Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India. (Thanks to Prof. Ratan Ghosh for the pointer.)
In the coming years, the IIT palette will have on offer a range of shades beyond the cut-and-dry coding courses. A bunch of doctors, historians, perhaps policy makers too, could boast of IIT degrees.
… the XIth five-year committee for higher education is working with these centres of excellence to expand their charts. The committee, headed by educationist Yash Pal, that is meeting IIT heads on Friday will discuss how the tech schools can change their character and, like American universities, enlarge their menu.
"Currently, the IITs are premier undergraduate engineering schools doing some postgraduation and research work. Now, we want to give them a bigger role," Yash Pal told TOI. The noted scientist said that he had discussed his suggestions with some IIT directors and that a clearer picture would emerge after this week’s meeting.
While the IITs will be given more oxygen in terms of starting courses of their choice, it’s difficult to predict whether the new subjects offered will compare in excellence with the engineering departments, or be relegated to the sidelines, like the IITs’ management schools. However, Yash Pal said, "All great universities around the world offer a range of undergraduate courses. Our IITs can’t be great unless they think in that direction."
The committee is looking at the Big Daddy of engineering colleges for inspiration. "If MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or Caltech (California Institute of Technology) can offer a wider range of programmes that are well-known, why not the IITs? Our IITs have produced wonderful engineers for the country. It’s time they looked at offering more," he added.
Former Indian Institute of Science director Govardhan Mehta, who’s also on the committee, said that the country was currently at a stage where an institute running one programme was also being termed a university. "However, a university, as defined in the ninth century, is an institution with a confluence of many disciplines where research and teaching are carried out. While expansion of courses in the IITs is what our committee is thinking of, Friday’s meeting will give us a chance to know what’s in the IIT heads’ minds," he said.
… IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua said, "There has been some suggestion that the IITs start programmes in areas other than science and technology. I do not have a problem with doing that if our focus is clearly defined."
… Educationist and former director of IIT-Chennai P V Indiresan, who has spent a large part of his life in the IIT system, said the institutes had been synonymous with excellence and they must not start any programmes unless they got very good faculty for the same.
How the IITs will rise to the challenge remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that the flow charts on their lush campuses are set to be redrawn.
November 20th, 2008
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.
November 10th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in thaindian.com.
A new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) coming up in Hyderabad will see close Japanese partnership at the post-graduate level in key areas, including setting up of a Japanese-style business management course, and increased funding for purchase of technical and research equipment to make it into an institution of excellence.A working group that has submitted its report for establishing such an institution with Japanese-Indian collaboration said environment and energy, digital communication, design and manufacturing, nano-technology and nano-science, and civil engineering would be fields that would given a fresh thrust.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set up a working group in August last year to zero in on a new IIT that would see Japanese assistance.
… In addition courses on Japanese-style business management, a key strength of the country’s industry, will also be introduced. While faculty and student exchanges will happen regularly, the premier institute will also set up a Japanese language course for students that could help them find jobs in Japan in the future.
… "Collaboration on the new IIT will be implemented with a long term perspective in mind based on human exchange an joint work. This will be viewed possibly as a ten-year programme,” said a senior official.
October 22nd, 2008
Among the new IITs, IIT Hyderabad has advertised to admit Ph.D students and will start its Ph.D program in 2009. Following is from its announcement at http://www.iith.ac.in/index-curr.php?p=2008Admissions_PhD_Announcement.
Admission to the PhD Programs
Advertisement No.: IITH/2008/Admissions/1
Applications are invited for the session commencing from January 2009 for admission to the Doctor Philosophy (PhD) programs in
(a) Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Material Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering;
(b) Sciences: Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics; and
(c) Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS): Languages, Psychology, Economics, and Management.
Minimum Qualifications
(a) Engineering: M.Tech./M.E./M.Sc.(Engineering) degree with first class or equivalent in the respective or allied areas. Candidates with Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Technology or Master’s degree in Sciences in an allied area with exceptional academic record and possessing a valid GATE score may also apply.
(b) Sciences & HSS: M.Sc./M.A. degree with first class or equivalent in respective or allied areas with a valid GATE/UGC Net/CSIR JRF/NBHM score.
General Information
Financial support (Assistantship/Scholarship) will be provided to all students, who are Indian citizens, enrolled in the Ph.D. program and who do not receive any other form of financial assistance. Sponsored candidates from Government of India R&D Laboratories shall also be considered for Ph.D. Programs; sponsored candidates do not require GATE qualification and will not be paid any scholarship.
Reservation
Reservations will be 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST and 27% for OBC. Also, up to 3% reservation shall apply as per Government of India rules for persons with disability (PD) in each category.
Application form in Pdf Format can be downloaded here.
Application form in Microsoft Word Format can be downloaded here.
