The tathya.in article is at http://www.tathya.in/2009/story.asp?sno=2873. Following are some excerpts:
… now its officials were not in a mood to go to the tribal dominated district.
The reason: lack of facilities like airport and modern health care units.
Surabhi Banerjee had been appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the central university at Koraput.
But, Prof. Banerjee, is in no mood to move to Koraput.
Sources said, the VC had been persuading the state government officials to open temporary campus of the varsity in the state capital instead of going to Koraput.
The newly formed central university authorities claimed that the academic activities could begin from temporary campus here till the building was constructed at Koraput.
By the time, the building would be over; Prof Banerjee’s term could end.
The Samaja article is as follows:
Considering the lack of higher education opportunities in KBK and Koraput, the Central University should be started, even in the short term, from Koraput. I am sure some rented accommodation and quarters can be obtained in the nearby Damanjodi and Sunabeda townships. In the worst case, if something is done in Bhubaneswar, under absolutely no circumstances, it should go beyond one year. The Vice Chancellor should plan to move to Koraput as soon as possible, and under no circumstances, should stay outside of Koraput, beyond a year. Otherwise, perhaps she can move to another university and CUO Koraput is assigned a new VC who is not averse of staying in Koraput.
Finally, even if the goal is to have multiple campuses of the central university across the state, there is no need to have one in Bhubaneswar. The second and other campuses should be established in KBK and other areas of Orissa which lack universities. The Bhubaneswar area has many universities and a National University is about to be established there too. So there is absolutely no need to have a campus of the Central University of Orissa (Koraput) in Bhubaneswar.
April 26th, 2009
The web page of ZEE Institute of Creative Arts is http://www.zica.org.There head office is Mumbai and as per their "Contact Us" page it currently has two campuses in Mumbai and Bhubaneswar. Following is an excerpt from a news Item in Express Buzz about the opening of their Bhubaneswar Campus.
Adding another feather to Capital’s list of institutions offering career-oriented professional courses, Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) today opened its centre here at Niladri Vihar.
With animation industry in India poised to grow at 27 per cent to reach a 1,163 million dollar mark by 2012, the institute hopes to provide affordable animation courses to cater to the manpower demands when Bollywood alone plans to make another 12 feature films based on animation and special effects. Also the gaming industry is all set to grow rapidly with a huge demand of professionals.
Addressing mediapersons, Head, Youth Business, Zee Learn, Subhadarshi Tripathy said as traditionally Orissa has many well-known animation artists engaged at the national level, ZICA thought it appropriate to open its second centre outside Mumbai here so that students from the entire Eastern Indian states can be given an opportunity to learn the art and equip themselves to take various career opportunities in film making, visual effects, television production and advertising industry.
‘‘ZICA, which first started in Hyderabad way back in 1995, was later shifted to the Esselworld campus in Mumbai and has become the pioneer animation institute with its distinct training style and approach towards industry-oriented curriculum’’, he said adding, however, to maintain quality it never ‘‘opened branches elsewhere outside the city of dreams’’.
The local centre will impart a two-year diploma in animation film making and one-year course in digital arts, but later would also introduce short-term courses. ‘‘While the two-year course would need an investment of around Rs 3 lakh, the short-term ones may vary from Rs 40-75,000’’, he said adding, compared to Mumbai, the local centre will be more affordable with the same standard of teaching and infrastructure facilities.
‘‘For each course there would be a six-faculty team apart from industry professionals as guest faculty and the teacher-student ratio would be around 1:4’’, he pointed out. …
April 25th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.
For an architect, it is always challenging to incorporate elements of local art and culture into modern day structures. But, if the words of leading health-care planner and architect with ‘Perkins+Wills’ Nick Seierup are to be believed, the interiors of the proposed Vedanta University Hospital on Puri-Konark Marine Drive would be an example of amalgamation of ethnicity and modernity keeping in mind local needs and aesthetics.
…‘‘As an institution of inter-disciplinary studies the proposed design of the six-storeyed structure will have an ultra modern look and will equip the students and researchers of the medical facility to have enough space for interactive learning through open-air or enclosed surroundings with eco-friendly atmosphere’’, he added.
April 11th, 2009
(Ack: Thanks to Mr. Rakesh Kumar for the pointer.)
Lets hope most of them accept these offers. The list is at http://niser.ac.in/notices/2009/Faculty-selected-Apr-09.pdf. Below are images of that list.
April 9th, 2009
As per comment 3 of an earlier post of ours, The National Law University Act, 2008 (Orissa Act 4 Of 2008) was published in the Orissa Gazette (Extraordinary) Vide No.2215, dated 4th December, 2008. So the official establishment year of this university will be 2008.
Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in about the appointment of the first vice chancellor of this university.
