Odisha HRD

News on the other new IITs: IIT Gandhinagar to start Computer Science and Civil Engineering next year

Update2 (Aug 20, 2008): IIT Hyderabad classes to start today – New Indian Express. See also this TOI report.

Update1 (Aug 11, 2008): This Telegraph report talks about IIT Roopnagar (Punjab) and other new IITs.

As we mentioned earlier, registration at IIT Bhubaneswar was held on July 23rd with 104 students and classes started soon after that. Following is what has been reported about the other new IITs.

IIT Gandhinagar:

Following is an excerpt from a news report in ThaiIndian.

The new institute is short of faculty and the recruitment process is on. Until this process is over, seven professors and five research assistants from IIT Bombay have been requisitioned for it.

U.A. Yagnik, who teaches physics at IIT Bombay, has been appointed dean of student affairs and academic programme at the new institute.

The first batch has 103 students from different parts of the country, studying in the mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering streams.

In the next academic year B.Tech. courses in civil and computer sciences would be included.

The Gujarat government has spent Rs.7 million for upgrading the infrastructure of the engineering college to make it compatible to the IIT standards.

The central government’s site selection committee headed by Human Resource Development Ministry’s Additional Secretary Ashok Thakur is expected to inspect the new site for the proposed permanent campus Aug 7. 

IIT Rajasthan:

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

IIT Rajasthan opens with 112 students

the IIT Rajasthan was inaugurated Saturday (August 2nd)  by Minister of State for Higher Education D. Purandeswari.

IIT Patna:

Following is  an excerpt from another report in Economic Times.

Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh is scheduled to inaugurate IIT Patna here on Aug 6. The institute will operate out of a temporary campus this year.

"The formal functioning of IIT Patna is all set to start with classes on Aug 7," said dean of IIT Patna Samrendra Dandpat.

IIT Patna is one of the six new IITs being set up in the country.

Dandpat said here on Saturday that all the 109 selected students would attend classes from next week. "We will register the selected students on Aug 6 and classes will begin from next day," he said.

Dandpat said that preparation for setting up laboratories, hostels and classrooms were in the final stage. " IIT Patna will function from the polytechnic premises here now," he added.

There has not been any recent news on IIT Punjab and IIT Hyderabad, especially when they will start.

1 comment August 2nd, 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

Nominations invited for new IIT directors

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pragativadi.

The Centre is in the lookout for for the eight new premier institutes of technology (IITs), six of which are set to start in the current academic session and the remaining from 2009-10.

The eight new IITs which are coming up in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

The Union Cabinet recently approved establishment of eight new IITs with an estimated cost of Rs 6,080 crore.

The government had also approved creation of 30 faculty posts per year in the first three years of  establishment of each of the new IITs, besides approving posts of a director and registrar. The directors, as per the public notice issued by the ministry, would be appointed after obtaining the approval of competent authority, based on the recommendations of the search-cum-selection committees.  …

The aspirants for the post of directors can send their applications directly to the ministry, while the eminent persons can also nominate candidates and send their recommendations to the selection committee.
Even bureaucrats and officials of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) with requisite experience and qualification can apply for the post of directors through official channel, the notice said.

July 28th, 2008

104 students get admitted to IIT Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Over 100 civil, electrical and mechanical engineering students of IIT Bhubaneswar will start their classes on the IIT Kharagpur campus.

The Bhubaneswar institute is one of the six IITs opening this year, but a site for the institute has not yet been finalised in the Orissa capital.

“The Centre has asked us to do the hand-holding. We will hold their classes on our campus till the IIT Bhubaneswar campus is ready,” said Damodar Acharya, the IIT Kharagpur director who is the acting head of the Bhubaneswar institute.

…  We have the facilities to accommodate all the 104 (Bhubaneswar) students. We did not want to arrange for separate classes or laboratories for them, like the other IITs, as we wanted them to be exposed to the world-class facilities available here,” Acharya told a news conference today.

These students will, however, get their degrees from Bhubaneswar.

