Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
The newly constituted National Innovation Council (NIC) headed by Sam Pitroda, aims to have a $1-billion (around Rs 4,600 crore) fund to promote new ideas for inclusive development and innovation in the country.
“Our objective is to setup a $1-billion fund for the NIC but how big it will be depends on how the market reacts and how much money we are able to raise. We want to see if we can set up a large fund,” Pitroda, advisor to the PM, told Business Standard.
A week ago, the Council had announced the setting up of a fund with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore to encourage innovation. The government will contribute 10-20 per cent to the fund with the rest coming from other sources like private funds, institutions and foundations.
Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved the establishment of the Council with a mandate to prepare a road map for the Decade of Innovation (2010-2020) by evolving an Indian model of innovation, focusing on inclusive growth and creating an appropriate ecosystem.
Going ahead, innovation councils will be set up at the state and sectoral levels and Pitroda said that five states, including Orissa and Karnataka, have already shown interest in setting up their own innovation councils. The NIC will also have innovation centres in universities and innovation clusters to create regional hubs.
It will delineate appropriate policy initiatives within the government to spur innovation. It will also promote setting up of Sectoral Innovation Councils and State Innovation Councils.
The NIC has also collaborated with industry chambers CII and Ficci to identify 20 industrial clusters in the country like Indore, Bhopal, Gandhinagar and Kanpur, among others, to provide guidelines for innovation.
“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.
Odisha should lobby to have at least one industrial cluster (perhaps Rourkela) in the list of 20 clusters and lobby to have at least one university in the list of 20 universities to which innovation toolkit will be given. I think VSSUT and Sambalpur University should join hands to stake claim for one of the 20 university slots. Considering their proximity, it may work.
The setting up of the innovation council was approved a month month back. Following is an excerpt from another report in Business Standard.
Last month, the prime minister had approved the setting up of the council to prepare a road map for the Decade of Innovation 2010-2020. The council also launched its portal, where a compilation of scientific achievements that could be used to improve the quality of life would be available.
A similar council called National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was formed by the Commerce Department in the USA in 2009. In July 2010 its membership was announced.
September 15th, 2010
Vizag is getting antsy about the delay in the establishment of one of the aiming to be "world class" universities in that city. Deccan Chronicle reports on this issue. Following is an excerpt.
The much-touted “world-class university” in Visakhapatnam has failed to take off though it has been more than two years since the Centre announced the project.
In 2008, the Union HRD ministry had announced plans of 14 “world-class universities” across the country, of which one was allotted to Andhra Pradesh. The state government had also come forward and offered around 800 acre in Visakhapatnam to set up the varsity.
Though the university was later renamed by the Centre as “Innovation University”, officials of the higher education department are clueless about when the actual works will begin.
The state government had identified four sites in Vizag for the purpose and submitted a proposal to UMHRD for clearance. However, there has been no response from the Centre till now.
Sources in the department of higher education said the Centre’s stand about setting up the “Innovation Universities” has changed and that’s the reason for the delay.
… However, the Union minister of state for HRD, Ms D. Purandeswari said the world-class university would be a reality in Vizag in a year. “It is still being discussed how a world-class university should be. So, there is some delay. I cannot give an exact time-frame but in a year a world-class university would definitely be a reality in Visakhapatnam,’’ she said.
Note that Purandeswari is the sitting MP from Vizag.
It should be noted that a draft bill of the Universities for Innovation was circulated and discussed recently. It is expected that a revised version of it may be introduced in the parliament in the winter session. I guess following that starting from August 2011 at least a few of these universities will start operation. The 14 locations that were announced were: Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mysore, NOIDA-Delhi, Patna, Pune and Vizag. There will be minor funding for these universities during this five year plan. The major funding will come during the 12th plan that starts from 2012.
