Odisha HRD

NISER will be a world class deemed university: Samaja and others

2 comments September 12th, 2007

Outlook-Cfore business school rankings

Outlook has an article on it and its detailed ranking will be available later. However, MBAuniverse.com has published the ranking from 1-20 with its own analysis.  The rankings are: IIMA, IIMB, IIMC, IIML, XLRI, MDI, SPJ, NITIE Mumbai, IIM I, NMIMS, IMT Ghaziabad, IIM K, IIFT Delhi, ICFAI, XIM, SJSOM, IMI Delhi, IRMA Anand, TA Pai, Symbiosis Pune. XIM Bhubaneswar’s ranking, as per Outlook-Cfore calculations, has gone up from 16 last year to 15 this year.

September 10th, 2007

More details on the NITER proposal

More details are emerging on the NITER proposal. It seems it is only an Orissa govt. proposal. So it is far away from happening.  At this point Orissa govt. should focus on getting one of the new IITs and should pursue NITER only after it gets an IIT. Following is a report on this from Samaja. (New Indian Express also has a report on it.)

2 comments September 10th, 2007

A collocated NITER with NISER?

Following is from Pragativadi. (Thanks to Purna babu for the pointer.) I hope this news is true and not some gossip by a govt. official. If it is true, I hope it happens in addition to an IIT.

September 8th, 2007

Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology in Raebareli

A PIB reports on the setting up of this institute at a cost of 435 crores and when set up this institute will have B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D programs and will get the status of an Institute of National Importance.

Considering the number of steel plants in Orissa, the Orissa government should at the opportune moment push to make BPNSI (Biju Patnaik National Steel Institute) of similar status.

42 comments September 7th, 2007

Telegraph reports on the status of an AIIMS clone in Bhubaneswar

Following are some excerpts from that report. (Thanks to Deba Nayak for the pointer.)

The Union government would soon start construction of the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) near Bhubaneswar from December 2007.

The proposed regional centre of the AIIMS has been postponed for the past four years. Last year, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) put the Bhubaneswar-AIIMS on fast track by making budgetary allocations under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). Official sources said a sum of Rs 330 crore has been so far sanctioned.

Replying to a query put by BJD MP Prasanna Patsani today, the Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, said the construction would begin from December. “He assured me that work on the AIIMS college would begin in April 2008,” Patsani told The Telegraph. …  According to an initial estimate, a sum of Rs 280 crore would be spent on the establishment of the Bhubaneswar AIIMS. In the first phase, three departments — cardiology and cardio-thoracic, nephrology and urology and cancer centre — would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 133 crore.

A two-storied modular building was proposed on the 100-acre site to house four operation theatres, out patient departments, diagnostic block and in patient wards. The diagnostic unit was to be equipped with sophisticated equipment such as CT scan, MRI, X-ray machines, electro-encephalogram and electro-cardiogram.

September 7th, 2007

NISER Bhubaneswar gets cabinet approval

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31005.

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for establishment of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Bhubaneswar at an estimated cost of Rs. 823.19 crore and also creation of 761 posts in academic, scientific, technical, administrative and auxiliary categories.

NISER will start functioning initially from the campus of Institute of Physics (IOP) and its academic programme will start from September, 2007.

The said institute will conduct the following programmes in science education for bright and meritorious students selected on all-India basis :

a) An integrtated 5 year M.Sc. programme in the core and emerging branches of Basic Sciences to students after their 10+2 Higher Secondary schooling. This in turn will be integrated with Ph.D. programme on the one hand and employment in various R&D organizations and industry in the country on the other.

b) Integrated m.Sc. + Ph.D after B.Sc from other Universities.

c) Ph. D. programme after M.Sc. from other universities.

(The PIB for the cabinet approval of IISER Kolkata and Pune is here.)

September 7th, 2007

Urgent important information and instruction from NISER, Bhubaneswar

The following is from http://www.iopb.res.in/niser/important.html.

All the students selected for admission to NISER are requested to reach Bhubaneswar positively on 9th September 2007. They will be provided temporary accommodaion within Institute of Physics campus. Accompanying parents/ guardians will also be provided accommodation within the campus.