“We have chosen a few sites for the IIT,” said Orissa industries minister Biswa Bhusan Harichandan.

According to the Centre’s specifications, 600 to 1,000 acres are required to set up an IIT. The site should also be close to an airport, railway station and national highway. Besides, two million gallons of water should be available every day.

Last month, a two-member team from IIT Kharagpur inspected a few sites in and around Bhubaneswar.

A senior official of the Orissa industries department said a 900-acre plot near Banki, 62km from Bhubaneswar airport and close to the Mahanadi, was judged the most suitable site.

Acharya said the government would allot 40 faculty members for the additional students.

On a related note there is an excellent article about recruiting faculty for the new IITs by Prof. Pankaj Jalote of IIT Delhi. Prof. Abinandan adds to it in his blog post.

2 comments July 24th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar first year students status at IIT Kharagpur

As per the details at http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/welcome.php the IIT Bhubaneswar students will be staying mostly in MMM Hall (females in MT Hall). MMM Hall is the largest hostel at IIT Kharagpur and it will also house IIT Kharagpur students.

For classes the 100+ IIT bhubaneswar students will be divided into all the 12 sections; so they will have their section mates as IIT Kharagpur students.

July 22nd, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar first off the block

As the readers know eight new IITs are being established in India. They are: IIT Bhubaneswar (mentored by IIT Kharagpur), IIT Hyderabad (mentored by IIT Madras), IIT Rajasthan (mentored by IIT Kanpur), IIT Bihar (mentored by IIT Guwahati), IIT Punjab (Mentored by IIT Delhi), IIT Gandhinagar (mentored by IIT Bombay),  IIT Himachal Pradesh (mentored by IIT Roorkee) and IIT Indore (mentored by IIT Bombay). Of these the first six will start classes this year.

The following news mentions that of the six that will start classes this year, admission to IIT Bhubaneswar will start on July 23rd and classes will start immediately after that, while admission to the other IITs will start next month. (Note that classes  at IITs start immediately after admission.) Big thanks to the mentor institution IIT Kharagpur for this. This action is in line with our arguments on advantages of IIT Bhubaneswar over the other new IITs. Following is an excerpt on this from a news item in Economic Times.

Admission to the Bhubaneswar IIT, which is among the six new ones to come up this year, will begin on July 23 at the Kharagpur IIT here, sources said.

120 students will get admission to the new IIT this year and Kharagpur IIT director Damodar Acharya will be its coordinator, they said.

Faculty will be exchanged between the two IITs as and when required and all cooperation and academic support will be extended by the Kharagpur IIT, which is the nearest, in the initial stages, the sources said.

Admission to the rest of the five new IITs would begin next month.

Following is an excerpt from Pioneer’s report on this.

"We will ensure that from day one students feel they are studying in an IIT," Professor Acharya said. The IIT Orissa was also registered under the Society Registration Act in the office of IG in Cuttack on Saturday.

1 comment July 19th, 2008

Cabinet approval of the new IITs

Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=40469.

Cabinet has today approved the setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and at Indore in Madhya Pradesh at a total cost of Rs. 6080 crores (@ Rs. 760 crores per IIT) for 6 years period, and consequently approval for forming of Societies for creating legal entities for the new IITs. Academic sessions are going to commence in 6 new IITs starting from 23.7.2008. The IITs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat are going to commence their classes for about 120 students each for B.Tech programmes through temporary campuses located near the place where the IIT campus is likely to be built. These 3 IITs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat are going to be mentored by the IITs of Madras, Guwahati and Bombay, respectively. The three IITs of Rajasthan, Punjab and Orissa are going to commence their classes in the campuses of their mentor IITs at IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur, respectively.

The Cabinet has also approved the creation of 30 faculty posts per year in the first three years of establishment of each of the new IITs and have also specifically approved the post of a Director in each of the new IITs in the grade of Rs. 26,000 (fixed) and a post of Registrar in the grade of Rs. 16,400-22,400 for each of the new IITs. The Cabinet has also decided to raise the grade of all existing IIT Directors from Rs. 25,000 (fixed) to Rs. 26,000 (fixed).

