Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66858.
A proposal was received from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to convert Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development, an institution deemed to be university, at Sriperumbudur into Rajiv Gandhi Central University/National Institute of Youth and Sports. In order to examine the proposal and to make suitable recommendations, the Government has constituted a Committee …
In the past we have suggested a similar institution in Rourkela, the cradle of Hockey in Odisha and India.
Following is from another PIB release http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66771. (Thanks to kalahandia.blogspot.com for the pointer.)
The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of a National Centre for Molecular Materials (NCMM) at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala as an autonomous institute of the Government of India (GOI) under the Department of Science & Technology (DST) at a total cost of ` 76.7 crore for five years with an outlay of ` 14.55 crore for the Eleventh Plan Period.
The Centre will be located on 40 acres of land provided by the State Government, free of cost.
The Centre will be the first of its kind in the country and will pursue high-end science and develop technology in niche areas like sensors for biomedical devices, materials for solar energy harvesting and space electronics. Through the Centre, the Government attempts to create a national innovation infrastructure that channels knowledge systems to wealth creation in the long run.
The Centre will collaborate with other academic institutions and actively interact with industry and user groups. It will generate human resources in the form of well-qualified researchers, technicians and entrepreneurs who can help develop the use of such materials for technological applications and exploit the market potential in this area.
For long Odisha has been trying for a research center on materials along similar lines, but without much success.
November 9th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a interview in http://chronicle.com/article/Yales-President-Talks-About/125273/.
Q. By "innovation," what do you mean? Could you give me some examples?
A. The biggest one is this: If India is going to build some truly high-quality institutions, it is going to have competitive compensation on a global scale. One of the things the Chinese have done, … they have essentially decided to break their salary scales to recruit back Chinese expats working in the U.S. and U.K. to be leaders and senior professors at their top institutions. And India has an extraordinary expat academic population. But it is very hard to get those people back in the public universities [here], because they are not attractive-enough jobs. So "innovation universities" offer hope that they’ll be able to provide competitive compensation and merit-based compensation.
Q. Did you talk with Kapil Sibal, India’s minister in charge of higher education, about this?
A. Yes, with the minister and many other people here. … The whole point of innovation universities is that both public and private innovation universities in the legislation [to allow for their creation] will have the possibility of not paying [faculty salaries] according to the standard scale.
Q. Why is that issue here in India important to you at Yale?
A. If the question posed to us is, Help us build world-class institutions, my first piece of advice is you can’t do it and pay people 20 percent of what they earn in the U.S. [He laughs.]
The last point is a very important one. While there are many top world class researchers in India, who are only paid 20% of what they would earn in the US, it is not possible to have a university full of such top (in terms of research) faculty by paying them only 20%; let alone have 14 such universities.
That is why there is a need of deep pocketed private benefactors of such universities.
November 9th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.
“To boost innovation in basic sciences, the government is keen on funding and establishing world class institutes. We have recently established more IITs, IISERs and institutes in pharmaceutical science. On the same lines, the Cabinet has decided to establish IIESTs across the country,” said Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister for State for Science and Technology.
He was inaugurating a seminar on Nano Technology: Materials and Composites for Frontier Applications, organised by Bharati Vidyapeeth University. Chavan did not commit that CoEP would feature on the list of five colleges to be converted into IIESTs, but said there was a possibility because the college has been trying to get deemed university status.
Odisha should remind the central government regarding its earlier request to upgrade VSSUT, Burla to an IIEST.
November 2nd, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressindia.com.
Yale president Richard Levin on Thursday said that while China had worked on a “dramatic scale of advancement” in the education sector in the last decade, India has only now begun to work on that path. Speaking to The Indian Express after signing an MoU to launch the “India-Yale University Leadership Programme” with IIT Kanpur and IIM Kozhikode, Levin said India’s answer to China’s investment in high quality education was innovation.
