teaching and support staff.
Sri Sri University is envisaged to become a multi-disciplinary single campus, covering every faculty of human endeavour from traditional Vedic Studies, Ayurveda, etc. to Modern Medicine, Management Studies, Engineering and Pure Science Research. The University will combine traditional wisdom and modern technology to bring about a synthesis of human and technological development. In a modern world where there is an ever-increasing gap between man and nature, Sri Sri University will become a centre of re-integration of man and nature. A unique feature of Sri Sri University will be its value integrated and interactive classroom delivery mechanisms, wherein the student develops a sense of social responsibility along with expertise in the subject. It will be interspersed with the proven Art of Living self-development programmes and yoga techniques to bring about total development in the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual faculties of the students.
Sri Sri University – Institute of Management Studies aims to become “A Global Centre of Learning that creates exceptional Business Leaders of Character”. The education and culture will have a strong focus on ethical leadership, resulting in responsible leaders with a vision to serve the larger society while achieving personal goals. We aim to create leaders who are trustworthy, enthusiastic, highly aware and resilient. Students will be moulded to become intrinsically motivated managers, thus leading to the creation of a committed workforce. The Institute will commence in July 2011 with programmes in MBA General Management,, MBA AgriBusiness and MBA Entrepreneurship. "
December 4th, 2010