September 14th, 2010
Update: IIT Kharagpur and IIT Hyderabad are keen on having medical schools.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
The prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology would now offer courses in medicine with foreign nationals on permanent faculty positions and students from abroad at the post graduate level.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of IIT council presided by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday.
The government decided to seek the approval of the Medical Council of India for the course, Sibal told reporters.
The IIT council meeting decided to carry out appropriate amendment in the Institute of Technologies Act to enable the IITs to offer the medicine programme, he added.
"We are making sure that wherever the instruction leads to a degree relating to any branch of medicine, then of course clearances from MCI under the Act will have to be taken," Sibal said.
He, however, said no MCI approval would be required where IITs engage with inter-disciplinary research for the advancement of learning and dissemination of knowledge not leading to a degree or qualification for the practice of medicine.
… The council also decided to enable IITs to recruit foreign faculties which should not be more than 10 per cent of the total faculty strength.
"In principle, we agreed that IITs are entitled to recruiting foreign faculties", Sibal said adding they will set up a mechanism with the Home Ministry to ensure there is no "hiccup in the process and there is easy exit and entry of people" as faculties.
Some other issues like bringing amendments to the Indian Citizenship Act will also have to be looked into, he said.
… Sibal said the meeting also agreed in principle to admit up to 25 per cent foreign students at the post graduate level on a "supernumerary basis without affecting the present admission norms for Indian students".
On medical schools at IIT, the main bone of contention was that IITs would have preferred that the medical schools in IITs do not have to get approval from the Medical Council of India. This would have been similar to them not needing approval from AICTE for their engineering programs. But the health ministry would not agree to that. So now the IITs are ready to accept MCI authority over their medical schools. This solves the problem.
September 10th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
Facing a massive shortage of well-qualified teachers, the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have mooted a proposal for hiring foreign nationals as permanent faculty members.
With one-third teaching positions lying vacant, the proposal as a solution to meet the unprecedented staff crunch is expected to be deliberated at the next IIT council meeting on Friday, IIT officials said.
The move, if accepted, would enable the premier engineering and technology institutes to appoint foreign teachers on permanent positions, up to 10 per cent of the faculty strength.
I hope this proposal by the IITs is approved and the limit is increased from the proposed 10%.
Most universities in US, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. are able to hire foreign faculty in permanent positions. The inability of IITs and other Indian institutions to do that hurts them. This will also serve as an experiment to see how attractive the salary offered by the IITs is to foreign faculty that are not of Indian origin. The data and experience gathered from this experiment will be useful for the universities of innovation which are supposed to be unconstrained by the government in terms of salary offered to its faculty. The concept note of these universities already talked about allowing hiring of foreign faculty.
September 9th, 2010
Following are excerpts from a report in University World News.
… "These universities will focus a lot on research and development and industry-academia collaboration. Besides the conventional streams of knowledge, research and development in emerging areas like global warming, food security, agriculture and community health will get prime focus," Sibal said after the consultation on 28 August with vice-chancellors, academics and business and industry organisations.
Universities themselves will decide their area of focus. However, Sibal said, they "should essentially identify areas having a direct bearing on the community."
Apart from the 14 public universities to be set up under the bill, private players could set up more institutions within the prescribed framework.
The new universities will be allowed to admit half their students from abroad, teach foreign curricula and hire teachers and even vice-chancellors who are foreign nationals, according to a draft law circulated by the government.
"Every university of innovation shall provide an ambience of learning that has an international flavour," states the Universities for Innovation Bill 2010, though "not less than half" the students should be Indian nationals".
The universities will not come under the purview of the University Grants Commission, which regulates most universities in India. The UGC caps the enrolment of foreign nationals at 15%.
Instead they will be set up with private help and be self-regulated, with half their board members being independent experts of academic eminence. They will also be free to set up more than one campus, including outside India.
Some of the universities will be set up in collaboration with leading American and British universities. Yale University, for instance, is already in talks with the education ministry and wants to develop leadership programmes for the new universities.
