The duration of the 11th plan is from 2007-2012. We are now in 2009 and very soon 2012 will be looming. My guess is that the planning commission may already be in its preparatory stage to start planning for 2012. Considering that one of the big focus of this government is to increase the GER (gross enrollment ratio) in higher education from 12.4% to 30% by 2020, the 12th plan will also pay significant attention to higher education. The national knowlede commission has also recommended that India have up to 50 national universities and 1500 universities. With that in mind, following is part of something that I wrote to Prof. Yash Pal (and copied to to Sam Pitroda) in June as a response to Prof. Yash Pal’s draft. (Prof Yash Pal replied back saying: "I thank you for your excellent and concerned suggestions. I have shared them with some of my colleagues. I am sure they would be taken up by some of them. Our report will be submitted in a week. Then will start another phase. Many of these will keep reverberating. Thank you again.")
ii) Regional Universities with 50-50 split between state and the center:
The Central government now has central universities and is proposing 14 national universities. In these universities the students are and will be from across the country and the universities will be funded 100% by the central government, except land being given by the state.
As you have noted some of the centrally managed universities and institutes (IITs, etc.) have a good structure and are doing the best.
As a way to transfer this first-hand to the states I propose the establishment of “Regional Universities” which are funded 50-50 by the state and the center and the students are 50-50 between the state and the rest of the country. This will be similar to the structure of the erstwhile “Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs)”, which have now been transformed to NITs. The original RECs were funded 50-50 by the state and center and had 50-50 students from the state and the rest of the country. The NITs are funded 100% by the center.
Eventually the regional universities may be funded 100% by the center. This idea has many benefits:
(a)The direct collaboration between a state and the center helps in the transfer of know-how of how to develop and manage a good university.
(b)It costs less for the center to create another 30-40 good universities, as the cost is shared 50-50.
(c) It helps develop additional knowledge centers in the states. (Most RECs were established in second rung cities in their respective states. REC/NIT in Orissa is in Rourkela, in Tamil Nadu it is in Trichy, in Maharashtra it is in Nagpur, in Karnataka it is in Surathkal, in West Bengal it is in Durgapur, etc.)
I think this is something feasible and should be pushed with the planning commission. Even with the new central universities and national universities many states have large metropolitan areas that did not get one and are in need of a good (at least partially) centrally funded institution and university. That gap can be filled with the above proposed regional universities. In Orissa possible location of such a regional university could be Rourkela or Jharsuguda.
The proposed national universities also had stringent criteria attached to them, which made it difficult to distribute them. For example, the PIB announcing them said:
As regards 14 Central Universities aiming at world class standards, it has been considered necessary that these are located in or near selected large cities which would automatically have the kind of connectivity and infrastructure which such universities would need.
Like the erstwhile RECs, the proposed regional universities need not have such stringent conditions allowing them to be located in places like Durgapur, Kadapa, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, etc.
Another item that I had in my mail to Prof. Yash Pal, which should be pushed for the 12th plan is as follows:
(vi) University and local communities; National and regional libraries:
I think a good library should be an integral component of each of the universities. Currently the libraries in most universities and colleges in India are pathetic. While the libraries are improved it should also mandate that a big part of the library materials, should be available for browsing for common folks who are not necessarily enrolled in the university. In the US any one can walk into a university library, be it Berkeley (a state university) or Stanford (a private university). I am not sure if that is the case with respect to the universities and colleges in India.
While we are discussing libraries, like central universities and national universities, the Indian government should establish a national library in each state capital (100% funded by the central govt.), and a regional library (funded 50-50 by the state and the central govt.) in another city of a state. In 5-10 years there should be good libraries in each district and in 10-15 years in each block. (When I walk into the local library in the US, I envy not growing up in the US and recall having to beg my local book store in a cabin near my house in Bhubaneswar to lend me translations of the world literature book series. I could not afford to buy them. Nor did my school have them.)
A new item that I have mentioned once in a while and that can be genarlized for the 12th plan is to establish centrally funded rural technological institutes like SLIET (Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology) in Punjab and the recently proposed ABA Ghani Khan Choudhary Institute of Engineering and Technology in West Bengal, in each of the other major states of the country. In Orissa, Balangir and Kalahandi (Bhawanipatna) are good possible locations for this. (Orissa should aim for having a centrally funded institute in each of the undivided KBK+Kandhamal districts.) Although centrally funded, these institutes are different from the NITs. The PIB release in the context of ABA GKC IET says the following:
The Institution will offer courses in Engineering and Technology to cater to the various manpower requirements of the region, with special emphasis on courses relevant to the local population such as in food technology & sericulture.