Please note that there will be general strike on 10th September 2007. However, work within the IOP campus, both for NISER admission and inauguration of NISER Academic Programme will be held on 10th September 2007 as announced earlier.

The Orientation classes will be held on 11th Sept. 2007 followed by medical examination by Institute Doctor.

Regular classes will start on 12.09.2007 at 08:00 Hrs.

Break-up of charges to be paid at the time of admission to NISER

List of materials to be carried by the student for staying in the hostel

Students will be provided a cot with mattress and pillow, one study table with chair and one medium sized almirah for storage. They should bring their own linen, pillow cover, towel, mosquito-net, curtain, bucket, glass etc. for their own use.

1 comment September 4th, 2007

AIIMS like institutions facing problem in attracting contractors

Following are excerpts from a Business Standard report. (Thanks to Anand Shah for the pointer.)

Even as engineering and construction firms are actively partnering private players in setting up medi-cities and super-speciality hospitals, a key initiative aimed at setting up six AIIMS-like hospitals and upgrading 13 facilities is finding few takers.

The initiative is part of the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), announced in 2005. The projects, with a total outlay of over Rs 3,500 crore, are scheduled to be completed by 2010.

Few developers have responded to the tenders for setting up six hospitals modelled on AIIMS and upgrading 13 medical colleges.

Health ministry officials said the poor response from the private sector for these projects, each worth Rs 50-100 crore, was unfortunate and needed to be seriously analysed.

"The construction boom has thrown open more projects that one can handle. We will have to market our projects well for a good response," said a ministry official.

… The tender inviting private firms to develop housing facilities for the six AIIMS-like institutions has received very few responses, forcing the government to think of floating a second tender. The tender for preparing a detailed project report (DPR), expected to close on September 24, is expected to get a similar response.

Project consultants in the healthcare segment say the government should relax the tender norms. "The archaic norms that keep most well-established players out of the tender process should be kept aside," said a consultant.

…  The apathy of turnkey consultancy and construction firms is known to be a direct result of ?hassle-free? business opportunities in the nationwide real estate boom.

The lack of response has been plaguing the project from the very beginning. It took two tenders and more than a year for the ministry to finalise the consultants for the project. The stringent quality parameters, which kept out most potential bidders, are known to be one of the reasons for the poor response.

The project, which envisages AIIMS-like institutes in Bhopal, Bhubhaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh, received the Planning Commission’s nod in the 10th Plan. The work was to begin in the 10th Plan period itself. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the project in March 2006.

… Any delay in the execution of the project will raise serious doubts about the government?s capability to add healthcare beds on time.

September 3rd, 2007

Progress on the AIIMS-like institutes, including the one proposed for Bhubaneswar

Following are excerpts from the current content at http://www.mohfw.nic.in/EoI_FOR_PC.htm.

…
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW),Government of India, intends to set up AIIMS like Apex Healthcare Institutes one each at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh. The institutes are being set up in approximately 100 acre land already made available by State Government.

These apex institutes have been envisaged as Centers of Excellence with 500 bedded hospital, 300 additional Super-specialty and ICU beds, an independent 100 beds for Trauma Care, 30 beds each for PMR and  AYUSH  Facilities. These Institutes will provide undergraduate and post graduate medical education and medical services in 39 specialty /super-specialty disciplines. The activities of the institutes will focus on providing the highest quality of patient care services, medical education and engage in biomedical research.

HLL has been appointed ‘In-house Consultant’ by MoH&FW for implementing the project. The Project is being envisaged as Hospital and College Complex and Hostel and Residential Complex. Land at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh are contiguous for the entire project while at Patna and Raipur Residential Complex are being located separately. Site Survey, Sub-Soil Investigation and Zoning plan have been completed for all the sites. Area has also been earmarked and boundary wall have been constructed.

Hospital and College Complex. The RFP Document for Design and Detailed Project Report (DDPR) has been issued to short listed firms. The DDPR Consultant is likely to be selected for each site by Nov, 2007.

Residential and Hostel Complex.  The Complex is being developed by EPC Developer on turnkey basis and Contractor for each site is likely to be selected by Sep 2007.