The balance of two IITs at Indore in Madhya Pradesh and the IIT in Himachal Pradesh are likely to commence their sessions from the next academic year of 2009-10. All the State Governments have identified about 600 acres of land for the location of the new IITs. In case of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, Govt. have accepted the site recommended by the State Govt. and in the rest of the cases, the Site Selection Committee will inspect the offered sites in due course and will give its recommendations to the Ministry.

With a view to ensure good effective coordination as well as maintenance of excellence in the new IITs also, pending selection of regular Directors for the IITs, it has been decided that the Directors of the mentor IITs will work as Directors of the mentored IIT and the Chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the mentor IIT will also be the Chairman of the BoG of the mentored IIT.

With the creation of new IITs, high quality technical education will become accessible to more bright students as now hardly two percent of about three lakhs students who appear in the Joint Entrance Exam of IITs can get admission in them. The new IITs will also facilitate the increased output of high quality Engineering and Science graduates, postgraduates and Ph.D.s; Teachers for Engineering and Science subjects at College/University level and R&D and Intellectual Property generation in Engineering and Science.

Cabinet also approved in principle approval for taking over the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University – a constituent unit of the Banaras Hindu University, a Central University, its conversion into an Indian Institute of Technology and integrating it with the IIT system in the country.

It would also address State/Region specific technology related problems of States/UTs situated in the IITs’ Zones.

July 17th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar classes to start at the same time as IIT Kharagpur classes

Following is an edited version of a mail sent by Prof. D K Tripathy, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Kharagpur

From: dkt
Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Subject: Re: admission to iit bhubaneswar
To: Chitta Baral

Dear Prof.Baral
Thanks. Nothing to worry. Classes are starting with IIT Kgp Students same time at IIT Kgp. Yesterday I have signed the welcome letter to IIT Bhubaneswar Students.All letters are despatched yesterday. Thanks for your concern. We too want to do our best.
With regards

Prof Deba Kumar Tripathy,
Dean Student Affairs and
Professor Production Engineering
Rubber Technology Centre,
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur 721302 WB

In light of of the way the other mentor IITs are treating their mentee IITs it is great that IIT Bhubaneswar is mentored by IIT Kharagpur.

2 comments July 9th, 2008

New IITs at the mercy of their mentors. Will IIT Kharagpur do the right thing for IIT Bhubaneswar?

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Telegraph.

The existing IITs that are handholding the new ones as “mentors” asked the Centre to postpone the launch of these institutes at a meeting yesterday. The government has agreed.

The three new institutes in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat — to be mentored by the IITs in Chennai, Guwahati and Mumbai respectively — will now open in August, or even later, instead of this month. They had earlier been scheduled to start classes at the same time as their mentor institutes in July.

Even when they open, these three will start classes on temporary campuses near their state capitals, using rented infrastructure, the sources said. “It’s impossible to start our own academic session and the classes at the new institutes at the same time,” an IIT director said.

“Since no faculty has been hired for them, our teachers would then have to go and teach at the new venues. The new IITs can only start once we have hired their faculty.”

The decision came at a meeting between the directors of the seven existing IITs and the human resource development (HRD) ministry in Delhi yesterday, the sources said. The directors asked the ministry to speed up the paperwork for the establishment of the new institutes.

“They don’t have even their own insignia or letter pad, and we are expected to start classes! Till they are registered, we can’t even hire teachers or issue call letters to the students,” another director said.

The ministry may approach the registrar of societies next week, sources said.

“We will try and register the institutes as soon as possible,” a senior ministry official said, admitting that bureaucratic lethargy was at fault.

Although registration will allow the new IITs to hold classes, the Centre needs to amend the IIT Act to formally recognise the degrees they would offer. A cabinet note seeking the amendment has been circulated among the ministries.

Classes for the students admitted to the three other new IITs — in Punjab, Orissa and Rajasthan — may also be delayed. Their classes are to be held at their mentor institutes in Delhi, Kharagpur and Kanpur this year.

