Odisha HRD

NEST 2009 for NISER and UM-DAE CBS

Unlike the IISERs that take students from the IIT exams and KVPY, NISER Bhubaneswar (an IISER-equivalent institute that is funded by DAE) teams up with UM-DAE and has its own exam called NEST. (They also took students from KVPY.)

The following information regarding NEST 2009 is from http://niser.ac.in/NEST/.

National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) is a compulsory test for students seeking admission to National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar and University of Mumbai – Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CBS), Mumbai. Both NISER and UM-DAE CBS have been started by Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India in 2007. Their mandate is to train scientific manpower for carrying out cutting edge scientific research and for providing input to scientific programs of Department of Atomic Energy and other applied science institutions in the country. The test is conducted in more than 25 centers across India. This brochure gives the detailed procedure for applying for the test, syllabus of the test and various dead lines.

The Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India has set up a new autonomous center of excellence in basic sciences in Mumbai. UM-DAE CBS, is to be an international class center for high quality teaching embedded in a vibrant post-graduate and research environment with some of the best teachers and scientists from major institutions in the city (TIFR, BARC, IIT Bombay) and the University and its colleges on its faculty. The center is located in the Kalina campus of the University of Mumbai. The degrees at UM-DAE CBS are awarded by the 150 year old University of Mumbai.Tentatively, there will be 14 seats in Physics stream, 10 in Mathematics and 6 in Life Sciences with reservations as per Government norms, including reservation for persons with disability (PD). The details are on the CBS website (http://www.tifr.res.in/~cbs).

• Last date for request of application form : March 6, 2009
• Last date for receipt of completed application form with DD : April 3, 2009
• Online applications freeze : April 3, 2009
• Dispatch of offline admit cards begins : April 15, 2009
• Download of online admit cards begins : April 15, 2009
• Date of examination : May 10, 2009 (Sunday), 1 pm to 4 pm
• Announcement of results on NEST website : June 8, 2009

Students securing at least 60% marks in aggregate (or equivalent grade) in Class XII (or equivalent) examination from any recognized Board in India are eligible to apply. For Scheduled Cast (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates and for Persons with Disability (PD), the minimum requirement is 55%. Students who have passed the Class XII qualifying examination in 2007 or 2008 or are appearing in 2009 are eligible to apply. (Where only Letter grade is given by the Board, a certificate from the Board specifying equivalent percentage marks will be required. In the absence of such a certificate the decision of the respective Admissions Committee will be final.)

• Online form submission is the most convenient and preferred way. Follow these steps to go for it.
  1. Register yourself before you login.
  2. Confirm your registration from a mail sent to you just after registration.
  3. Login in the NEST homepage with your mail-id and password.
  4. Fill the form and save it or, modify an already saved form.
  5. Take the print-out and send along with DD.
• Form can be downloaded, filled and sent back with DD. Download form  NEST Brochure  Please set margin in the browser page-setup to accomodate the form in a single A4 sheet.
• A letter of request can be sent to get the printed form by post. This form will have to be sent back along with DD after filling it properly.

32 comments January 13th, 2009

IIT JEE 2009: Students passing qualifying exam before Oct 1 2007 are not eleigible

The eligibility criteria has been made to discourage multi-year preparation for IIT JEE. To be eligible for IIT JEE 2009 students must NOT have passed their qualifying exam before Oct 1, 2007 and must not have taken admission to an IIT/IT-BHU/ISMU in the past by paying full fees. They must also have secured at least 60% in their qualifying exam. See details at the IIT JEE 2009 sites such as at IIT Guwahati.

3 comments November 10th, 2008

IIT JEE 2009

From the various IIT sites, such as http://www.iitg.ernet.in/jee/.

October 30th, 2008

BIT asked to admit students by October 31st; BPUT has to figure out how!

I am told that Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) which could not participate in Orissa JEE counseling during August this year due to delayed AICTE approval will be admitting its first batch of students by the end of October 2008. On October 1, the Orissa High Court has issued an order to BPUT for allowing BIT and other six engineering colleges to admit their students by the end of October 2008. Prof. Rabi Mahapatra, Chairman, BIT said the stage is set to start the classes of all the four engineering branches from November 1, 2008. Special efforts are being made to cope up with the BPUT curriculum in the compressed semester time frame.