Hospital Furniture and Medical Equipment. The client has already constituted a committee to finalize the requirement of Hospital furniture and medical equipments. The project consultant will be required to be associated in supervision, installation and commissioning of equipment and furniture as per delivery schedule till final handing over to the hospital authorities.

The approximate cost of works per institute  for hospital and college complex is Rs 125.00 Crore.
…

The proposal named PRADHAN MANTRI SWASTHYA SURAKSHA YOJNA (PMSSY) has been launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India to offer Speciality and Super-speciality medical care and to improve the quality of medical education by creating six AIIMS like apex healthcare Institutes at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur & Rishikesh in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand respectively.

• The proposed Institutes shall have state-of-the-art multi-specialty /super-specialty facilities with captive hospital, medical college with annual intake of 100 undergraduates and P.G/Doctoral courses in various Specialty/Super-specialty disciplines based on Medical Council of India (MCI) norms, requisite infrastructures, nursing college, hostels and housing complexes.  The AIIMS like Institutes would be centre of excellence and completely autonomous on the line of IITs/IIMs. These Institutes would be run and managed by Government of India.
•  These Institutes will participate in providing national leadership in the education of physicians and medical scientists, biomedical research and in the application of sophisticated medical technology to patient care. The activities of the Institutes will focus on providing the highest quality patient care services, medical education and in advancing biomedical research.
• Hospital facilities in India attract very large crowds .The facilities being created are to be used by the poorest population of the country. It is envisaged that these facilities would be holistic in nature, economical to build, respond to the local environment and climatic conditions and create an environment which is user friendly.
• The objectives of project development are Modular Pattern of development, ability to expand to meet future needs, be energy efficient in use of Water, Power and other scarce resources. Air-conditioned areas would be limited to essential services of the hospital functioning.
• Service needs of these facilities plays an important part in the development of the facility. Thus building services, mechanical systems, materials of Construction and movement systems for waste management etc form a major component of these facilities.
• The Institutes have been envisaged as centres of excellence for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, nursing education and medical services and are to be trendsetter in health research and advancement of medical sciences in India. The Institutes will provide educational facilities of very high quality comparable to the very best in the world for necessary medical manpower development.
• The Institutes will train medical graduates, post-graduates with international levels of quality and efficiency in health care delivery.  The Institutes will implement new approaches for medical education. They will provide best facilities for postgraduate studies and research.
• The Institutes, with state-of-the-art high-tech medical equipment, will offer diagnostic and therapeutic care in clearly identified specialty and super-specialty services. The Institutes will also conduct health research, both basic and applied.
• The Institutes shall consists of :-
  •       500 Beds hospital providing Medical treatment in 18 Specialty disciplines
  •       300 beds in 15 Super-Specialty discipline.
  •       50 beds in ICU and critical care
  •       50 beds Trauma ICU expandable to 100 beds and 50 bedded Recovery cum Rehabilitation Unit to be constructed at a later date.
  •       30 beds for PMR (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
  •       30 beds  for AYUSH Facilities
  •       6 Basic Science Department
  •       Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation Centre.
  •        State of the  art Diagnostic Centre to be constructed later
  •       Medical College with 100 intake capacity per year and PG/Doctoral courses in various discipline with admission based on MCI norms.
  •       Nursing College with annual intake of 60 students.

•    Residential Facilities shall come up as under
  • Housing for 167 Staff from Type I to V  and Director’s Bungalow
  • Hostel for UG for 375 Occupants
  • Hostel for PG and Interns 216 Occupants
  • Hostel for Residents 190 Occupants
  • Hostel for Nurses 200 Occupants

Bed Distributions:

SPECIALTIES	Beds
Surgical & Allied Specialties	220
General Surgery	120
Orthopaedics	60
Ophthalmology	20
Oto-rhinolaryngology	20
Medicine & Allied Specialties	220
General Medicine	120
Paediatrics	60
TB & Respiratory Diseases	20
Dermatology & STD	10
Psychiatry	10
Obstetrics & Gynaecology	60
Obstetrics	35
Post-partum	5
Gynaecology	20
TOTAL	500