“Our faculty members’ workload will increase,” a senior IIT Kharagpur official said, adding that no formal decision had yet been taken to delay the classes for the Orissa institute’s students.

Plans to launch an IIT in Himachal Pradesh this year were aborted after IIT Roorkee, its mentor, threw up its hands.

1 comment July 7th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar exact site not quite decided

Earlier reports had indicated that the site will be near Banki. But it seems that it is still not fully decided. I guess until the central government gives its seal of approval it won’t be decided. Most likely the central government will approve the site IIT Kharagpur (mentor institution) approves. But which is that site? The following Sambada and Samaja reports display this confusion.

June 22nd, 2008

Universities and university like institutes in and around Bhubaneswar: a map

Update: The IIT site has been changed. So the new map is as follows:

Old map:

1 comment June 20th, 2008

Pioneer reports on IIT Bhubaneswar Website

(Update: New Indian Express also reports on it.)

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

Friends and well-wishers have developed a comprehensive website for IIT Bhubaneswar. The website, http://iitbbsr.net, talks about advantages of IIT Bhubaneswar over other new IITs. It includes a section of frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Among the advantages of IIT Bhubaneswar is the fact that the first year classes will be held at IIT Kharagpur. And the students will be living with IIT Kharagpur students in the same hostels and taking classes taught by the faculty of the institute. Thus, these students will have a firsthand experience of an established IIT and will be able to bring the culture and traditions to IIT Bhubaneswar.

The other advantages of IIT Bhubaneswar are that it will be located in a well-connected metropolitan area with a population of 16.36 lakh. This is not too small to lack amenities and not too big to have the problems of big cities such as high crime rate, traffic congestion, power cuts, pollution, water scarcity, and mega slums.

Among the amenities, the IIT will be located right next to the lush green Chandaka-Dampara Elephant Sanctuary and close to the banks of the river Mahanadi. The green environment will provide the IITians plenty of opportunities to interact with the nature and recharge their brains.

At the same time, the students will be close to the malls, a water park, bookshops, museums and other urban facilities of Bhubaneswar. In terms of connectivity, Bhubaneswar is well-linked to the rest of the country by rail (from Amritsar, Hardwar, Goa and Cochin to Guwahati and Dibrugarh), road and air (Indian, Jetlite, Indigo, Kingfisher and Deccan).

But the main advantage of IIT Bhubaneswar will be that it will be driven to excellence by competition and collaboration with other national and premium institutes. The presence of NISER (National institute of Science Education and Research, which is at par with IISER but funded by DAE, proposed world-class Central University and the Rs12,000-crore Vedanta University will be advantageous to them.

It will provide the IITians additional research and management opportunities at XIM (Xaviers institute of Management), AIIMS-like institute, National Law University, Institute of Physics, Institute of Life Sciences, Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Regional Medical Research Centre, Regional Plant Resources Centre, CIFA and CRRI.

In addition, Bhubaneswar houses the country’s major software companies, including Infosys, WIPRO, TCS and Satyam, and is the State’s hub in terms of investment. Finally, the social life and career of the IITians will be complimented by the presence of 30-plus other engineering colleges, seven universities (Utkal, OUAT, Culture, Ravenshaw, KIIT, SOA and Sri Jagannath) and two other upcoming universities (ICFAI and Sri Sri), in the area.

With all these advantages, and the State Government’s extraordinary support, whereby it plans to give 1,000 acres of land to IIT Bhubaneswar, much more than the 500-600 acres that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has suggested, IIT Bhubaneswar is destined to be among the top IITs of the country, feel educationists.

3 comments June 17th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar first batch stduents are likely to have the most IIT like experience (as compared to the students in the other new IITs of IIT Guajrat, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Patna, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Punjab)

I was just talking to one of the Deans at IIT Kharagpur (mentor institution of IIT Bhubaneswar) about the arrangements for the first batch students of IIT Bhubaneswar. He said that as their plan stands now, during the first year

• IIT Bhubaneswar students will be staying in the hostels (called Halls in KGP) together with IIT Kharagpur students
• IIT Bhubaneswar students will be taught by IIT Kharagpur faculty; it will be like adding one (or more) sections to their first batch.
• More on IIT Bhubaneswar at the unofficial IIT Bhubaneswar web site.