BIT is promoted by three US based professors (Prof. Rabi Mahapatra, Prof. Prasant Mohapatra and Prof. Laxmi Bhuyan) and several professional from top industries in USA. The vision of this group is to establish a world class Institute in the country. The Govt. of Orissa has keenly supported their efforts to establish a quality technical education. More on BIT can be found by visiting their website at http://www.bit.edu.in.

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I am told that six other exisiting engineering colleges had seat increases which also happened after the Orissa govt.deadline. Students were not admitted against those seats during the last counseling. Now students will also be admitted against those seats.

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The Orissa ggovernment is trying to figure out how to do the above. Watch out this space and http://www.jeeorissa.com/home.asp for any updates on this.

October 9th, 2008

2008 Open-Close ranks for EE and ME at various IITs, ISM and (I)IT-BHU

The following is excerpted from http://jee.iitr.ernet.in/openclose.htm.

To keep all these in perspective, following links ranks with raw score in the IIT JEE exam. It is from http://jee.iitr.ernet.in/aggregate.htm.

Aggregate Total for every 500th rank in Common Merit List

August 1st, 2008

17+1 New Engineering Colleges in Orissa that are admitting students this year through BPUT counseling

Update on August 31, 2008: Subas institute of Technology, Barang starts admitting students from August 29th in the OSGE (Outside state general) category.

The following is obtained by looking at the counseling list at http://www.jeeorissa.com/availability_of_seats.asp.

• Apex Institute of Technology & Management, Pahal Bhubaneshwar (APT) Pvt.
• Bhubaneswar Engineering College Khurda (BEC) Pvt.
• Black Diamond College of Engineering & Technology Jharsuguda (BDC) Pvt.
• BRM International Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (BII) Pvt.
• Centurian Institute of Technology Khurda (CIK) Pvt.
• Gandhi Institute of Industrial Technology Berhampur (GII) Pvt.
• Gandhi Institute of Science and Technology Rayagada (GIR) Pvt.
• Gandhi Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (GIK) Pvt.
• Gurukul Institute of Technology,Janla Bhubaneswar (GKT) Pvt.
• Hi-Tech Institute of Technology Khurda (HIT) Pvt.
• Indic Institute of Design & Research Khurda (IID) Pvt.
• Kalam Institute of Technology, Berhampur Berhampur (KIB) Pvt.
• Koustav Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (KIT) Pvt.
• Maharaja Institute of Technology,Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (MIK) Pvt.
• Modern Engineering & Management Studies Balasore (MEM) Pvt.
• Modern Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (MIM) Pvt.
• Vignan Institute of Technology & Management Berhampur (VIT) Pvt.

The above 17 colleges include 11 colleges in the Bhubaneswar-Khurda-Cuttack area, 3 in Berhempur area, 1 in Balasore, 1 in Jharsuguda and 1 in Rayagada. This takes the total number of engineering colleges, that admit students via BPUT JEE,  to 58. It does not include ITER, KIIT, NIT Rourkela, IIIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Bhubaneswar, CIPET and Agricultural Engineering at OUAT.

36 comments July 19th, 2008

2008 Orissa JEE (BPUT JEE) Counseling details

From http://www.jeeorissa.com/home.asp.

• Starting Date and Venue Of Counselling
• COUNSELLING SCHEDULE FOR MBA,MCA AND HMCT COURSES
• COUNSELLING SCHEDULE FOR LATERAL ENTRY COURSES
• COUNSELLING SCHEDULE FOR ENGINEERING, MEDICAL, DENTAL & PHARMACY
• Schedule for Medical Test of Physically Handicapped (PH) Category Candidates:
• Prioritazation of Military Category Candidates
• Registration of AIPMT (AIPMEE/AIPDEE)

102 comments July 2nd, 2008

Orissa JEE (BPUT JEE) counseling to start July 11th: Sambada

The main points in the following report in Sambada are:

• Counseling will start from July 11th at the Swaminathan Hall of OUAT.
• In between from Augus 1 to 10 counseling for MBA will happen in BPUT’s Gandmunda campus.
• There will be no e-counseling.
• Rank cards will be sent from Juen 30th.
• There are 1069 Orissa quota medical and dental seats in 3 government and 4 private medical colleges in Orissa: SCB -128 medical + 17 dental, Burla – 127 medical, MKCG – 127, Hi-Tech – 100 medical + 100 dental, KIMS – 100 medical + 100 dental, ITER – 100 medical + 100 dental, Gandhi – 60 dental.
• 15% seats in each college for admission through AIEEE and AIPMT
• Three banks are being contacted for study loans

60 comments June 28th, 2008

AIEEE 2008 Counseling and admission to the NITs

As per the new admission criteria to NITs this year while 50% of seats will be reserved to the students from the state where the NIT is the remaining 50% will be open. In previous years the remaining 50% was broken apart and divided to various states. With this change the previous year (2007) opening and closing rank numbers may not be much helpful. This scheme will benefit the states from where students do well in AIEEE while will have a negative effect on the other states.