“Making the advancement that China has made…that’s expensive. China has put in a lot of money in higher education… China has singled out 10 per cent of its national universities towards disproportionate investment in order to make them globally competitive,” Levin said. He added that India being a very democratic nation could not, on the other hand, single out certain institutes and provide them with funds in order to make them compete with the Ivy League. China has developed nine of its top universities in a way that they can compete with the US Ivy league.
“Whereas for India, which is a much more democratic country, it is harder to make those kinds of distinctions with government funds and say …we are going to take these five institutions and make them competitive with Yale, China is doing it and getting away with it. India’s answer is innovation universities and have the private sector raise extra resources to get really high quality institutions. That I think for India is a very adaptive strategy,” he said.
… The combination of opening to foreign universities, creating innovation varsities, reforming the accreditation — all of these I think will help for talent advance in higher education sector in India. I am very supportive of Mr Sibal’s vision and hope he is successful in his legislative agenda,” he said.
He, however, admitted that there were misgivings about ‘bureaucratic barriers” in India and that to attract foreign universities to India they would have to be allowed to set their own pay scales, promote/ advance people on their own criteria and bring students they approve by their own process.
October 30th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a UNI report in newkerala.com.
The institute, which would be set up under the joint collaboration of the Centre and the state government, would meet the requirement of paramedical staff in the entire eastern region, including Orissa.
This was disclosed during a high-level meeting here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to assess the number of various health workers posts lying vacant in the state.
Earlier in May 2009 we wrote about such institutes in the other part of the country in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2344.
Earlier this year in June 2010 the cabinet had approved establishment of 1 national and 9 regional institutes of paramedical sciences across the country. I guess the one in Odisha is out of those. Following is the PIB article from June 2010 on that: ( http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=62808 )
The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of the National Institute of Paramedical Sciences (NIPS), Regional Institutes of Paramedical Sciences (RIPS) and a scheme to support the State Government Medical Colleges for conducting paramedical courses through a one time grant.
The total project cost for the proposal is Rs.1156.43 crore with a Central share of Rs.999.31 crore (85%) and the remaining Rs.157.12 crore (15%) being borne by the States.
This measure would lead to an additional yearly intake capacity of 14,480 to the health delivery system annually when fully implemented.
The initiative will augment the supply of skilled paramedical manpower and promote quality of paramedical training through standardisation of such education/courses across the country. The main components of the proposal are: Manpower development through support to State Government Medical Colleges in the form of a one time grant and establishment of one National Institute of Paramedical Sciences and eight Regional Institutes of Paramedical Sciences in various parts of the country as well as developing the existing regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences (RIPANS), Aizawal as the 9th RIPS .
The financial implication to support the State Government medical colleges in the form of a one time grant for commencing/enhancing intake capacity of paramedical courses at Undergraduate and Post Graduate levels will be Rs.352 crore. For establishment of one National Institute of Paramedical Sciences, the total cost proposed is Rs.108.29 crore and amount required for 8 RIPS as well as developing the existing RIPANS as 9th RIPS will be Rs.696.14 crore.
October 29th, 2010
Following is from the PTI report in http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/nimhans-declared-institute-of-national-importance/430046.html.
The Government today declared the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, as an institute of national importance on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The proposal was cleared by the Union Cabinet, according to an official release.Apart from AIIMS, the two other institutes which were designated institutes of national importance are Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry.The Cabinet also approved introduction of the ‘National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Bill, 2009’, in Parliament.
October 29th, 2010
Following are excerpts from http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2784&Itemid=189.
The US$50 million donated to Harvard by the Tata conglomerate is the largest gift received by the school from an international donor in its 102-year history. The Mahindra Group invested US$10 million in a new academic and residential building – the Mahindra Humanities Center – on the school’s campus. Harvard will construct a Tata Hall for its Executive Education program in the group’s honor.
Both tycoons are Harvard alumni. Ratan Tata, 73, the chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, attended the school’s advanced management program – one of the three leadership programs offered by Harvard’s executive education program – in 1975. Mahindra, 55, vice chairman and managing director of one of India’s largest companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Harvard Business School.