In comparison,

• As per IIT Gujarat FAQ, IIT Gujarat students will be having classes at Vishwakarma Government Engineering College at Chandkheda, Gandhinagar – 382424 and thus may not have the chance to know first hand about the customs and culture of an established IIT. 
  • The FAQ has the following to say about the teaching: The Institute is being set up with a lead time of just two months. In spite of that, IIT Bombay has ensured that there is competent and adequate number of faculty to teach the first year, which primarily consists of science and humanities courses. Some of the faculty has been hired directly; some are on the rolls of IIT Bombay while a few are retired but very reputed teachers from IIT Bombay. In the second semester, there is one course known as Departmental Introductory Course. As we are unlikely to have engineering faculty by that time, these courses will be taught by adjunct faculty from nearby Institutes (viz. Dhirubahai Ambani Institute on Information and Communication Technology and D.U. Institute of Petroleum, both of which are headed by former senior faculty of IIT Bombay.) Arrangements have also been made for the drawing and workshop. IIT Bombay is setting up an urgent recruitment process to ensure that quality engineering faculty is there before the second year starts.
• As per IIT Rajasthan website:
  • IIT Rajasthan students will have class in IIT Kanpur for the first one or two semesters.
  • They will be staying separate (in apartments converted to hostel like accommodation) from the IIT Kanpur students.
  • They may be taught by some IIT Kanpur faculty  and scientists (depending on who volunteers) and IIT Kanpur will be trying to recruit new faculty as well as availing the service of some retired faculty.
• IIT Hyderabad will have classes in rented space near their ultimate location.
• IIT Patna. mentored by IIT Guwahati, will start classes in a polytechnique in Patna.
• IIT Punjab will have classes in IIT Delhi.

12 comments June 14th, 2008

Some links on the new IITs

(Thanks to Dheeraj Sanghi for the pointers.)

• The project report of the new IITs (Aug 20, 2006)
• Circular about the 8 new IITs (9th May 2008)
• Press note with JEE 2008 results (May 30, 2008)
• JEE 2008 counseling brochure (June 2008)
• Annexure to the counseling brochure mentioning the six new IITs which may admit students this year (June 2008)

June 14th, 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

An Essay on IIT Bhubaneswar : Why pick it over IIT Patna, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Punjab

Following is from the pages of IIT Bhubaneswar information web site (set up by us well-wishers of IIT Bhubaneswar).

A brand new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is currently being established in Bhubaneswar, the vibrant, modern, capital city of Orissa. It is among the six new IITs that are scheduled to start classes this year. (The others are: IIT Hyderabad, IIT Patna, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Punjab and IIT Gandhinagar.) Bhubaneswar IIT is uniquely placed to become one of India’s top IITs within a decade.

This fledging institution will be the heart of Bhubaneswar, a burgeoning, modern city in eastern India with a population of 16.36 lakhs. It has all the amenities of a world-class metropolis: wide roads, luxury hotels, malls, restaurants, clubs, bookshops, museums, gardens, water parks and fountains. A picturesque city with boulevards, gardens and fountains, Bhubaneswar seems to have it all, minus the traffic, water problems, power cuts and the mega slums that dot most cities of India. It is well connected to the rest of the country by air, rail, and road.

Orissa’s famed temples dot the landscape, and world famous attractions such as UNESCO world heritage site Konark, Puri beach, and Chilika lake and bird sanctuary are only an hour away. Bhubaneswar is one of India’s major tourist hubs with history and geography right by its side. The Rock edicts of Ashoka are at one end of the city in Dhauli, right by the Daya river, while the picturesque Chandaka-Dampara sanctuary, as big as Bhubaneswar itself, lies adjacent on the west bordering the mighty Mahanadi. To the north is the garden of the Gods, Nandankanan, and the Kathjodi river, separating Bhubaneswar from its twin, the millennium city of Cuttack.