Innovation universities will be allowed to teach both Indian and foreign curricula simultaneously, and issue degrees that need not comply with established Indian norms.
The bill allows each innovation university to frame its own policy to attract faculty members from India and abroad and hire them directly, offering wages and perks that it deems fit. Currently, the government clears all faculty appointments and decides the salary structure of teachers in government and government-aided institutions.
There was overwhelming support for more flexibility in appointing faculty members. "The heart of this bill is innovation. We want to give the required freedom for innovation and not stifle promoters with regulations like appointing vice-chancellors through collegiums," said Sibal, referring to the current system of selection university heads.
Lifting an existing 20% cap on appointing professors by invitation was also discussed. In the meeting "stakeholders asked to do away with the rule", Sibal said. A senior academic argued: "Why limit it to 20%? Let the innovation universities decide."
A key suggestion during the consultation was that since the universities will be innovative in nature, the bill should clearly define the outcomes it plans to achieve. Administrative structure, too, figured prominently in the discussion.
Sibal said most of the suggestions that came up in the consultation were likely to be incorporated in the final draft of the bill, which will probably be introduced into parliament during the winter session.
Most of the points above have been covered in earlier articles. The only new point here is that these universities will be free to have multiple campuses. This is significant. For the one in Bhubaneswar, the government should allocate land in multiple locations inside Odisha (some far from Bhubaneswar), perhaps from the beginning itself.
September 6th, 2010
The following were obtained from various sources. I don’t vouch for their 100% correctness. Please use them at your own risk.
September 2nd, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
The State capital will soon have two more Kendriya Vidalayas with approval by the Ministry of Human Resource and Kendriya Vidalaya Sangathan at Kalinga Nagar and Pokhariput.
The two schools will be known as Kalinga Nagar KV no -5 and Pokhariput no -6 from class I to V.
The Kalinga Nagar KV will temporarily function in the campus of Unit- 1X and Pohariput KV at the campus of Jagamara Nodal Primary School till the permanent buildings come up at their own sites.
The other Kendriya Vidyalayas in Bhubaneswar are:
- KV Number 1 in Unit 9
- KV Number 1 2nd Shift
- KV Number 2 CRPF Campus
- KV Number 3 Mancheswar
- KV Number 4 Neeladri Vihar
Other KV’s in the greater Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda area are:
- KV Charbatia
- KV Cuttack (Bidanasi)
- KV Khurda Road
With the above mentioned two new KVs in Bhubaneswar (at Kalinganagar and Pokhariput) and two new KVs in Cuttack (Khan Nagar and Mundali) the total number of KVs in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda will be 12. (This is not counting the one in Puri.)
Following is an excerpt from another report in Pioneer about a new KV in Jajpur Rd.
The demand for a Central School (Kendriya Vidyalaya) here has been fulfilled and the school would start within a week, said District Collector of Jajpur Pramod Chandra Mohanty at a large gathering at the Jajpur Road Town Hall on the occasion of the Local Self Government Day and the Prativa Puja celebration of the Vyasanagar Municipality on Tuesday.
Senior journalist KC Samal placed the demand for a second Central School in the district at the industrial town of Jajpur Road. The first school was opened at Jajpur Town a few days back.
Chairperson of the Vyasanagar Municipality Bandita Parida, who presided over the meeting, assured the Collector to provide an eight-room building in the Jajpur Road Stadium premises to start the proposed Central School immediately.
September 2nd, 2010
Update: From a report in Business Standard.
“The private sector says the proposed legislation is not open enough and we want all the ideas and solutions from entrepreneurs. With this legislation, there will be only 14 nationally-funded innovation universities, but the statute will allow for any number of private institutions,” added Sibal.