… Like the Tatas and Mahindras, ex-Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, along with his wife Rohini, also gifted Yale University with US$5 million to underwrite the Yale India Initiative some time back. The couple’s two children are Yale and Harvard alumni. Their daughter Janhavi graduated from Yale and is now pursuing a doctorate at Harvard while son Nihar is still studying at Yale.
Nilekani’s ex-colleague – Infosys co-founder and chief mentor N. R. Narayana Murthy – has also helped Harvard University initiate a new series on the literary heritage of India via a US$5.2 million endowment.
… Wipro founder Azim Premji is reportedly planning an endowment trust in India, modeled on the lines of the Harvard Management Company, which supports Harvard University’s educational goals. Nandan Nilekani gave US$5 million to his alumni IIT, Mumbai in 2000. The Tatas, similarly, have been in the forefront of donating generously to institutions of academic excellence in India.
Several IIT alumni have also made donations to their home institutions and other premier institutes of learning. IIT-Delhi has partnered with the Bharti Foundation to set up the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management. There’s also a Bharti Centre for Communication, Mumbai, set up in partnership with IIT-Powai. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has also succeeded in attracting private funding as well.
Besides this, Infosys is starting a campus in Hyderabad with the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Corporate houses and individuals are also entering primary education in a big way. The Bharti Foundation has started 236 Satya Bharti primary schools across the country.
October 29th, 2010
Following is from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66496.
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal had an interaction with the Directors of the eight new IITs here today. The meeting was taken to discuss issues specific to new IITs, especially with regard to the constraints they are facing in infrastructure and faculty development. All the IITs made separate presentations, consequent to which discussions were held and the following decisions were taken.
A number of IITs are facing problems of clearances with Central/State Government Departments for acquisition of the land allotted to them. In this regard, the Minister has asked for a meeting to be taken next month with the concerned State Government officials, Central Government officials and IIT Directors to facilitate the process of land acquisition.
The issue of providing salary that will attract good faculty was discussed at length. In this regard it was decided with the Minister’s approval that topping up of government approved salary can be done by the IITs from their own funds.
At present, in the IITs, the HAG scale(Rs.67,000-Rs.79,000) is applicable for 40% of the Professors in position. The new IITs expressed that they have been unable to implement this grade since it has been possible for them to recruit few faculty so far. The Minister stated, here, that the ministry would seek approval from the Finance Ministry/Cabinet to provide for a new proviso for the new IITs to be able to implement this salary grade.
The new IITs felt that that a revision in fund allocation would be required in view of the escalation of construction costs. The minister directed the officials to examine the matter and come up with a proposal in this regard.
Following is an excerpt from a report in zee news.
All the new eight Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) established over the last three years have been asked to have their campuses ready by 2014 even as the government was mulling increasing the funds allocated for the purpose.
… IIT Patna and IIT Bhubaneswar, though, received special mention for making a good headway in infrastructure related development, they said.
Sibal also said his Ministry would move a Cabinet note on the issue of enhanced allocation of funds for campus development after the directors drew attention to cost escalation over the years.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindustan Times.
The human resource development ministry is planning special incentives to lure faculty from the older Indian Institutes of Technology to take up teaching posts at the country’s new breed of IITs struggling to attract teachers.
… Under the proposal for giving incentives to teachers — which the HRD ministry is currently discussing with the finance ministry — teachers at older IITs will be required to spend a ten-year tenure at one of the new-born IITs.
I don’t trust the above Hindustan Times report. I think the writer might have misunderstood something.
October 22nd, 2010
October 20th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66338.
A meeting was held today under the Chairmanship of Human Resources Minister, Shri Kapil Sibal with the Chairpersons and Directors of IIMS on the future vision of the IIMs and the necessary steps to be taken to achieve them. Shri Sibal informed the members that in the last one and half year a number of steps have been taken by the Ministry to provide autonomy to the IIMs. Some of these include full powers to the Boards of IIMs to create posts within the approved norms, freedom to open centres in India and abroad, amend Rules of the IIM within the framework of Memorandum of Association and Rules, power to acquire and dispose property not fully or partially funded by the Ministry of HRD, powers to approve their own Budget, and also to manage the funds generated by the IIMs on their own. However, he said that autonomy should go hand in hand with accountability; in that the faculty, the director and the Board should take steps to prepare annual action plans and key performance indicators at each level and be fully accountable and transparent.