With all major Indian software firms such as Infosys, Satyam, TCS, Wipro, Mindtree and Hexaware setting shop here, Bhubaneswar is also the eastern India’s IT hub. It is the East Coast Railway (ECOR) HQ and has headquarters of various private and public sector companies such as Navaratna NALCO, POSCO-India and Dhamara Port Company Ltd. Four major industrial clusters are about 100 kms from Bhubaneswar in each of the four directions: Kalinganagar to the North, Paradeep to the east, Chhatrapur to the South and Angul-Talcher to the west. With Orissa leading the country in investment, bagging 30 percent of the total investment in India in the last quarter (fourth quarter of 2007-08), mainly in the industrial and infrastructure sector, Bhubaneswar is abuzz with optimism.

Yet what sets Bhubaneswar apart is its rise to prominence as India’s foremost knowledge hub. The metropolitan area is already home to Utkal University, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Ravenshaw University, Utkal University of Culture, KIIT Deemed University, Siksha `O’ Anusandhan deemed University, Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), and an International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT). Existing research institutions in the Bhubaneswar metropolitan area include the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Life Sciences, the Institute of Mathematics and Applications, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, the Central Rice Research Institute, the Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture, and the Regional Medical Research Center.

Several national level institutes have recently been established or are being established in Bhubaneswar. Besides IIT Bhubaneswar, they include the National Institute of Science, Education and Research (NISER), which is equivalent to the IISERs but funded by the DAE, and which is currently admitting its second batch of students, an AIIMS-like institute, and a centrally funded World Class Central University (WCCU). At present Bhubaneswar is the only city in India that is scheduled to have an IIT, a science institute (NISER) and a WCCU; a IIIT and an AIIMS-like institute are additional pluses. In addition, the Anil Agarwal foundation is establishing Vedanta University in Puri, which is about 40 kms from the outer edges of Bhubaneswar. It has a budget of $3 Billion (Rs. 12,000 crores) and includes a personal pledged donation of $1 Billion (Rs 4,000 crores) by Mr. Anil Agarwal. Vedanta University is envisioned to be India’s answer to Stanford and Harvard. Other universities that are coming up in the Bhubaneswar area include ICFAI University, Sri Sri University, National Law University and Orissa Open University. At the college level, the Bhubaneswar area has 30+ engineering colleges with another 20+ in the pipeline and four existing medical colleges (SCB, KIIT, SUM, Hi-Tech) with several more in the pipeline.

IIT Bhubaneswar will admit students in three disciplines in 2008: civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. In case one may wonder, why civil engineering, instead of computer science that four of the other new IITs are having, one just needs to think of China and Beijing and imagine how far India has to go in terms of infrastructure development and the role of civil engineers in that development. This interview with Anil Agarwal is illuminating in that respect. (He also talks about his vision of Vedanta University.)

IIT Bhubaneswar students will be housed in IIT Kharagpur for the first year, which will act as the mentoring institution of IIT Bhubaneswar for a period of three years. During their stay these students will gain exposure to the established academic and cultural environment of the largest and oldest IIT, which they will carry home to IIT Bhubaneswar.

The Orissa government is extremely supportive of IIT Bhubaneswar and has committed to provide 1000 acres of land so as to accommodate future growth of this IIT. The 1000 acres is double the 500 acres required by the central government, and double the size of the other new IITs. Thus IIT Bhubaneswar will be the second largest IIT, after IIT Kharagpur. With the inherent advantages in terms of its location in the midst of rivers, forests and sanctuaries; as the heart of a rapidly growing and industrializing city and state; surrounded and to be driven to excellence by the competition from NISER, WCCU and Vedanta University; and a supportive state government that has put Bhubaneswar in the path of making it the knowledge-hub of the country; IIT Bhubaneswar holds the promise of being the best among the new IITs and becoming one of India’s top five IITs within a few years!

10 comments June 6th, 2008