81 comments June 22nd, 2008

2008 Orissa JEE (OJEE) Counseling by BPUT possibly from July 11th: Sambada

From http://orissasambad.com/newsdetails.php?section_id=9 in Oriya.

It basically says that the counseling date of July 11th is not final but most likely. Its not final because the BPUT VC is out of town. The final date will be announced when he gets back on June 22nd. The counseling will start with the lateral entry students.

143 comments June 20th, 2008

Orissa JEE 2008 (BPUT JEE 2008) result out! Where can I get a seat with my rank?

Most of you already know your result. But just in case the result is available at http://www.jeeorissa.com/jee_result.asp.

Now you will be wondering what you can get with your ranks. Its very hard to answer that question. You can get some idea from last years counseling data. (See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1157 for a ranking of Orissa engineering colleges.)

I had compiled the following last year for the GE category. (See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/508) That may give you some idea. But there are no guarantees and I do not have information on the other categories.

This is a continuation of our earlier effort. Following are the branches and colleges that no longer have any GE seats. On the side we mention in which counseling the seats got filled up and what are left. [Please note that when we mention that a certain branch got filled up in the range, say, 800-1200 that means it got filled in some rank in between that. It could have been filled up in rank 801 or rank 1200. I just don’t have the data to make that distinction.]

1. Ajay Binay (Comp Sc 8401-10000, Elec & TC 8401-10000, E & EE 10801-11700, AE&I 11701-12600, Elec 11701-12600, Mech 11701-12600) – ALL GE GONE by 12600
2. Balasore (Comp Sc 12601-13600, E & TC 12601-13600, IT  14701-15900, Mech 15901-17200, Mech 17201-18600) – ALL GE GONE by 18600
3. Bhadrakh Inst (Comp Sc 10801-11700, E & TC 10801-11700, IT 12601-13600, Elec 13601-14700, Mech 13601-14700, Civil 18601-20000) – ALL GE GONE By 20000
4. CV Raman  Bhubaneswar  (AE & I 2401-2800, Comp Sc 2001-2400, Electrical 2401-2800, Elec & TC 1601-2000, IT 2401-2800, Mech 3201-3600, Chemical 7201-7800, Marine 15901-17200) – ALL GE GONE by 17200
5. College of Engg. Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 3201-3600, Elect & TC 3201-3600, IT 3601-4100, E & EE 4501-5000, Mech 5501-6000, Civil 10801-11700) – ALL GE GONE by 11701
6. CET Bhubaneswar (Civil 1201-1600, Comp Sc 401-800, Electrical 401-800, I&E 1-400 (?), IT 801-1200, Mech 801-1200, Biotech 4101-4500, Textile 8401-10000, Fashion 13601-14700) – ALL GE GONE by 14700
7. DRIEMS, Cuttack (Comp Sc 6601-7200, Ele & TC 6601-7200, IT 8401-10000, Elec 10001-10800, AE&I 10801-11700) – ALL GE GONE by 11701
8. East Bhubaneswar (Elect & TC 4101-4500, Comp Sc. 5001-5500, IT 6001-6600, AE&I 8401-10000, Elect 8401-10000, Mech 10001-10800, Biomed 20001-21545) Env (4)
9. Gandhi Engineering College Bhubaneswar (ECE 3201-3600, Comp Sc 3601-4100, E & EE V, IT 4501-4500) – ALL GE GONE by 5000
10. Gandhi Institute for Technology Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 4501-5000, ECE 4501-5000, IT 5501-6000, E&EE 5501-6000) – ALL GE GONE by 6000
11. GIET Gunupur (Comp Sc 4501-5000, ECE 4501-5000, E & EE 5501-6000, IT 6601-7200, AE & I 7201-7800, Mech 7201-7800, Chem 14701-15900, Biotech 18601-20000) – ALL GE GONE By 20000
12. GITA Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 2401-2800, E & EE 2801-3200, IT 3201-3600, ECE 2401-2800, Electrical 4101-4500, Mech 4501-5000) – ALL GE GONE by 5000
13. Ghanashyam Hemlata, Puri (Comp Sc 8401-10000, E & TC 10001-10800, Elec 12601-13600, Mech 13601-14700) – ALL GE GONE By 14700
14. Gopal Krishna Jeypore () Civil (17), Elec (12), ECE (12)
15. IGIT Sarang (Elect 1601-2000, Mech 2401-2800, Metallurgy 4101-4500, Civil 4501-5000, Chemical 5001-5500) – ALL GE GONE 5500