 

The Institute shall also have the following super-specialty departments with the bed distribution as indicated below:

 

SUPERSPECIALTIES	Beds
Cardiology	20
Cardio-thoracic Vascular Surgery	20
Gastro-enter logy	20
Surgical Gastro-enter logy	20
Nephrology	20
Urology	20
Neurology	20
Neurosurgery	20
Medical Oncology	20
Surgical Oncology	20
Endocrinology/Metabolism	20
Clinical Haematology	20
Paediatric Surgery	20
Burns & Plastic Surgery	20
Pulmonary Medicine	20
TOTAL	300
Intensive Care Unit and Critical Care	50

 Two additional divisions are also to be integrated to the Institute

AYUSH Facilities	30
PMR DEPARTMENT	30

1 comment September 3rd, 2007

NISER Bhubaneswar list of successful candidates and admission information

The following is from the NISER web pages, particularly from this page.

General information regarding admission

Admission and registration to NISER is scheduled on 10th Sept. 2007 at 10 a.m. The inauguration of the academic programme of NISER will be held at 5 p.m. on 10Sept. 2007. Students have been allotted the stream of their first choice provisionally. The final allotment of streams will be done at the end of the first year based on their overall academic performance in semester I and semester II. Students will receive scholarship at the rate of Rs. 3,000/-per month.
All the students will have to register for all the courses which are to be credited by all the entrants to NISER’s 5-year integrated M.Sc. programme. The details of course descriptions are being posted in the webpage of NISER.

All the students are required to bring with them at the time of admission the originals of the following documents:

                    (a) Class X and Class XII Mark Sheets,

                    (b) Class X certificate,

                    (c) Caste / Tribe certificate (in case of SC/ST candidates).

In addition they should also bring four passport size photographs and two stamp size photographs and a Demand Draft for Rs. 13,000/= (Rs. 7,000/-for SC/ST students) towards payment of tuition fee, caution money and mess advance. The DD should be drawn in favour of NISER, payable at Bhubaneswar.

The selected students are required to deposit tuition fee and other charges latest by September 14, 2007 failing which they will forfeit their seat in NISER.
Hostel accommodation
All the students will be provided hostel accommodation. They are expected to register for the hostel accommodation at the time of admission. Details about the availability of hostel accommodation for boys and girls will be posted on the web soon.

5 comments September 3rd, 2007

NISER in Rajya Sabha

Following is from a PIB report about NISER, Bhubaneswar.

In a Writ Petition (C) No. 10836 of 2005, the Government has submitted before the High Court of Orissa that the Government is taking follow up action for implementation of the announcement made by the Prime Minister on 28.8.2006 regarding setting up of a National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Bhubaneswar under the Department of Atomic Energy and that it is proposed to start the academic session from August, 2007. Taking cognizance of this, the Orissa High Court has disposed of the Writ Petition with a direction to the Government to ensure that the NISER is established at Bhubaneswar pursuant to the decision of the Government of India.

The Department of Atomic Energy has informed that 300 acres of land has been allotted by the government of Orissa for setting up of NISER. NISER has been registered under the Societies Registration Act and infrastructural facilities are being put in place. In addition, for admission to NISER, an NISER Entrance Screening Test (NEST) followed by interview has been conducted and admission will commence on 10th September, 2007.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri M.A.A.Fatmi in a written reply to a question raised by Ms. Pramila Bohidar and Shri B.J. Panda in Rajya Sabha today.  

August 29th, 2007

PGDM in International Business at IITTM Bhubaneswar

August 19th, 2007

India produces 40 PhDs in Computer Science/yr to US’s 1400/yr and China’s 3000/yr

Dr. R. K. Ghosh pointed us to a Forbes article by the Editor in Chief of JACM. Following is an excerpt from it.

The U.S. produces about 1,400 Ph.D.s in computer science annually and China about 3,000. By stark comparison, India’s annual computer science Ph.D. production languishes at roughly 40. That number is about the same as that for Israel, a nation with roughly 5% of India’s population size.