Professor Faizan Mustafa is the first Vice Chancellor of the National Law University of Orissa (NLUO).
Justice Dr. Balbir Singh Chouhan, Chief Justice of Orissa High court and the Chancellor of NLUO has appointed him in the top post here on 6 April.
Professor Mustafa is at present the Director KIIT Law School, Bhubaneswar.
He is a gold medalist in LL.M. from Aligarh Muslim University. who had completed his Ph.D. in Intellectual Property Law.
Professor Mustafa also has a Diploma in International and Comparative Human Rights from International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France.
Before joining KLS as Director, he was Dean of Faculty of Law, AMU and Registrar of AMU for a period of two years. …
… Finally the NLUO is taking concrete shape with Prof.Mustafa at the helm and initiative of the Higher Education department to place funds for the institution.
The State Government has already provided Rs.5 crore to the Corpus Fund.
Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister laid foundation of the institution on 5 January at Brajabiharipur near Naraj in Cuttack district.
The State Government has allocated 30 acres of land free of cost.
Similar National Law Schools opened earlier in the other states are listed here. So far there were 12 of them in Bangalore (1986), Hyderabad (1998), Bhopal (1998), Kolkata (1999), Jodhpur (1999), Gandhinagar (2003), Raipur (2003), Kochi (2005), Lucknow (2005), Patiala (2006), Patna (2007), and Delhi (2008). Admission to all of them except the last one is through the common law admission test (CLAT).
April 7th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a recent (March 22, 2009) report from Economic Times.
… The proposal for setting up AIIMS-like institutions was first made in 2003 by the then BJP-led NDA government. It was, however, cleared by the CCEA on March 16, 2006, 10 months after the UPA government came to power.
It was decided that each site would be taken as a separate and independent project instead of clubbing all six together. The construction of housing and the hospital complex was also separated from that of hospital and medical college.
Speaking to TOI , Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry B K Prasad said the layout and master plans of the hospital sites at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh had already been approved. The approval of the master plans for Patna and Raipur is expected on March 25. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan State Road Development Corporation construction has started construction work on the residential complex (housing and hostel) in Jodhpur. The work relating to construction of the residential complex at Rishikesh, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Raipur has been entrusted to two different agencies.
Prasad said, "Hostel construction in the other sites will start latest by June and should be completed by December 2009. Hospital construction should start by October and will take 24 months to complete. Each hospital will have 960 beds with 29 super-speciality departments."
Following is an excerpt from a report in jaibihar.com.
Taking a serious note of the inordinate delay in completion of Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Science (JPNAIIMS) here, the Patna High Court on Tuesday asked the union government to float fresh tender on the revised estimate and commence the actual construction of the proposed medical college and hospital complex in 90 days.
While hearing a PIL urging the court’s intervention for completion of JPNAIIMS project within a time frame, a division bench, comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Sheem Ali Khan, directed the Union Government to file an action taken report (ATR) on the next date of hearing.
Complaining about the dilly-dallying attitude of the centre, M P Gupta, counsel for the petitioner, Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare, referred to earlier records which revealed that on May 15, 2006 the estimated expenditure was Rs 332 crore, which was hiked to Rs 533.15 crore on February 25, 2009, but till date the actual construction work had not commenced.
April 6th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a PTI report in indopia.in.
Vedanta University today announced the launch of a world class multi-speciality teaching and research hospital near Puri-Konark Marine Drive at a cost of Rs 400 crore. "The 500-bed multi-speciality hospital will commence during the first phase of the university. Orders for construction have already been placed," Sanjeev Anand Zutshi, Director of the project, told reporters here.
Stating that construction would begin after the elections, C V Krishnan of the Vedanta group said nearly 4,000 acres had already been acquired for the university project as against the total requirement of about 6,000 acres.
Both Krishnan and Zutshi said that the hospital would commence services in 2011 providing high-quality patient care affordable to the common man by the "not-for-profit"institution, an initiative of Anil Agarwal foundation.
Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.
Lauding the initiative, eminent Indian cardiologist, Dr. Kabi Prasad Mishra, said that the hospital will be a regional hub for critical specialties including cardiology and diabetology.
Dr.Mishra said that as a teaching and research centre, it will attract leading researcher and specialists in medical science from around the globe.
The University’s research agenda will prioritize public health solutions that address the most prevalent medical issues in the region.
This multi-specialty hospital will commence during the first phase of the university, said Sanjeev Anand Zutshi, Director of VUP.
Orders for construction have already been places with Larsen & Toubro Limited, added Mr.Zutshi.
The conceptual planning and design of the hospital has been prepared by the leading US based hospital design firm Perkins + Will.
The design was well appreciated by stalwarts of Medical Science like Professor M S Valiathan and Professor N K Ganguly.