16. Inst of Ad Comp Res, Raygada (Comp Sc 10801-11700, IT 12601-13600, ECE 14701-15900,  E & EE 14701-15900, Mech 18601-20000), Civil (29)
17. ITER Bhubaneswar (AE&I 1201-1600, Civil 3201-3600, Comp Sc 1201-1600, Electrical 1601-2000, E &EE 1201-1600, ELE & TC 1201-1600, IT 1201-1600, Mech 2401-2800) – ALL GE GONE by 3600
18. Jagannath Cuttack (Comp Sc 10001-10800, Elec & TC 10801-11700, Mech 13601-14700) – ALL GE GONE by 14700.
19. JITM Parlakheumndi (Comp Sc 10801-11700, ECE 11701-12600, IT 13601-14700, E & EE 13601-14700,  I & E 17201-18600, Mech 17201-18600) Chemical (10)
20. Konark Inst Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 7201-7800, Ele & TC 7201-7800, AE & I 10801-11700, Elec 10801-11700, Mech 10801-11700) – ALL GE GONE by 11700
21. Koustuva Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 7201-7800, E & EE 8401-10000, Elc & TC 8401-10000, IT 8401-10000,  Biomed 15901-17200) – ALL GE GONE by 17200
22. Krupajala Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 4101-4500, Elec & TC 4101-4500, IT 4101-4500, AE & I 5501-6000, Elec 5501-6000, Mech 6601-7200) – ALL GE GONE by 7200
23. Mahavir Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 7201-7800, Elec & TC 7801-8400, E & EE 8401-10000, IT 8401-10000, AE&I 11701-12600) Biomed (12)
24. Majighariani Rayagada (Comp Sc 15901-17200, IT 18601-20000, ECE 18601-20000, E & EE 20001-21545), Mech (11), Biotech (16)
25. Nalanda (Comp Sc 7801-8400, ECE 7801-8400, IT 8401-10000, Mech 10001-10800) – ALL GE GONE by 10800
26. NIST Berhampur (Comp Sc 2001-2400, E & EE 2401-2800, I & E 2801-3200, IT 2801-3200, ECE 2001-2400) – ALL GE GONE by 3200
27. NM IET Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 6001-6600, ECE 6601-7200,  E & EE 7201-7800, IT 7801-8400, Mech 10001-10800, Inst 12601-13600) – ALL GE GONE by 13600
28. Orissa Engineering College (Comp Sc 2401-2800, ELE & TC 2401-2800, IT 3201-3600, Electrical 3601-4100, Mech 4501-5000, Civil 10001-10800) – ALL GE GONE 10800
29. Orissa school of mining Engg Keonjhar (Elec 4101-4500, Mech 5001-5500, Mining 10801-11700) – ALL GE GONE by 11700
30. Padmanav Rourkela (Comp Sc 8401-10000, E & Tc 8401-10000, IT 8401-10000, E & EE 10001-10800) – ALL GE GONE 10800
31. Padmashree Baragarh (Comp Sc 15901-17200, Elec & TC 15901-17200, AE & I 18601-20000, Elec 20001-21545, Mech 20001-21545) – ALL GE GONE by 21545.
32. Purushottam Rourkela (Comp Sc 11701-12600, E & TC 11701-12600, IT 12601-13600,  E & EE 13601-14700, AE & I 14701-15900) – ALL GE GONE by 15900.
33. Rajdhani Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 7801-8400, IT 8401-10000, ECE 8401-10000, E & EE 10001-10800) – ALL GE GONE 10800
34. Roland Berhampur (ECE 7801-8400, Comp Sc 8401-10000, IT 10001-10800, E & EE 12601-13600, AE & I 13601-14700) – ALL GE GONE by 14700
35. Samanta Chandra Sekhar Koraput (Comp Sc 17201-18600) ECE (18), Elec (32), AE & I (36), Mech (31)
36. Sanjay Memorial Berhampur (Elec & Tc 10801-11700, E & EE 13601-14700, Elect 14701-15900, Mech 15901-17200, Civil 18601-20000) – ALL GE GONE By 20000
37. Satyasai Balasore (Comp Sc 14701-15900, Elec & TC 15901-17200), Mech (5)
38. Seemanta Mayurbhanj (Comp Sc 14701-15900, Elec & TC 14701-15900, Elec 17201-18600, Mech 17201-18600, I&E 18601-20000), Civil (4)
39. Silicon Bhubaneswar (AE & I 2001-2400, Comp Sc 1601-2000 , E & EE 1601-2000, ELE & TC 1201-1600, IT 1601-2000 ) – ALL GE GONE by 2400
40. Synergy Dhenkanal (Elec & TC 7201-7800, Comp Sc 7801-8400, IT 8401-10000,  Elec 10801-11700, Mech 10801-11700) – ALL GE GONE by 11700
41. Techno Bhubaneswar (Comp Sc 7801-8400, ECE 8401-10000, E & EE 10801-11700, AE & I 11701-12600) – ALL GE GONE by 12600
42. Trident Bhubaneswar (Elec & TC 3601-4100, Comp Sc 4101-4500, E & EE 4501-5000, Biomed 7201-7800) – ALL GE GONE by 7800
43. UCE Burla (Civil 1601-2000, Comp Sc 401-800, Electrical 801-1200, Elec & TC 401-800, IT 801-1200, Manu 2801-3200, Mech 1201-1600) – ALL GE GONE by 3200