While India needs all the new IITs, IIITs and Central Universities that the PM announced during his Aug 15 speech, one wonders where from these institutions will get Ph.Ds for their faculty. The government and the IT industry must brainstorm together and come up with a strategy to tackle this. Following are some initial un-coordinated half-baked thoughts.

• Start motivating good students from an early age about the value of research. This can be done through science magnet schools.
• In IITs and IISc and may be a few other selected institutions have a track similar to MD/PH.D tracks in US medical schools. Students in this track would pursue a B.Tech-P.hD program (no need for MS) and would be given a generous stipends.
• To allow more time for IIT/IISc faculty to pursue research and guide Ph.D students these institutions (especially their CS depts.) should take in more M.Tech students and let them do most of the teaching.
• Government should open special graduate centers in IT/Computer Science (may be as branches of exisiting IITs) that only focus on research. For example, the IIT Kharagpur center in Bhubaneswar may house a faculty of 5-10 CS  professors and offer *only* a Ph.D program in computer science. Such centers may have affiliated faculty (who have Ph.Ds) from nearby engineering colleges. Such centers should be slowly opened in every metropolitan area with 15+ engineering colleges.  (The IIITs could have served this purpose but it seems most IIITs are focusing on undergraduate education. Exceptions are IIIT Hyderabad, which has a good research program; IIIT Bangalore which only offers M.Tech and Ph.D and the nascent IIIT Bhubaneswar which will also only have M.Tech and Ph.D program, at least in the beginning. )
• Government needs to offer better salary and perks to professors so that more students are attracted to a career in academia.

82 comments August 17th, 2007

IMA’s Masters program in Computational Finance

1 comment August 16th, 2007

Analyzing the educational aspect of the PM’s independence day speech and its implication to Orissa

The PM’s independence day speech will be remembered for a long time for its groundbreaking educational steps. Here, we analyze them vis-a-vis Orissa.

• K-12
  • "We will support 6,000 new high quality schools — one in every block of the country"   [Orissa has 314 blocks. Currently the central govt has three kinds of schools: Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Ekalabya Vidyalayas. My guess is these will be Navodaya Vidyalayas. Until now, Navodaya Vidyalayas were being made one per district. Extending it to one per block will do wonders.]
• Higher education
  • "We will also ensure that adequate numbers of colleges are set up across the country, especially in districts where enrollment levels are low. We will help States set up colleges in 370 such districts."  [Orissa has 30 districts. As per the NSSO study of 2004-2005, Table 3.14.1 shows that in the 15-19 age group 29% people in Orissa are attending school/college and in the 20-24 age group this number for Orissa is 6.1%. (Both numbers are lowest among all but the small states/UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.) For the Scheduled Tribe population these numbers are 17.1% for the 15-19 age group and 4.1% for the 20-24 age group.]
  • "We will set up thirty new Central Universities. Every state that does not have a central university will now have one." [Orissa does not have one so it should get one. But considering that there are 23 other existing central universities, making it a total of 53 central universities, Orissa should get two.]
  • "we are setting up five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research" [The five IISERs are at Pune, Kolkata, Mohali, Bhopal, and Trivendrum. A NISER is being set up in Bhubaneswar.]
  • "eight new Indian Institutes of Technology" [Three of these IITs are announced to be in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Orissa should get one of the other five IITs.]
  • "seven new Indian Institutes of Management" [Announcements have been made with respect to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Shillong. If Orissa gets a new IIT then its chance of getting a new IIM this round is much less. Orissa should try though.]
  • "twenty new Indian Institutes of Information Technology." [There will be one in each main states, including Orissa, which does not have one. Existing ones are at Allahabad, Amethi, Jabalpur, and Gwalior and a new one is being established at Kanchipuram. ]
• Vocational Education
  • "We will soon launch a Mission on Vocational Education and Skill Development, through which we will open 1600 new industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics, 10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new Skill Development Centres."
  • "We will ensure that annually, over 100 lakh students get vocational training – which is a four-fold increase from today’s level."
• More scholarships
  • "We should seek not just functional literacy, but good quality education – education that is affordable, accessible, equitable – and available to every boy and girl who seeks to study. For the needy we will provide more scholarships."

5 comments August 16th, 2007