The meeting considered the reports of Committees constituted in the last meeting in Bangalore on certain key issues. Discussions were held on the report of the Committee constituted to recommend a new Governance Structure for IIMs (chaired by Shri R.C. Bhargav, Chairman BOG- IIM, Ranchi). It was decided that the number of Board Members of IIMs would be reduced to 14. It also discussed the composition and selection of the Boards of governors with adequate membership to the Society of the IIM, the government, the faculty and the alumni. It was also decided that the IIM societies should have long term members who take continuous interest in the running of the IIMs. It was also decided, in principle, that Directors of IIMs will now be appointed through a process wherein the Board of Governors of the IIMs suggests three names to the Government from which the Government chooses one.
On the second report of the Committee on Faculty and Research at the IIMs, chaired by Shri Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman, IIM, Calcutta. It was decided that the IIMs can top up the salaries of their Directors also in addition to the Faculty from the funds generated by them on their own. It was also decided that the Faculty members would give individual work plans at the start of the year. The recommendations of the Committee regarding use of technology in IIMs were accepted and the Minister directed that old and new IIMs sit together to streamline the use of technology for class scheduling, attendance, mark compilation etc.
On the recommendations of the Committee on Fund Raising by IIMs (chaired by Shri Hari S. Bhatia, Chairman of IIM, Raipur), it was decided that the IIMs have a development office especially for the purpose, each IIM have a fund raising policy and thereafter to have road shows. A two-day workshop will be conducted on the subject of collecting endowments for institutes.
MV/GK
The Odisha government should pursue with IIM Calcutta for a branch in Odisha.
October 13th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66290.
The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for taking over of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur and converting it to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), with a total five years’ project cost of Rs.592.20 crore (Rs. 300.30 Crore as non-recurring cost towards capital expenditure and Rs.291.90 Crore as recurring expenditure).
BESU will be converted to IIEST by suitably amending the NIT Act, with special clauses, which should reflect its exclusive character. IIEST will be an ‘Institute of National Importance’ covered under NIT Act and its organizational and governing structure will be on the lines of National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
IIEST will integrate under-graduate education, post graduate education and research in engineering and science under the same umbrella. IIEST will be an Institution of international standard and will produce quality manpower for the strategic sector of the country, research laboratories and quality teachers for the institutions of engineering and science education.
Background:
The Government had constituted an Expert Committee in 2005 to evaluate and suggest a plan of action for upgrading seven Institutes, including BESU, which had earlier been identified by Prof. S K Joshi Committee. The Expert Committee recommended the establishment of a new system of ‘Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIESTs) as Institutes of National Importance through an Act of Parliament. The Committee recommended upgradation of five Institutes including BESU, to become an IIEST.
The admissions to IIEST will be through national level entrance exam namely, All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).
***AKT/HS/SM
The Odisha government should push for the upgradation of VSSUT to an IIEST.
October 13th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
A committee of vice-chancellors has outlined a set of criteria for selecting institutions with the potential for excellence as Navaratna Universities, which will then be given more autonomy and resources.
“The Navaratna Universities would be India’s answer to the Ivy League of the US. These universities will be distinguished ones and will set an example for other institutions in the country,” Seyed Hasnain, the vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, told The Telegraph.
… The suggested criteria include research output, patents, publications, sponsored projects, research grants received, ranking by the National Accreditation and Assessment Council and international agencies, funds, admission procedure, quality of faculty, financial support to students, and the ability to attract foreign students.
The government has asked the committee to submit a final report within two months.
All central and state universities can vie for a place in the Navaratna category, Hasnain said, adding that the group need not necessarily consist of nine institutions.