The highlighted part clarifies how the universities are going to be funded. The draft bill mentioned that some innovation universities will be made by the government and some by private parties. It appeared that it talked about the announced 14 universities. That would have been unfair to the locations whose innovation universities were to be funded privately . The above makes things clear. However it is still unclear what benefit would a private party get by making an innovation university and thus being obligated to follow the statute of the innovation universities. Will the status or label of "innovation university" help them in some way. Otherwise they can become a state university with a tailor made statute.
Update: Some excerpts from a report in Times of India.
… The nature of administrative structure, too, figured prominently in the discussion. For instance, it was felt that there is no need to have both academic board and board of governors.
"Delayering of administrative structure was suggested," a source said.
… Since Innovative Universities will be set up around a theme, it was felt that they should be multi-disciplinary in nature. It was suggested that while theme could be a good idea for the university to start with, gradually it can develop a multi-disciplinary approach.
… According to the minister, themes for Innovation Universities will be decided not by the government but by the institutions themselves.
The government will set up 14 fully-funded Innovation Universities in Greater Noida, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Mysore, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Kolkata, Bhopal and Kochi.
But the number of universities to be set up by private sector has not yet been decided.
(The reporter only listed 11 out of the 14 locations. The three that were missed are: Guwahati, Patna and Pune.)
Following is an excerpt from a report in ibnlive.com.
… "We will redraft the proposed legislation. The legislation does not spell out the outcomes. The legislation must set up objective and have criteria for outcome," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said today. … Talking to reporters after holding deliberation with different stakeholders, industry body and academicians, Sibal said there was a broad consensus that the legislation should be taken forward. "However, there was also emphasis on the need to make the existing institutions attain world class standards in teaching, research and innovation". He said necessary changes to be made in the Universities for Innovation Bill is to ensure that initiatives and energy of the promoters are not stifled in an excessive regulatory mechanism. Sources said some promoters had certain objections to the appointment of vice chancellors to such universities through the collegium process. Sibal also said relaxation of the regulation mechanism was also felt as some had objections to the 20 per cent cap on appointment of graduating students with excellent academic record as assistant professors. The legislation allows appointment by invitation of any graduating students with high academic distinction as assistant professors in such university provided the total number of post filled by such policy does not exceed 20 per cent of the total sanctioned posts of assistant professors. The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Winter session of Parliament this year. With uniqueness being the hallmark of such centres, Sibal said the universities could be theme-based. "These institutes should identify areas having a direct bearing on community and environment while research and innovation could revolve around them," he said. …
August 29th, 2010
Their web page is http://www.cesinter.com/. From the flash presentation I got the following pictures.
.jpg)
In the above picture they wrote Bhubaneswar by mistake instead of Thiruvanthapuram. They are also the architect for IISER Thiruvanthapuram.
The correct picture for NISER Bhubaneswar is the following obtained from http://www.cesinter.com/arch_home/arc_proj32.asp?x=Architecture&y=Showcase%20Projects.
One may compare the design with the picture of NISER building plan pictures. They match.
Note that in http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100715/jsp/orissa/story_12682813.jsp it is mentioned that this company has also been hired for IIT Bhubaneswar.
August 27th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu:
… IIT-Bhubaneswar director Madhusudan Chakroborty said “besides setting up state-of-the-art laboratories, students are being encouraged to involve themselves in product design competition.”
While student whose design would be adjudged as the best would get Rs. 10,000 prize, second best design would get Rs.7,000, Professor Chakraborty said. In fact top 10 designs will be provided fabrication support for shaping the product, he said.
“We want IIT-Bhubaneswar to excel in product design and creation especially in auto and manufacturing sector,” the director said.
The institute is now working on multi-million pound plans to set-up laboratories such as Materials and Tomography. It may also think of procuring rapid prototyping, which is used for automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. Rapid prototyping is needed for the unique materials and tomography laboratory, which is being dubbed as unique.
Prof. Chakraborty, who just spent a month at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) of United Kingdom-based Warwick University working with its technology specialists, said the institute was looking at a long-term collaboration with the university.