PhD Reference Letter form in Pdf click here.
PhD Reference Letter form in Microsoft word click here.
Candidates desirous of applying for more than one program must send separate applications for each program. Applications should be sent on or before 30 October 2008 to:
Professor C.V.R.Murty
Co-Chair, IIT Hyderabad Task Force
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
Ordnance Factory Campus
Yeddumailaram 502205
Andhra Pradesh, India
eMail: dac@iitm.ac.in or iith@iitm.ac.in
October 16th, 2008
Press Trust of India reported the following.
Unhappy with the sites offered by four states for setting up the new IITs, the Centre has decided to make an assessment about the "suitability" of the locations for the elite institutions.
The HRD Ministry has set up a committee, headed by its Additional Secretary Ashok Thakur, which will visit the sites offered by Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh for inspection.
"The committee will visit and ascertain the suitability of the sites. If they do not give convincing reports, states will be asked to offer new sites," a senior HRD Ministry official told PTI.
The other members of the committee are A K Dey, former director of IIT-Bombay, K Narayan Rao, member secretary of AICTE, and the directors of the IITs who have been given the responsibility of mentoring these institutes.
October 8th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a news report in Indiaedunews.
The Central Government will amend the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 to make the new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) eligible to award degrees to students.
The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 will be tabled in the coming session of the Parliament.
The new IITs are currently operating as registered societies and to be able to award degrees to its students, their names will have to be incorporated into the existing Act.
"A society does not have the power to award degrees to students. For the new IITs, currently operating as societies, their names will have to be incorporated into the Act", an official from the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry said.
The new IITs are coming up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. …
September 23rd, 2008
The following is from http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/bhub_ad.php. (Thanks to Saumya for the tip.)
Advertisement for Faculty Positions and Registrar of IIT Bhubaneswar
The faculty ad starts as follows:
IIT Bhubaneswar (Orissa) invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in the following disciplines.
Disciplines : Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences (Economics, English, Psychology)
This suggests that next year they will admit students in Computer Science, in addition to Civil, Electrical and Mechanical to which they admitted students this year.
September 18th, 2008
Update: See http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/bhub_ad.php for the ad.
As per Prof. Damodar Acharya, the director of IIT Kharagpur, the mentor school for IIT Bhubaneswar, a specific advertisement for faculty positions at IIT Bhubaneswar will be coming out soon.
Until then interested candidates are requested to send their cv to him with a cover letter saying that they would like to apply for IIT Bhubaneswar. His email address is director@iitkgp.ernet.in.
The ad will have additional details. But until the ad for IIT Bhubaneswar comes out the ad for IIT Kharagpur at http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/faculty_top.php may be considered as a rough guideline. The salary scales will be same as that of IIT Kharagpur as well as all the other IITs.
September 8th, 2008
Following is from Tathya.in.
The Government of Orissa has identified the site at Argul under Jatni tahsil near Bhuabneswar. The entire area is 891 acres out of which 230 acre is forest land. While there will be delay in forest clearance, the Government of Orissa has opted for free patch of land. So the State Government has decided to earmark 500 acres of clean land for the IIT-Bh. Accordingly the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh to begin construction work in the site.
How ever the experts feel that the entire 891 acres of land, which has been crisscrossed by train lines and black top road have to be given a geometrical shape in keeping the future of the institution in view. Whole area is to be developed as a compact area and infrastructure development has to be taken up immediately, advised an expert. Black top roads are to be rearranged, so that when the IIT is completed than there will be no through fare. To begin with there is the need of the water supply to be augmented at the first instance. At least 3 million gallon per day (MGD) water is needed and laying pipelines from Naraj will cost around Rs.46 crore. Laying pipelines to Naraj will take at least 2 years, feel the experts. Similarly, power supply to the area through 33 kv line is necessary and drawing the power line will cost Rs.6 crore. So at the first instance Rs.52 crore is needed for the basic infrastructure facilities, said an official.
The State Government earlier located 4 places like Garabandhu (Malipada), Banki (Dampara), Mundali (Ramdaspur) and Argul (Jatni). Out of the 4 places Argul has been chosen keeping in view all the aspects, said an official. How ever it is advisable to step up infrastructure development before handing over it to the Centre, feel an expert. And the State Government should fund the improvement expenditure, said he.
Following is from Sambada.
August 11th, 2008
Update: As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41316&kwd= possible location of 9 of the 10 NITs are:
? … Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
ï‚· The NIT at Goa may also cater to the needs of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.
ï‚· Pudducherry or Andaman & Nicobar may have one common NIT, which will cater the needs of each.
Following are excerpts from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41190.