Initially, the Institution would start with Certificate level courses leading to Diploma, Degree and Post-graduate levels later.
The total project outlay of the Institute will be around Rs. 97 crores.
Dear Readers: Please suggest your thoughts and ideas on the 12th plan. Even if your main interest is about your home town, think of a way to put it in national terms.
Update: He has now joined as the VC. He will be felicitated by the alumni association in Bhubaneswar on 19th Sept 2009 at 6:30 PM in the Institue of Engineers building.
Governor and Chancellor of Universities Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare today appointed Prof Deba Kumar Tripathy as the new Vice-Chancellor of the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla.
Prof Tripathy is currently Professor of Rubber Technology Department in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. The post was lying vacant as previously appointed Vice-Chancellor Ganapati Panda did not join.
He is considered an expert in metal and rubber forming, die mould, tool design for metal and elastomer, rubber product manufacturing, rubber processing, rubber blends and composites, vibration isolation, cellular rubber and plastic and environment engineering.
Many misguided activists of Orissa and India have tooth and nail opposed any and all operations of Vedanta in Orissa. Their vendetta against Vedanta is so much that they even oppose Vedanta University, regardless of its benefit to people of Orissa.
At a drop of a hat they will mention that Vedanta is blacklisted by the Norway government pension fund; also referred to as the oil fund. But what the activists fail to mention is that the Norway government pension fund also blacklists Boeing, Wal-mart, General Dynamics, Honeywell, etc. All of these are well respected multi-nationals. See the whole list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway#Excluded_companies.
Many activists also often question the credibility of Vedanta and its subsidiary Sterlite. For them here is a quote from an Arizona newspaper.
Arizona joined several other states in supporting an Indian company’s bid for Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC, during closing arguments of a bankruptcy hearing in Texas Tuesday.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard S. Schmidt heard the final oral arguments about who should get the local copper producer: Sterlite Industries, the Indian company that has been actively working with Asarco management and workers …
The U.S. government supported Sterlite’s bid, as did the states of Washington, Montana, Texas and Arizona, among others. The United Steelworkers, which represents many of Asarco’s workers, also has supported Sterlite’s bid and threatened to strike if Grupo Mexico gets the company back.
… Grupo Mexico and Sterlite have each offered to fully repay all of Asarco’s creditors, who claim to be owed $3.62 billion. A majority of those creditors, which include several state and federal environmental agencies, say they would prefer Sterlite, according to court records.
Unfortunately, the judge did not recommend Sterlite and it goes to the District Court of Texas for a decision in 4-6 weeks. The main reason behind the judge’s recommendation was that Sterlite was offering less upfront cash. However the fact to note is that Sterlite was backed by the US government and various states as well as the workers of the company and state and federal environment agencies. In fact the workers union support it so much that they are threatening to go on strike if the judge does not favor Sterlite. See http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/sterlite-suffers-setback-on-asarco-bid-but-has-workers-support for more details.
Yet the activists in Orissa and India are misleading the common people there with all kinds of propaganda against Vedanta and Sterlite. So much so that their plans in Lanjigarh, Jharsuguda and Puri have all been delayed. I hope the people of Orissa see and understand what the US and the states of Washinton, Montana, Texas and Arizona are seeing and support Vedanta University. I also hope that they negotate with Sterlite/Vedanta in Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda so that the company establishes branches of Vedanta University and its medical college in or near Lanjigarh as well as Jharsuguda.
Moreover, I hope the people of Lanjigarh learn about this and directly negotiate with Sterlite regarding their concerns and work with them, as the workers of ASARCO in Arizona are doing, rather than getting swayed by the propaganda of the activists who are blinded by their (perceived) supreme court loss and care less about the people and more about their vendetta against Vedanta.
If and when IIT Bhubaneswar wants, it can have its own programs in Design. One of the best design programs in India is at the IIT Bombay Industrial Design Center. IIT Guwahati’s Department of Design also has a good program in design. So there is no need for Bhubaneswar to have an NID.
However, my guess is that there is a tough debate going on in the central government about the NID location in the east. So far among the new 4 NIDs only one location is announced. That is Bhopal. My guess is that among the other three, one will be in the southern states, one in the northern states and one in the eastern states.
I think for Orissa to get an NID it will help if a proper plan in terms of what the focus of this NID will be and why it is appropriate to be in Orissa is presented. People campaigning for an NID in their area of Orissa should prepare a document to that effect. Such a document will help the Orissa CM to make the case better.