… IIT, Bhubaneswar director said the institute is trying to establish long-term tie-up with industries which could work with its students in institute’s facility centre.
The institute proposed to set up a school of design and creative arts, besides their main focus on environment and climate science which is an important issue for the region often battered by natural disasters, Mr. Chakraborty said.
… The institute has been provided with 936 acres of land near Jatni, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Contour survey of the land has been completed while master plan for construction is ready. The construction would start in December 2010.
See also:
- News from Warwick.
- Telegraph.
-
WMG, University of Warwick will help IIT-Bhubaneswar set up high-end research laboratories on its main campus. IIT-Kharagpur, the mentoring institute of IIT-Bhubaneswar, recently entered into a joint venture with the university in this regard.
“WMG will help us set up its research laboratories here,” said IIT-Bhubaneswar director M. Chakraborty, who is back after spending a month at WMG.
The director, in association with technology specialists there, held discussions and planned on the superspeciality laboratories.
“We will work together towards setting up of high-end laboratories for materials and tomography processes as for example,” said the director, who has been appointed a visiting professor at WMG.
… “We wish to draw on WMG’s successful record procedures of engaging with the local industry,” he said, adding that during his visit to the UK he worked with WMG director Lord Kumar Bhattacharya and other people on industry-academia relationships and development of some new education modules.
A team of WMG research staff and industrialists will shortly be visiting IIT-Bhubaneswar to explore opportunities for the partnership. Experts from mineral and materials technology, e -security design disciplines and those who will foster good industry–academia relationship will comprise the team, he said. IIT-Bhubaneswar has already appointed an architect — the first among the new IITs to do so.
“Consulting Engineering Services India Private Limited has been roped in for the purpose. The master plan is ready. We plan to start from November,” he said.
- Excerpt from Warwick VC’s statement: WMG’s technology specialists have advised on IIT Bhubaneshwar’s multi-million pound plans to set up laboratories in materials and tomography and a dozen WMG research staff and allied industrialists will now visit India in November to continue to build the overall partnership with Kharagpur and Bhubaneshwar.
August 27th, 2010
Its web page is http://www.phfi.org/iiph/iiphb.html. Following is today’s screen shot of that page.
IIPH’s are developed by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). PHFI has a future faculty program. Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.phfi.org/careers/ffproramme.html about that program.
Under the Future Faculty Programme, PHFI is pleased to announce the following fellowships
WELLCOME TRUST PROGRAMME (2009-2014)
In 2009, PHFI, along with a consortium of 14 British Universities, was awarded a £ 5 million (pounds) capacity building grant for faculty development. This ambitious 5 year programme aims to develop the teaching and research skills of PHFI’s faculty members by supporting their growth at various career stages. This programme includes opportunities for graduate and doctoral studies, collaborative research projects and research fellowships, and faculty exchanges.
Under this programme, PHFI invites applications for :
Please click on the individual links above to know more about eligibility, application process, timelines and other details.
PHFI-DEAKIN FELLOWSHIP
PHFI is pleased to announce a PhD fellowship under the FFP, for professionals keen on doctoral studies in Public Health at Deakin University, Australia.
Please click here to know more about this.
Note: The deadline of the following two programs is September 30, 2010.
August 21st, 2010
The following is from http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/admin/notice_board/1282304362WebAdvt-2010.pdf.
IIT Bhubaneswar invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor (on contractual basis) in the following five Schools:
Schools (Disciplines): School of Mechanical Sciences (Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering and Materials), School of Electrical Sciences (Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering), School of Infrastructure (Civil Engineering), School of Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Bioscience) and School of HSS & Management (English, Economics, Philosophy and Psychology).
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION
Ph.D. with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in appropriate branch with a very good academic record throughout and evidence of ability to pursue independent high quality research.