Padma Vibhusan Dr. Valiathan presented the key note address in the national seminar “Optimum Medical Education and Ethics in clinical Practice”.
Padma Bhusan Dr.Ganguly dwelt upon issues like immunology, biotechnology and public health.
The VUP has already initiated research program on interventions needed for prevalence of anemia in infants and children of the state led by Dr.Dipika Mohanty.
Telegraph also reports on this.
April 6th, 2009
Following are excerpts from a recent (March 19, 2009) report in Business Standard.
The Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta University will begin operations by mid-2011 in Puri, Orissa. Agarwal plans to make Vedanta University into a world-class, multi-disciplinary varsity with students from across India and around the world.
The university, being built with an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, will come up in three phases. Phase one will be operational by mid-2011 with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore. The first academic session at the university was to begin in 2009 but the project has been delayed by two years due to a land acquisition tussle with the local residents of Puri.
… To begin with, the university will start operations with around 1,000 students in the arts and science streams. The student intake, however, will grow steadily to reach an ultimate goal of 100,000 students. The university board on the other hand is still working on the modalities involving admission and fee structure.
“We have all the necessary approvals in place from various academic authorities in the country. However, certain details regarding the admission process need to be worked on. We plan to produce professionals far superior to what any other institute can produce in the country,” said C V Krishnan, CEO, Vedanta University.
The university has awarded construction contracts of the academic buildings as well as the hospital at the project site to companies like Larsen & Toubro, Shapoorji Pallonji, Ahluwalia, B E Billimoria and Simplex. Architects Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore, USA, have prepared the master plan of the University.
The campus will have a super specialty hospital, which will answer a long standing need for providing comprehensive and specialised patient care for the people of Orissa and eastern India. Both the University and the hospital are ‘not-for-profit’ institutions.
World-renowned hospital architects are developing the design for the hospital, Perkins and Will from USA. The university will also establish research parks to promote science and technology-based entrepreneurship and support an innovation-driven incubator. E-learning programmes will also be launched in future.
“We will be recruiting young professors with inclination towards research. We have already hired a US-based recruitment agency to appoint faculty for the university,” added Krishnan.
April 5th, 2009
Following is excerpted from a report in Telegraph.
Twelve new central universities that India is launching will start by offering only research programmes — MPhil and PhD — unlike existing varsities that are controlled by the Centre.
The new universities will focus exclusively on research, at least initially, though they can later expand and offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses not involving research as well, top government officials have said.
… But the 12 new universities will initially offer only research programmes, human resource development (HRD) ministry sources said.
“We will leave it open to each university to decide what research programmes they want to start with. At least one university wants to start with only MPhil courses. That is fine,” a source said.
The 12 new universities are to come up in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Bihar.
At least three of the 12 are expected to start offering courses from the 2009 academic session itself, though more may begin.
The strategy to focus only on research initially at the new universities is based on three major considerations, sources said.
One, it will allow the universities to initially “find their feet” without the pressure of a large number of students, officials argue.
April 5th, 2009
Update: The news item in Samaja.
Tathya writes about this. Following are some excerpts.
Central University of Orissa (CUO) will begin classes from June. … While CUO will have its campus in Koraput, to begin with a temporary campus near Bhubaneswar is being looked out to start classes from next Educational Year.
That is why Professor Banerjee has requested the Government of Orissa in Higher Education department to provide a rented accommodation.
Mr.Padhi has agreed to provide all out support for the institution.
Professor Banerjee is interested to make it a different institution and is inclined to start at least 30-35 departments in the newly carved out Centre of Learning.
However to start with the CUO will have 5 subjects and later it will go on including further, said sources.
… Those CUs, which has not identified land for the institution in the designated place, those can start it from the Capital City of the state, said sources.
So Professor Banerjee is busy in organizing things for facilitating classes from next June. Faculty hiring is the foremost in her mind and as she is eager to make it a top class university, the VC wants to rope in best of the talents from the country.
She is also interested to open Medical College in the University, but it will take time.
… Professor Baral of Arizona State University said only five of the 15 new central universities will have a medical college in the first phase (i.e.,during the 11th plan).
So the ability of the VC Professor Banerjee will be tested in whether she is able to get a medical and engineering college to the Central University of Orissa, feel the educationist.
Considering that the CUO is to be located in Koraput, in the most backward area, KBK, of India, Prof. Banerjee must do her best to make the right arguments at the earliest and get a medical and engineering college to this university, argued Professor Baral.
Page 522 of the document at http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v3/11th_vol3.pdf given below shows that only 5 of the new central universities will have medical and engineering colleges in the first phase, I.e., during the 11th plan.
March 25th, 2009
March 23rd, 2009
Following is from a report in Hindu.