256 comments June 12th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar – Why pick it over IIT Patna, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Punjab : Part II

The following is from our page http://iitbbsr.orissalinks.com/future.htm, where we look at factors that will shape the future of IIT Bhubaneswar.

IIT Bhubaneswar will be mentored by IIT Kharagpur for three years. Initial information suggests that the first year of classes will be held in IIT Kharagpur and the students will stay with the IIT Kharagpur students in one of the hostels. Most likely they will stay in the MMM Hall.

After one year, when they move to Bhubaneswar they will be able to bring with them some of the culture and traditions of IIT Kharagpur and the student  life there. Some highlights of those are : (i) Illumination and Rangoli (ii)  Spring Fest  (iii)  Techno-management festival (iv)  Hall day (v) Hostel libraries  (vi) Wing culture (vii) General championship (viii) Hall and Gymkhanna elections (ix) Hall GBMs and budgets and their spending (x) Scholars Avenue fortnightly newspaper (xi) Equal relationship between juniors and seniors – no calling seniors as Sir, bhai, bhaiyya, dada, etc.

The most important of these culture and traditions is the equal relationship between students at IIT Kharagpur. There every student is equal and no student fears another student. There are no big bosses or connected students in the campus who are feared by other students. Juniors call seniors by the same name that others call them; with no addition of a "bhaiyya" or "Sir." There are no physical fights in the campus. There are rivalries though; often centered around sports and cultural competitions; but NO physical fights.

This is in contrast to most other college campuses in India where students defer to their seniors and there are some students in campus to whom every body is afraid of. Thus it is great that the first batch of IIT Bhubaneswar students will spend a year in IIT Kharagpur and bring back with them the fear-free non-violent culture of the IIT Kharagpur campus.

With Professor Damodar Acharya at the helm of IIT Kharagpur, the mentoring of IIT Bhubaneswar is in good hands. Prior to being the director of IIT Kharagpur, Professor Acharya was the AICTE Chairman in Delhi and prior to that the vice-Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology, then operating from Bhubaneswar. Thus one can infer that he is well known and well connected in both Bhubaneswar and Delhi circles and this is a big advantage. For example, his suggestion that the Orissa government allocate more than the 500 acres, which the central government required, was received warmly and the Orissa government is indeed looking for a land of at least 1000 acres for IIT Bhubaneswar. So far, none of the other new IITs are thinking along those lines. Having extra land is very important as it will allow further growth of the IITs, which are being built for decades if not centuries to come. Decades later, IIT Bhubaneswar will have Prof. Acharya to thank for this foresight.