Mostly I have seen campaigns for the NID to be in Berhampur. Some people have quipped, why not Sambalpur. I think both groups should focus on making the case in terms of what the focus of an NID in that area should be and tie it in to some special attributes of that area.
Note that a big part of the history behind getting NID to Orissa can be found through this site. The earliest articles that I could locate were about June 25, 2007. There were two conflicting reports on that day.
Business Standard, June 25, 2007 reporting that the then MOS Chandrasekhar Sahu saying that he had discussed with Union minister of commerce Mr. Kamal Nath regarding an NID in Berhampur and Mr. Kamal Nath having agreed to that.
So in my opinion, the proper argument for having NID at some place other than Bhubaneswar is to focus on why that place is appropriate for an NID and then point out that good design programs can be at IIT Bhubaneswar and thus NID need not be at Bhubaneswar.
Regular JEE counseling started yesterday with Women’s categories. In addition to the colleges that were listed for the AIEEE round of Orissa JEE counseling, the list of colleges also includes IIIT, Silicon Sambalpur, Parala Maharaj and Govt. College Bhawanipatna. This does not yet appear in the Orissa JEE web site, but I was told by a friend that this is the case. So the complete list of new colleges is:
Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mouza: Barakuda, Post Panchagoan, Bhubaneswar-752 050
Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology, Plot No 4, Village Harapur, Khurda, Pin- 752 054
Einstien Academy of Tech. & Management (EATAM) Bania Tangi Bhubaneswar
Eklavya College of Tech., and Sci., At Kusumati PO Jatni Bhubaneswar Khurda
Gandhi Academy of Tech. & Engineering At/PO Golonthara Konisi, Berhampur, Dist Ganjam Orissa
Gandhi Institute for Education & Technology, At Banlatangi, P.O. Bajpur, Dist : Khurda-752060
Government Engineering College, Kalahandi
Gurukula College of Engineering for Women (GCEM) At- Jamuhari Chhatabar, Bhubaneshwar Dist- Khurda Odisha
Hi-Tech College of Engineering, Rasulghar, Pandara Bhubaneswar
Indotech College of Engineering, Plot No. 144, AT/PO Mallipada, Via Pallahat(Khurda-2) Dist-khurda,Orissa-752056
International Institute of Information Technology, Plot No – 570(P), Gothapatna, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar – 751030
KMBB College of Engineering and Technology AT-Daleiput, PO-Talahat Dist. Khurda,Orissa
Parala Maharaj Engineering College, Berhampur
Rahul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Govindapur JN Tata Dapalli, Village Konisi, Berhampur, Ganjam (DT) Orissa-761 008.
Shibani Institute of Technical Education , At-PO-Chhatabar,Via, Hanla, Bhubaneswar – 752054, Khurda, Orissa
Silicon Institute of Technology, Sason, Sambalpur -763 200, Orissa.
Srinix College of Engineering College At-Ranipatna, Dist Balasore-750001 .
Suddhananda Engg. & Research Centre, Phulnakhara Cuttack At Anchhipur P.O. Bhatapatna Orissa
Synergy Institute of Technology, At : Bhimpur,P.O. Jagannathpur, P.S. Balianta, Dist:Khurda, Orissa
Vedang Institute of Technology, Durga Prasad, P.O. Ramachandi, Dist. Khurda, Orissa
Vikash College of Engineering for Women (VCEW) plot No. 2766, P.S. Dist- Baragarh, Odisha
Vivekananda Inst. Of Tech., at Chhatabar Dandi, Chaatabar, Orissa
Xavier Institute of Tech., Princess Avencue Ghangapatna Bhubaneswar Dist Khurda Orissa
Among the above Silicon Sambalpur, IIIT, and Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) are colleges which I would recommend the most. As I wrote earlier, I would even say that students with good enough ranks to get CET or UCE may also consider BIT and IIIT seriously. (Disclaimer: As far as I can recall, I am in the advisory board of BIT, Centurion, JITM and was in the advisory board of Silicon some years back.)
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.
Srinix College of Engineering College At-Ranipatna, Dist Balasore-750001 .