Southern Railway is to start a medical college with private participation by making use of the existing medical facilities available at its hospital in Perambur here.
The Chief Medical Director of Southern Railway on Friday called for expression of interest from resourceful medical institutions in the country for establishing and running the college at the cost of institutions as per the Medical Council of India regulations. The institutions should have at least 10 years’ experience in running a medical college and attached hospital as per the MCI norms. Foreign institutions can also participate in the bid, provided they comply with respective foreign medical regulatory authority norms.
Southern Railway is now running a 500-bed hospital on a 15-acre site in Perambur and the same is to be shifted soon to new premises. The existing hospital premises and the proposed new hospital complex will be available for establishing the medical college.
According to the Medical Director, the Perambur railway hospital has basic specialities in 15 disciplines and super-specialities in three disciplines.
The hospital has been recognised by the National Board of Examinations for recognition in postgraduate training. International institutions such as Royal College of Surgeons had also accredited the hospital for imparting training in PG courses.
ECOR has a central hospital in Mancheswar. It was inaugurated in Nov 27, 2007. Following is an excerpt from the press release.
Sri K. C. Jena, Chairman, Railway Board and Ex-officio Principal Secretary, Govt. of India inaugurated the Central Hospital of East Coast Railway at Mancheswar today. The hospital which started as a Health Unit in 1982 under Mancheswar Workshop was declared to be converted to 100 bedded Central Hospital for ECoR on 09.10.2005. In the first phase, construction has been completed with 60 beds, 4 bedded ICU and OT complex with a sanctioned cost of Rs. 1.88 crores.
The second phase expansion of the Central Hospital with 40 beds with maternity and pediatric wards and 8 Nos. of Special Cabins at a cost of Rs. 1.98 crores will be taken up shortly.
This hospital which has tied up with Kalinga Hospital Ltd., Bhubaneswar, Yoshada Hospital, Secunderabad and Seven Hills Hospital, Visakhapatnam is presently catering to the medical and health care needs of almost 36000 employees of Mancheswar Workshop, East Coast Railway Headquarters, Construction Organisation, Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Railway Electrification (RE), Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) and retired railway employees residing at Bhubaneswar and their family members.
We should watch out how this hospital grows and may be in 5 years, ECOR could be pushed to follow the path of Southern railway and have a medical college attached to this hospital.
March 21st, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
“Construction work on NISER-Bhubaneswar is expected to take off within two months and the entire campus is scheduled to be functional within four years. Once the NISER-Bhubaneswar campus is fully operational, it would have an intake of about 2,000 students which may later scale up to 4,000”, Abhaya Kumar Nayak, registrar, NISER-Bhubaneswar told Business Standard. NISER-Bhubaneswar which is currently operating out of the campus of the Institute of Physics has an intake of around 100 students. The institute is presently offering a five-year integrated MSc programme , an MSc cum Phd programme and individual Phd programmes in four basic sciences- physics chemistry, biology and mathematics.
New courses on computer sciences, earth and planetary sciences as well as engineering sciences are proposed to be introduced after the full-fledged campus of NISER-Bhubaneswar becomes operational.
NISER-Bhubaneswar would be a Centre of Excellence for teaching and research in four basic areas of science. Apart from separate academic blocks for different areas of science education and research, the NISER-Bhubaneswar campus will have planned academic and residential townships with all modern amenities and recreational facilities.
March 19th, 2009
Following is from a report in Pioneer.
Dr Abhaya Kumar Nayak, the former Registrar of the IIT Kanpur, joined as the Registrar of the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar. He is the second permanent staff of the institute after the join of the director. The students, faculty members and staff of the institute are very happy with the new administrative head.
The first institution of its kind in the country set up by the Department of Atomic Energy, NISER, is striving to be recognised as a centre of excellence in science education and research in basic sciences.
Dr Nayak was the District Employment Officer at Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur from 1991 to 2000. He also worked as a lecturer in economics at the Sudarsan Mahavidyalaya in Cuttack and in the Accounts Department of the Khurda Division of the SE Railway.
March 15th, 2009
(Thanks to Abi for the pointer.)
In the document here just above Section 1.7 it says:
NOTE: Candidates with BE/ B Tech/ M Sc or equivalent degree who may not have qualified in any of the above mentioned National Entrance Tests will also be considered for the Ph D program in Engineering. Short listing for interview of such candidates is based on their academic performance in the qualifying degree (upto 3rd year in BE / B Tech, or 1st year in M Sc), and their performance in 10th and 12th /PUC examinations.
I have heard from a friend in IIT Kharagpur that this is also possible in the IITs but could not find it in the Ph.D program page of IIT Kharagpur. If one is interested they may directly contact a faculty in the apropriate IIT regarding this.
March 10th, 2009
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