IIT Kharagpur, only 321 kms and 4.5-5hrs away from Bhubaneswar, and with 30+ trains, has many other ties with Bhubaneswar and Orissa. It has an extension center in Bhubaneswar from where it offers a PG Diploma in Information Technology and a 1.5-year part-time Diploma in intellectual property law. IIT Kharagpur professors have signed an MOU to develop a perspective plan of the Bhubaneswar metroplex and are involved in many other projects in Orissa. More than 50 faculty at IIT Kharagpur, including the Director and at least two Deans, are natives of Orissa. Thus faculty and leadership of IIT Kharagpur are familiar with Bhubaneswar and Orissa and their aspirations and are in a good position to mentor IIT Bhubaneswar. (There are many Orissa origin faculty at the various IITs and IISc who may also help IIT Bhubaneswar.)

Looking forward to the future IIT Bhubaneswar’s progress will be partly shaped by its competition and collaboration with three other marquee universities and institutions that are being established in the Bhubaneswar area.

• National Institute of Science Education Research (NISER)
• Proposed world class central university in Bhubaneswar
• Vedanta University

NISER is a DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) funded institute that is admitting its second batch of students this year in 2008. The Prime Minister Dr. Mammohan Singh, while announcing the setting up of NISER said: "NISER will be at par with the IISER being established in other places but will operate under the umbrella of DAE. … When completed, I am confident that the National Institute of Science Education and Research will become a Mecca for science just as TIFR and IISc are today." Incidentally, NISER has a higher initial budget of 823.19 crores than the 500 crore budget of each of the IISERs, the 760 crore budget of each of the new IITs and the 720 crore budget of each of the WCCUs. With interdisciplinary research becoming key to solve complex grand challenges, like IISc, NISER will soon branch out to interdisciplinary centers and technological departments. With IITs also having scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary centers, down the road, IIT Bhubaneswar and NISER Bhubaneswar are expected to collaborate and compete with each other. This will drive both to excellence.

Recently, establishment of 14 world class central universities were announced. One of those will be in Bhubaneswar. These world class universities will have a school of medicine, and are expected to have a school of science, a school of engineering, a school of management as well as a school of liberal arts. It is said that these world class universities will be nurtured to compete with Harvard and Cambridge Universities. If that happens, the WCCU in Bhubaneswar will definitely collaborate and compete with IIT Bhubaneswar and NISER Bhubaneswar and this will drive all of them to excellence.

As of now Bhubaneswar is the only metropolitan area of the country which will have a science institute (NISER), an IIT and a WCCU. The metro areas that will have two of them are: Kolkata (an IISER and a WCCU), Pune (an IISER and a WCCU), Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar (an IIT and a WCCU), Chandigarh (an IISER and an IIT), Delhi-NOIDA (an IIT and a WCCU), Patna (an IIT and a WCCU), Guwahati (an IIT and a WCCU) and Bhopal (an IISER and a WCCU). Along with some of these metro areas Bhubaneswar will also have an AIIMS (like institute) with a budget of 332 crores as well as a IIIT.

The above is a projection to the future. But the ground reality is that it will take time for a new IIT in Bhubaneswar to catch up with the existing IITs in many respects. The existing IITs not only have an existing infrastructure and history, but also an alumni base that contributes to their growth and development. Same with respect to NISER and the well established IISc Bangalore. However, Bhubaneswar has one more trump card: the Vedanta University, that is coming up in Puri, about 40 kms and less than an hour from the outer edges of Bhubaneswar.

Vedanta University is a brainchild of industrialist Anil Agarwal, who has pledged a $1 Billion (i.e., Rs. 4,000 crores) towards it and envisions a budget of $3 Billion (i.e., Rs 12,000 crores) in making that university. The budget of this university is illuminating in its scale in that just the pledged 4,000 crores is close to the sum of the budget of two new IITs (760*2 = 1520 crores), a new IISER (500 crores), two new WCCUs (720*2=1440 crores), a new AIIMS (332 crores), and a new IIM (210.25 crores). However, the aim of the Vedanta University is to be like Stanford University and have a similar impact. In 2007, Stanford had an operating expense of $2.9 billion, an operating revenue of $3.2 billion, endowment of $17.2 billion and total asset of $29.3 billion. Hence, the 4,000 crores pledge by Anil Agarwal is only the cost of the initial phases of the Vedanta University and despite the cost differential between the US and India, to be comparable with Stanford, Vedanta University needs the 12,000 crores and perhaps more. However, the Anil Agarwal foundation has the foresight to acquire 6000+ acres of land (comparable to Stanford University’s 8180 acres) and build a city of 500,000 around the University with research parks similar to Stanford Research Park. The real estate holdings of the planned city will be able to provide Vedanta University with a sizeable endowment to realistically aim to become the Stanford of India. In the following interview of Anil Agarwal by a New York area PBS station, one can hear from the horse’s mouth about his vision for Vedanta University (starting at 3:20).