Suddhananda Engg. & Research Centre, Phulnakhara Cuttack At Anchhipur P.O. Bhatapatna Orissa
Synergy Institute of Technology, At : Bhimpur,P.O. Jagannathpur, P.S. Balianta, Dist:Khurda, Orissa
Vedang Institute of Technology, Durga Prasad, P.O. Ramachandi, Dist. Khurda, Orissa
Vikash College of Engineering for Women (VCEW) plot No. 2766, P.S. Dist- Baragarh, Odisha
Vivekananda Inst. Of Tech., at Chhatabar Dandi, Chaatabar, Orissa
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
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:
Bhubaneswar area: Last year 43 (including IIT, KIIT, ITER, NIT and IIIT) + 16 (not counting IIIT which is already accounted for) = 59
Berhampur area: 6 (excluding IIIT Berhampur and Parla Maharaj, which are in the pipeline) +2 = 8+2 in pipeline
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.
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.
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
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.
Prof. Ganapati Panda’s NIT Rourkela web page is at http://www.nitrkl.ac.in/faculty/~gpanda. It mentions that he is a fellow of National academy of Engineers (FNAE), and fellow of National academy of sciences (FNASc). Here is a picture of him copied from that page.
Update on 27th April 2011: The Central University location has been changed to Bander Sindri near Ajmer and only 80 kms from Jaipur. The Innovation University (previsouly referred to as National University) aiming for world class is now pushed for Jaipur. [Times of India]
The panel set up by the CM of Rajsthan has picked the following places to recommend to the central government for the various national institutes and universities coming up in Rajasthan. (From a Times of India report and another Times of India report)
IIT : Jodhpur
IIM: Udaipur
National University aiming for world-class: Ajmer
Central university: Bikaner.
The committee also recommended:
a "futuristic" heritage conservation and museology centre in Jaipur
an institute of Food Technology in Hadoti region of Kota
Currently the following national institutions exisit or are being made in the following places in Rajasthan:
NIT: Jaipur
LNMIT (private but top-notch): Jaipur
National law School: Jodhpur
AIIMS-like institution (being made): Jodhpur
The institutions are nicely distributed between various cities of Rajsthan, although people of Jaipur and Kota are not happy. The population of these locations are:
Jodhpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 988K – (332 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
Udaipur (World Gazetteer 2009): 457K – (400 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
Ajmer (World Gazetteer 2009): 604.7K – (131 kms from Jaipur)
Bikaner (World Gazetteer 2009): 624.6K – (321 kms from Jaipur)
Kota (World Gazetteer 2009): 823 K (242 kms from Jaipur)
In contrast in Orissa the distribution of national institutions are more Bhubaneswar centric. Following is the status:
IIT: Bhubaneswar
NISER: Bhubaneswar
AIIMS-like (being made) : Bhubaneswar
National Law University: Cuttack (part of Bhubaneswar metroplex)
IIIT (state-funded) : Bhubaneswar
National University aiming to be world class: Bhubaneswar
Vedanta University (private): Puri
NIT: Rourkela
Central University: Koraput
IIIT (centrally funded): state wants it in Berhampur; center has identified as Bhubaneswar
Unfortunately, one of the reason given behind the above selection is the lack of connectivity and the size of places. Following is some information on that.
Bhubaneswar (World Gazetteer 2009): 1.67 million (has airport but no inetrnational connectivity)
Rourkela (World Gazetteer 2009): 551 K (no air connections) – 334 kms from Bhubaneswar
Berhampur (World Gazetteer 2009): 403 K (no air connections) – 160 kms from Bhubaneswar
Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda: 200K+ (no air connections) – 499 kms from bhubaneswar
Puri (World Gazetteer 2009): 185K – 60 kms from Bhubaneswar
Sambalpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 258 K (no air connections) – 321 kms from Bhubaneswar
Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar: 200 K (no air connections) – 374 kms from Bhubaneswar; 50 kms from Sambalpur
For the future, following are some of the steps that Orissa government needs to urgently take regarding developing more larger urban areas and having the national institutions more evenly distributed:
Make sure the centrally funded IIIT is established in Berhampur
Establish functioing airports in Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Koraput at the earliest
Push for international flights to Bhubaneswar
Push for upgradation of UCE Burla (Sambalpur area) to an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
Push for the establishment of a branch of IGNTU (Indira Gandhi National Tribal University) in Phulbani
Push for the establishment of IIM outside of the Bhubaneswar area
Push for the establishment of a centrally funded KBK Inst of Engineering and Technology (along the lines of SLIET and ABAGKIET) in Kalahandi or Balangir.
Push for upgrading another medical college (Berhampur or Sambalpur) to AIIMS level.