The universities selected will be provided additional financial support and given the right to hire teachers of their choice, appoint faculty by invitation, set up campuses abroad, hold faculty fairs in foreign countries, engage with institutions of repute for research and generate more resources from sponsored projects.
“The idea is that while setting up more institutions with the aim of achieving international levels, the existing institutions should not be left behind. It is a very good move by the government because the Navaratna institutions will be role models for others,” said Deepak Pental, vice-chancellor of Delhi University.
… Germany has categorised nine universities as Universities of Excellence, China has a similar group of 11 institutions and Australia has its Group-8, made up by the country’s top eight universities.
“This move will create a spirit of competition among institutions to excel. In the process, the quality of education and the standards of institutions will improve,” said Abdul Wahid, vice-chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir.
This is a great idea. The measures should be transparent so that the universities that are left out of it can aim to achieve those measures for future inclusion in that group. I hope some universities from Odisha would make into that list, but even if that does not happen, I think having those measures will enable the Odisha universities to argue for more funding and improving themselves.
See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3214 for a ranking of Indian universities based on publication counts. That ranking should give an idea of which universities stand a good chance of achieving Navaratna status.
For the future, there should be a way for additional universities to get Navaratna status. That will encourage the universities that do not get the status in the first round to improve themselves. It will also encourage consolidation and creation of more wholesome universities that have engineering colleges and medical colleges as their components.
October 5th, 2010
The ranking is done by an Australian group based on a measure they call RPI (Research Performance Index). The ranking is at http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/rpi.html.
The ranking uses:
- Publications policy:
- periods are between 2000 to 2009 inclusive
- types are restricted to journal and conference articles, and authored and edited books
- citations can be from any source
- Credit policy:
- credit is given to the institution where the work was performed (not the current affiliation of the authors)
- credit is given to all institutions involved
- credit is given to one or more faculties wherever appropriate
The methodology of the ranking is that they divide the university faculty to five groups:
- MDPHS= Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacology, and Health Sciences
- PNMS= Pure, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences
- ECT= Engineering, Computing, and Technology
- LBAS= Life, Biological and Agricultural Sciences
- AHBSS= Arts, Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences
1. For each group the g-index of the publications are determined using the SCOPUS database. The The g-index is defined as the highest count g of publications, such that taken together, have an average of at least g citations per publication. (L. Egghe, “Theory and Practise of the g-index,” Scientometrics, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 131-152, Jan. 2006.)
2. Then they divide or normalize the g-index for each faculty by that of the highest globally performing faculty
3. Then they average or sum the normalized faculty indices to arrive at a final RPI value for a particular university
Based on this only two Indian Institutions appear in the top 500.
- IIT Kanpur at 444
- IISc Bangalore at 468
They also give the ranking for each of the five groups. Following are Indian institutions in those rankings.
- MDPHS= Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacology, and Health Sciences http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/fac1.html
- PNMS= Pure, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/fac2.html
- IIT Kanpur at 222
- IISc Bangalore at 273
- Punjab University at 380
- IIT Madras at 413
- IIT Roorkee at 497
- IIT Kharagpur at 507
- IIT Bombay at 507
- ECT= Engineering, Computing, and Technology http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/fac3.html
- IIT Kanpur at 104
- IISc Bangalore at 148
- IIT Madras at 230
- IIT Delhi at 258
- IIT Bombay at 341
- IIT Kharagpur at 367
- Jadavpur University at 398
- IIT Roorkee at 413
- LBAS= Life, Biological and Agricultural Sciences http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/fac4.html
- AHBSS= Arts, Humanities, Business, and Social Sciences http://www.highimpactuniversities.com/fac5.html
To me this ranking makes the most sense of any ranking I have seen as it is based on data, and it basically looks at the quality of faculty in terms of the impact of their publications.