EXPERIENCE
Professor: A minimum of 10 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which at least 4 years should be at the level of Associate Professor in IITs, IISc Bangalore, IIMs, NITIE Mumbai and IISERs or at an equivalent level in any such other Indian or foreign institutions of comparable standards.
Associate Professor: At least 6 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which at least 3 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor, Senior Scientific Officer / Senior Design Engineer.
Assistant Professor: At least 3 years teaching / research / industrial experience excluding, however, the experience gained while pursuing Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (on contractual basis): May have less than 3 years teaching / research / industrial experience.
SCALE OF PAY:
(Position; Pay Band; Minimum Pay In the Payband; Academic Grade Pay)
- Professor; PB4: Rs. 37400 – Rs. 67000; Rs. 48000; Rs. 10500
- Associate Professor; PB4: Rs. 37400 – Rs. 67000; Rs. 42800; Rs. 9500
- Assistant Professor; PB3: Rs. 15600 – Rs. 39100 ; Rs. 30000; Rs. 8000 (On completion of 3 Yrs of service shall move to PB4: Rs. 37400 – Rs. 67000; Rs 9000)
- Assistant Professor (on contractual basis); PB3: Rs. 15600 – Rs. 39100; Rs. 20140;
- With less than or equal to one year experience: Rs. 6000
- With more than one year experience: Rs. 7000
- In the above cases experience will be counted excluding that gained while pursuing Ph.D.
In addition to above pay, allowances as admissible to Central Government employees are applicable.
OTHER INCENTIVES
1. A cumulative Professional Development Allowance of Rs. 3 lakhs for every block period of 3 years on reimbursement basis to meet the expenses for attending international/national conferences, paying membership fees of professional bodies, covering book grant, paying telephone charges and meeting contingent expenses etc. as per Institute guidelines.
2. Initial seed grant up to Rs.5 lakhs for initiating research project in a chosen area.
3. Reimbursement of relocation charges at the time of joining up to a ceiling of Rs. 90,000/- as per Institute norm.
4. Honorarium of Rs. 15,000/- per month to the faculty members who have obtained Bhatnagar Award OR are Fellows of at least two National Academies. A faculty member is entitled for only one honorarium.
NOTES
• Reservation for SC/ST/OBC/PH as per Government of India rules.
• Minimum requirement of experience may be relaxed in respect of outstanding candidates.
• Mere eligibility will not vest any right on any candidate for being called for interview. The decision of the Institute in all matters of selection will be final.
• The Institute reserves the right to call only the requisite number of candidates for interview after shortlisting in terms of the candidates’ qualification, suitability and experience.
• For the post of Assistant Professor the candidates should be preferably below 35 years of age
• Canvassing in any manner would entail disqualification of the candidature.
NO INTERIM ENQUIRIES WILL BE ENTERTAINED.
HOW TO APPLY
Candidates possessing the requisite qualification and experience may submit their application in the prescribed form either in hard-copy or by e-mail to the Assistant Registrar (A&E), Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar – 751013 (email: faculty.app@iitbbs.ac.in).
Application form can be downloaded from the Institute website (www.iitbbs.ac.in or www.iitbbs.gov.in).
Applicants desiring to apply for more than one School should send separate application for
each School.
The candidates applying from Government Organizations or Public Sector Undertaking should have their applications duly forwarded by their present employer.
The candidates may apply any time throughout the year. The Institute will consider the applications at any date in the year received up to that date depending on its requirements and/or the quality of the applications.
First round of selection process will start after 20th September, 2010.
Registrar
Advt. No : R/5/2010 Dated 20.08.2010
August 21st, 2010
|
RESEARCH SCIENCE PARK IN IIT BHUBANESWAR .
|
| 2199 |
SHRI PYARIMOHAN MOHAPATRA |
| Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to satate :- |
|
(a) whether the proposed Research/Science Park in IIT, Bhubaneswar campus has been approved;
(b) if not, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether there is a proposal to take up construction of the main campus of IIT and the
Research/Science Park simultaneously; and
(d) if not, whether Government will consider it for harmonious development of the Institution?
|
| |
|
| ANSWER |
| |
|
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SMT. D. PURANDESWARI)
(a) to (d): No, Sir. The proposal for setting up of a Research Park at Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT), Bhubaneswar could be considered only after the setting up of the main campus of the Institute. |
August 19th, 2010
(Thanks to Abi for the pointer.)