… The initiative to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technology is on course with the first academic sessions starting in 2008 in six of the new IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat . The session for IIT Orissa has already been started at lIT Kharagpur in July 2008 and classes will begin for IIT Punjab at lIT Delhi in Sept 2008. And the academic session for the other 4 new IITs, will begin during August 2008.
Out of the 7 new Indian Institutes of Management proposed the IIM at Shillong has already commenced its first academic session from July 2008. The remaining six IIMs will be established in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
The government proposal to set up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research is on schedule. Of these two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata were inaugurated in 2006-07 and are now fully functional, and the IISER Mohali started its first academic session in 2007-08. Two more IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvanthapuram will commence their first academic sessions in August, 2008.
Two Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) are being set up at Bhopal and Vijayawada . Classes in both the new SPAs will begin with the academic session of 2008 through temporary campuses. The SPA Bhopal will be mentored by NIT Bhopal while the SPA at Vijayawada will be mentored by SPA, Delhi .
The strengthening of Polytechnics is under way with steps being taken to set up 1000 polytechnics (300 in Government Sector, 300 through PPP mode and 400 private polytechnics); Further 500 existing polytechnics are being expanded and the Community Polytechnics scheme being revamped and their number being increased from 669 to 1000.
Steps are being taken establish 10 new National Institutes of Technology. The likely location of these NITs will be in States/UTs which at present don’t have an NIT.
Sixteen Central Universities are being set up under the initiative seeking to established a Central University in states not having a Central University . Four existing universities; Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhatisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttrakhand and Goa University, are proposed to be taken over and upgraded as Central Universities. The remaining 12 new universities are to be set up in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
14 World Class Central Universities (WCCU), are proposed with the locations being firmed up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The State Governments have been requested to identify suitable land.
A total of 373 degree colleges will be set up in the districts having GER lower than the national average as identified by the UGC. Out of these districts, about 90 districts have been shortlisted which have less than 6% GER, have less than 4 colleges per lakh of population and are also minority concentration districts. It is proposed to fast-track the starting of the degree colleges in these shortlisted districts this year.
Twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology are planned with NAASCOM having submitted a project report. The setting up of the IIITs under the PPP mode has been discussed with the States and most of the States agreed to tap not-for-profit private investment, while ensuring that PPP should not lead to any erosion of access to the poor sections of society.
Scholarships for College and University students, based on merit, to non-creamy layer students numbering about 2% of the. student population will be given to those who pass out from various intermediate boards. The scholarship will be Rs.l,000 per month for the first 2 years after which it will be of Rs.2000 per month for the balance period of the professional or other courses in Higher Education. Every year about 41,000 boys and 41,000 girls will benefit from the scheme.
The government is working on an Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme. It will be a Central Sector scheme for providing interest subsidy during the moratorium period on the educational loans taken by students belonging to "non-creamy" layer for pursuing professional education in India.
All the Central Educational Institutions are implementing OBC reservations as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 from this year onward on a staggered basis and the necessary funds have been released to all of them, after holding the meetings of the Empowered Committees. All the IITs, IIMs and the Central Universities that are covered under the Act have started giving reservations to OBCs in a staggered manner. As a result of the implementation of OBC reservations in this academic year, there is an increase of over 20500 in the intake capacity in the Central Educational Institutions.
The states and union territories that do not have NITs are:
- Delhi
- Uttarakhand
- Goa
- Dadra and nagar haveli
- Pondicherry
- Andaman and Nicobar islands
- Lakshadweep
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Manipur
- Nagaland
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Sikkim
So, I guess the majority of the 10 new NITs will be in these states. My guess would be 2, 3, 5, 8-13. (I skipped 1 because I wonder if there is any space left in proper Delhi for an NIT. The rest that I skipped, 4,6 and 7, are very remote as well as hard to reach places.) That makes 9 NITs. It would be interesting to see where the 10th NIT will be located.
August 8th, 2008
Recent news in Tathya and earlier news in Samaja mention that the IIT in Bhubaneswar may be located in Argul near (3kms away) Khurda Rd/Jatni station. If that happens with NISER also 2 km away (in a different direction) from Khurda Rd, the Knowledge SEZ near Khurda, multiple private engineering colleges in the vicinity, and with the possibility of a campus of the highly rated management institute IMI near the IIT, this area will become a major knowledge hub. The govt. of Orissa plans to join all these together as an ITIR. The proposed Vedanta University will only be 40kms or only 30minutes from this area.
August 6th, 2008
Following is from a news report in Statesman.
Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik suggested the establishment of the proposed Central university might be at Koraput and demanded for setting up IIT near Bhubaneswar to start as soon as possible.
In two separate missives to Union minister for human resources development Mr Arjun Singh today, the chief minister noted the establishment of proposed Central university at Koraput would reduce the existing disparity in education in the state. Maintaining that Koraput has been a backward region as far as education is concerned, Mr Patnaik said that besides 500 acres of land, the proposed site has water, power, road and rail connectivity.