September 30th, 2010
The following is extracted from the unofficial source at http://piratecoders.co.cc/projects/iit-jee-results/jee-ranks/.
| Institute |
Open EE (11) |
Close EE (11) |
Open ME (24) |
Close ME (24) |
Last rank |
| IIT Bombay (B) |
1 |
96 |
56 |
468 |
4056 (Chemistry) |
| IIT Delhi (D) |
76 |
241 |
249 |
603 |
2883 (Biochem & Biotech) |
| IIT Madras (M) |
109 |
338 |
310 |
777 |
3678 (Biotechnology) |
| IIT Kanpur (K) |
148 |
467 |
531 |
772 |
4803 (Chemistry) |
| IIT Kharagpur (G) |
783 |
991 |
787 |
1156 |
6652 (Architecture) |
| IIT Roorkee (R) |
612 |
1699 |
1028 |
1763 |
7092 (Architecture) |
| IIT Guwahati (W) |
W16-1901 |
W-16 2336 |
1570 |
2400 |
5831 (Design) |
| IIT Hyderabad (H) |
1715 |
2552 |
1920 |
2837 |
2837 (Mech) |
| IIT Gandhinagar (N) |
2082 |
2956 |
2432 |
3216 |
3811 (Chemical Engg) |
| IT BHU (V) |
1720 |
3270 |
2519 |
3463 |
6624 (Pharma) |
| IIT Rajasthan (J) |
2765 |
3716 |
2649 |
3904 |
3904 (Mech) |
| IIT Bhubaneswar (A) |
2700 |
3866 |
2683 |
3973 |
4294 (Civil) |
| IIT Punjab (E) |
2970 |
3632 |
3162 |
3839 |
3839 (Mech) |
| IIT Indore (U) |
2976 |
3633 |
3036 |
3909 |
3909 (Mech) |
| IIT Mandi (C) |
3906 |
4164 |
3967 |
4246 |
4246 (Mech) |
| IIT Patna (P) |
3343 |
4331 |
1589 |
4435 |
4435 (Mech) |
| ISMU Dhanbad (S) |
4325 |
5174 |
3101 |
5195 |
6709 (Chemistry)
|
September 25th, 2010
Recall from https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/5524 where we reported the following:
… The NIC will also have innovation centres in universities and innovation clusters to create regional hubs….
“Those clusters will be selected where there is a minimum critical mass of industries of some kind and then we will give them an innovation toolkit. The toolkit will be a set of guidelines on how to innovate. Moreover, we are also selecting 20 universities, besides the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) where we can do seed innovation,” he said.
Prof Sanjay Dhande, IIT Kanpur director, who is a member of the Council, is in the process of identifying the universities which will then be given the innovation toolkit to be able to connect with industry.
We had contacted the Govt. of Odisha as well as the VCs of VSSUT and Sambalpur University about it. (I think some other people and groups may have done something similar too.)
The Government of Odisha has now asked VSSUT Burla to prepare a proposal in response to it. This is a good move. However, I think a joint proposal from VSSUT and Sambalpur University may be stronger and this is important if Prof. Dhande goes strictly by merit (without taking state representation – one from each major state — into account). Following is from Samaja. (The part in red is confusing. The reporter did not understand the difference between "Innovation University" and "universities where GOI will seed innovation".)
September 18th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindustan Times.
Two premier research institutes from the country – the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) — have come together to set up the India’s first mathematics centre. Located in the IIT-B campus, the National Centre for Mathematics will be modelled on the world’s first mathematics centre — the Oberwolfach Mathematics Research Institute in Germany.
“The centre will cater to all mathematicians. While there are conferences for mathematicians, there is no organised platform for them to come together. Mathematics centres are already established across the world in countries like China, France and Canada,” said JK Verma from the department of mathematics, IIT-B.
The centre will conduct research-level workshops, national and international seminars, foundation courses, instruction schools for teachers and facilitate research collaborations among scientists.
On a related note, Simons foundation in the US is trying to establish a new institute in theory of computing in the US. It aims to fund $6 Million/year for 10 years and may follow up with a renewal or an endowment.
September 17th, 2010
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