The web page for this program is http://www.iisc.ernet.in/ug/index.htm. Following are some excerpts from its main page.
The Indian Institute of Science, a leading institution of higher learning with a strong tradition of research for over a century, is opening its portals to undergraduate students by launching a four-year Bachelor of Science (BS) Programme. The programme is designed as a balanced blend of core science and interdisciplinary topics, to serve as a launching pad for research and doctoral studies in cutting-edge areas in science and technology. The graduates will also be ready for attractive career opportunities in academia and industry.
Major Disciplines offered: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Materials, Mathematics and Physics.
Students majoring in any of the above disciplines will also take courses in engineering, humanities, and inter-disciplinary areas for a well-rounded learning experience.
The inaugural batch will begin classes from August 2011 and graduate in July 2015.
Admissions will be based on national examinations such as KVPY and through other channels to be announced soon.
Eligibility: 12th Standard or equivalent with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics as main subject.
Applications will be accepted from January 1, 2011 till March 31, 2011.
August 19th, 2010
I think the best possibility is to work on upgrading VSSUT, Burla (formerly, UCE Burla) to an IIEST. UCE Burla alumni is fully supportive of this. In general, such a proposal has and will continue to have support from all circles of Odisha. Also, the CM has in the past written to Delhi about upgrading this.
To do this first the state government needs to be pushed to give a one time allocation of a significant amount (say 100 crores) to improve the infrastructure. In addition the faculty size needs to be increased to be at the level of the colleges mentioned below. Simultaneously there should be a campaign to convince the central government to upgrade it to an IIEST.
The Congress MP from Sambalpur should do all he can for this.
For some background on IIESTs see http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/psearch/QResult15.aspx?qref=89897. Following are screen capture of that page.
August 18th, 2010
I noticed that the fact that NISER currently has 43 regular faculty and 18 visiting faculty is not by accident or not because the institute is new and it needs visiting faculty to help in teaching, but is because NISER is designed to have additional 40% faculty as visiting faculty.
This comes out clearly in the design specs for the academic campus. For example, in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1820 it is clearly stated that there will be offices for 250 faculty and additional 100 visiting faculty. This is in addition to having space for 150 post-doctoral fellows. (IISERs talk about 200 faculty and do not mention visiting faculty.)
This feature of having about additional 40% visiting faculty is more of a feature of DAE institutes like TIFR and is in contrast to most MHRD institutions. For example, the IISERs do not have that many visiting faculty.
Having such a high percentage of visiting faculty will enrich NISER’s environment and will be one of its signature distinguishing features. It will also help in faculty recruitment in that it can take in some highly regarded prospective faculty immediately as visiting faculty while they go through the formal approval process of a regular faculty position.
NISER has not yet advertised or highlighted about this feature of having such a high percent of visiting faculty positions. It should. Also, it should spread the word about its visiting positions widely to attract visitors from all over the world.
Another design feature of NISER vis-a-vis IISERs is its lower faculty student ratio. Its target is to have 250 regular faculty plus 100 visiting faculty and 1750 students (including 150 post-docs); making it a target ratio of 1:7 (if one just counts the regular faculty). In comparison IISERs are designed to have 200 faculty and 2055 students (including post-docs); making it a target ratio of 1:10.
While NISER’s target faculty-student ratio is 1:7, its current regular-faculty-student ratio is about 1:4.6. That means NISER is ahead in its faculty recruiting. For this all kudos go to the NISER director Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar.
August 16th, 2010
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