"The Jeypore airstrip is just 30 km away from Koraput," the CM pointed out. "The Union government should send a technical team and start the university work soon," Mr Patnaik suggested.
He also put emphasis on the early set up of the IIT. The state government has identified 500 acres of land for this purpose and can make available more land. Assuring that the state government would provide all sorts of required support, the chief minister urged for early start of construction work.
August 6th, 2008
- Ajay Binay Institute of Technology Cuttack (ABT) Pvt.
- Apex Institute of Technology & Management, Pahal Bhubaneshwar (APT) Pvt.
- Bhubaneswar Engineering College Khurda (BEC) Pvt.
- BRM International Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (BII) Pvt.
- C. V. Raman College of Engineering Bhubaneswar (CVR) Pvt.
- Central Institute of Plastics Engineering And Technology Bhubaneswar (CPT) Govt.
- Centurian Institute of Technology Khurda (CIK) Pvt.
- College of Engineering & Technology Bhubaneswar (CET) Govt.
- College of Engineering Bhubaneswar Bhubaneshwar (CEB) Pvt.
- Dhaneswar Rath Institute of Engineering and Management Studies Tangi, Cuttack (DRM) Pvt.
- Eastern Academy of Science & Technology Phulnakhara, Khurda (EAS) Pvt.
- Gandhi Engineering College Bhubaneswar (GEC) Pvt.
- Gandhi Institute for Technology Bhubaneswar (GIF) Pvt.
- Gandhi Institute of Technological Advancement Badaraghunathpur, Bhubaneswar (GIB) Pvt.
- Gandhi Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (GIK) Pvt.
- Ghanashyama Hemalata Institute of Technology & Management Chhaitana Puri (GHT) 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.
- Indus College of Engg. Bhubaneswar (IDU) Pvt.
- Jagannath Institute of Engineering & Technology Cuttack (JIC) Pvt.
- Konark Institute of Science & Technology Jatni,Bhubaneswar (KIS) Pvt.
- Koustav Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (KIT) Pvt.
- Koustuva Institute of Self Domain (for Women) Bhubaneswar (KID) Pvt.
- Krupajala Engineering College Pubasasan, Bhubaneswar (KEC) Pvt.
- Maharaja Institute of Technology,Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (MIK) Pvt.
- Mahavir Institute of Engineering and Technology Paniora, Bhubaneswar (MIB) Pvt.
- Modern Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (MIM) Pvt.
- Nalanda Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (NIT) Pvt.
- NM Institute of Engineering & Technology Sijua, Bhubaneswar (NMI) Pvt.
- Orissa Engineering College Nijigarhkurki, Bhubaneswar (OEC) Pvt.
- Rajdhani Engineering College Bhubaneswar (REC) Pvt.
- Silicon Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (SIT) Pvt.
- Subas Institute of Technology Gyana Vihar, Barang, Bhubaneswar 754 005 Orissa
- Synergy Institute of Engineering and Technology Dhenkanal (SYN) Pvt.
- TempleCity Institute of Technology & Engineering Khurda (TCT) Pvt.
- The Techno School Bhubaneswar (TTS) Pvt.
- Trident Academy of Technology Bhubaneswar (TAT) Pvt.
- Agricultural Engineering at OUAT, Bhubaneswar
- KIIT Bhubaneswar
- ITER Bhubaneswar
- IIIT Bhubaneswar
- IIT Bhubaneswar
Following are some that are in the pipeline and most likely to start in 2009.
- School of Engineering at the proposed World Class Central University
- HI – Tech College of Engineering, Rasulgarh, Pandara, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
- International Institute of Engineering & Technology (IIET) 290 Bhatkhuri, Gangapada, Bhubaneswar 752 054 Orissa
- SRM College of Engineering At Giringaput, P.O. Mendhasala, Orissa
- PJ College of Management & Technology At Kesora, P.O. Bankual, Bhubaneswar 751 002 Orissa
- KMBB College of Engineering & Technology At Mahatpalla, Tahasil Khurda Orissa
- Pan Institute of Technology, Knowledge City Unit – 7, Bhubaneswar 751 003 Orissa
- Vivekananda Institute of Technology At Chhatabar, P.O. Dandi, Chhatabar P.S. Chandaka, Bhubaneswar Orissa
- Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) At Harapur, P. O. Janla District : Khurda, Pin 752 054 Orissa
- Pioneer Institute of Technology Village : Ambilijhari Mouza : Machhapangi, PS Choudwar, District : Cuttack Orissa
- MITS College of Engineering Mouza: Alkar At P.O. Janla, Bhubaneswar 751016 Orissa
August 3rd, 2008