Push for establishing NID in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
Push for establishing NIPER in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
Push for a BITS Pilani campus in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
By checking randomly I have found that people have gotton ranks beyond 39,000. No official word yet about the total number of qualified candidates for B.Engg and total number of seats.
In 2007, there were 43 colleges that took students based on Orissa JEE and ranks were initially given till 34835 and after the initial counseling there was another JEE to fill leftover seats and in two additional colleges (Indus and Templecity). In 2008 there were 18 more colleges and ITER became a deemed university, taking the total number of colleges taking students from JEE to 43+2+18-1=62. This year (2009) 25-30 new coleges are expected. We will post the details as they become available.
For students wanting to know what they can get based on their, a very very rough idea can be obtained by looking at the 2007 data at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185. However, there were several new colleges in 2008 which were much better than the earlier colleges. Some of those are:
Apex (run by the same people who run NIST Berhampur)
Centurion (run by the same people who run JITM, Parlakhemundi)
(By the way, JITM Parlakhemundi is a good college and run by good people. Check their web page. The location is also beautiful. I visited it. For some reason students overlook it. Later this year or early next year there will be direct train to Parlakhemundi.)
Also, Templecity (two of its cofounders were the cofounders of KIIT) and Indus (its founder, an IIT Kharagur graduate and with a Ph.D from Houston USA, was instrumental in making NIST Berhampur a top college) that were established in 2007 but were not in the initial list are both good colleges.
This year couple of new colleges that are expected to be very good are:
Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.
The 50 year-old elite technical institute of the state was named Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) on the eve of the golden jubilee valedictory celebrations today.
It may be mentioned here that the change was effected through a gazette notification on 12 February.
Students, staff and general mass at large have been demanding unitary university status to this oldest technical institution of the state and that got materialised today in the presence of the chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik, Sambalpur MP Mr Prasanna Acharya, state industries minister Mr BB Harichandan, commerce and transport minister Mr Jayanarayan Mishra, secretary of the Alumni Association Mr Ashes Padhy, convener Prof. SK Sar and principal, Prof CR Tripathy.
… Dedicating VSSUT to the nation and unveiling the logo, the chief minister Mr Patnaik lauded in high words the commendable work of VSSUT, in spreading quality technical education in the country and producing technocrats of name and fame.
“The state is to witness a perceptible change soon due to investment of Rs 6 lakh crore in steel, aluminium, power and IT sectors. Globalisation and liberalisation has generated unprecedented demand for high quality technical people all over the world. VSSUT will take this challenge in catering the present demand,” Mr Patnaik said and appealed students and staff to be at par with international standards.
The CM also assured to fulfil all the demands of the students including allotment of 400 acres of land adjacent to it. “Young engineers will transform Orissa as the richest state of the country. At the same time, I hope, students here will uphold the great tradition and image of this institute,” Mr Patnaik said.
"There would be two more government engineering colleges at Bhawanipatna and Berhampur soon," he added.
… On this occasion, chief minister Mr Patnaik inaugurated a mammoth memorial gate erected by old students of VSSUT and at present working at Nalco in Angul. He also inaugurated a ladies hostel meant for the SC students of the university.
The Centre has approved a proposal to set up four polytechnics in Malkangiri, Boudh, Gajapati and Sambalpur districts of the State.
In order to lure the youth of the Maoist-predominant areas towards technical education the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has chalked out a plan to establish more diploma engineering institutions. Orissa being largely affected by Leftwing extremism has been benefited handsomely. Malkangiri is the State’s worst Maoist-hit district.
While each polytechnic will be established at the cost of Rs 12 crore, the MHRD has provided Rs 8 crore as the first installment. Technical Education Director Vir Vikaram Yadav said the State Government is planning to establish polytechnics in all districts. The State now has 13 polytechnics, while there are seven such private institutions imparting diploma in engineering.
With the four new institutions planned, many other districts are still left out. The new districts carved out in the 1990s, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Nayagarh, Nabarangpur and Subarnapur do not have any polytechnic.
Yadav said that the State Government also decided to cover all the blocks with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Accordingly, plans are afoot to cover 125 blocks which are yet to have an ITI.
Silicon Institute of Technology, perhaps the best private engineering college under BPUT and among the top 5 engineering colleges under BPUT is making a campus in Sambalpur that is expected to start in 2009. It will be most likely called as: Silicon Institute of Technology, Sambalpur.
This campus will be located few kms away from Sambalpur on the Sambalpur-Jharsuguda highway.
This campus will have some of the the traditional branches, such as Civil Engineering, which are not there in the Bhubaneswar campus.