There is a high possibility that Vedanta University will not only play a significant role in Bhubaneswar and Orissa, but in all of India. Its private financing, sound financial model, lofty goals and an unprecedented donation of $1 billion, makes it likely to actually be able to hire top professors and nobel laureates, have graduate programs that rank high at the international level and produce graduates that will populate the premiere institutions and universities of India. This is relevant to the development of IIT Bhubaneswar in particular and all the IITs in general because there is a severe shortage of good academics to fill all the available positions in the IITs (and the WCCUs). In this the proximity of IIT Bhubaneswar to Vedanta University would put it at an advantage as many graduates of the later may prefer to remain in the area and maintain collaboration with their mentors and many may join IIT Bhubaneswar just to be close to Vedanta University.

Thus, with competition from, collaboration with, and synergies associated with NISER, WCCU and Vedanta University, IIT Bhubaneswar has a chance to excel and become one of the top IITs in the country. And if (a big if, but not impossible) all these institutes achieve their stated goals, then the Bhubaneswar-Puri area will have equivalents of a Stanford (Vedanta University), MIT (IIT Bhubaneswar), Berkeley (WCCU Bhubaneswar) and CalTech (NISER Bhubaneswar).

11 comments June 8th, 2008

DAV Chandrasekharpur students do well

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

… students of Chandrasekharpur DAV Public School have shown remarkable excellence and brought glory to the school and also to the State. The State’s topper of Standard XII CBSE examination, Soumyashant Nayak, snatched the All India topper position in the examination conducted by Indian Statistical Institute. He has the credit of being the first student from the State to get such honour. This year, 23 students from the country and three from the State have qualified for the same. Ten students of the school, who have qualified in the IIT examination, are Aditya Acharya, Sovam Nayak, KV Suddodhan, Soumyashant Nayak, Sanjay Nanda, Ranjan Bhuyan, Sumeet Dandapat, Pankaj More, Padmaja Thatoi and Sonali Patnaik. Keeping pace with the tough competitions, 11 students of the school have placed themselves in the top 100 students of the State in the AIEEE-2008.

June 6th, 2008

AIEEE 2008 Counseling: What can I get with my rank?

The opening and closing rank of 2007, at http://ccb.nic.in/CCB2008/OrCr/Stream.htm, may give you some idea. However, there are no guarantees. The Counseling website is http://ccb.nic.in/CCB2008/welcome.html.

332 comments June 5th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar to start classes this year in mechanical, electrical and civil engineering

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

The proposed IITs and their mentor institutions are IIT Gujarat/Gandhinagar (IIT Bombay), Punjab (IIT Delhi), Patna (IIT Guwahati), Rajasthan (IIT Kanpur), Bhubaneswar (IIT Kharagpur), and Hyderabad (IIT Madras). While all will offer electrical and mechanical engineering, IIT Gandhinagar will offer chemical engineering, IIT Bhubaneswar will offer civil engineering, and the rest will offer computer science and engineering.

“The curriculum, syllabus, fee structure and other rules for the new IITs will broadly remain the same as in the respective mentor IITs,” the IIT-B official said.

The first-year classes for IIT Punjab, Rajasthan, and Bhubaneswar will be conducted at the campuses of the mentor IITs. The students will be shifted to the respective locations in the second year. Classes for the other new IITs will be conducted in the cities where the IITs are being located.

5 comments May 31st, 2008

IIT Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab likely to admit students this year

Update: A report in Telegraph has a more detailed story on how this happened.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

“Consequent to the government of India issuing notification for the setting up of eight new IITs in the 11th Plan, admissions to three more new IITs in Punjab, Gujarat and Orissa, other than at Hyderabad, Patna and Rajasthan, for the academic session 2008-09 are likely to be made through JEE-2008,” said an official release.

… Counselling for admission begins on June 17 for the declared All-India rank holders. Courses allocated to the successful candidates will be declared on June 30.

“An extended merit list has also been drawn to facilitate admission to other government institutions. Students on the list might be counselled by the Indian Institute of Space-Science Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology. The Indian Institute of Maritime Studies also offers admission based on JEE-2008 results,” said the release.

May 31st, 2008