Following is an excerpt from a report in DNA.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) will begin an ‘earn while you learn’ offer for its undergraduate students. …
"Selected students from the second-year batch will be allowed to work for a maximum of eight hours a week during the semester, and 40 hours per week during the vacations.
They will be paid a remuneration of Rs50 to Rs80 per hour. Initially, 25 to 30 students will be selected for the programme," said Jaison Manjaly, assistant professor and faculty coordinator for the programme.
… "The students will be engaged in the library, computer centre, laboratories, general administration, placement services, public relations etc," he said.
… Sudhir Jain, director of IIT-GN, said that … students with a CPI of seven and above will be eligible for participation in the programme.
November 23rd, 2009
Earlier this year Delhi College of Engineering became a state university and changed its name to Delhi Tech University. On November 10th, after 100 days of its completion as a university its VC had the following to report.
The Vice Chancellor informed the gathering that four new undergraduate courses and six new postgraduate courses have been added from 2009-10 in areas of high relevance to the country. "Nano-Science and Technology, VLSI Design, Microwave and Optical Communication, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Power Systems are the areas in which DTU has made a modest yet committed beginning," he said. The University has also forayed into management education this year by establishing ‘Delhi School of Management’ to offer MBA program in innovative areas like knowledge and technology management.
With a view to encourage excellence in education and research, DTU has established an ‘Innovation Fund’ with a seed money of Rs. 10 lakh and has introduced cash awards of Rs. 10,000 for the toppers of each semester, in each discipline and Reward of Rs 10,000 for faculty members who publish research papers in International Journals of High Impact Factor. The University has also recruited about 22 new faculty members at various levels recently.
… The thrust areas of R&D at DTU are going to be Biofuel and Clean Energy Technologies, Future Automobile Solutions, Nano Scale Devices and Photonics, New and Smart Materials, Conducting Polymers, Broadband on Power lines, Info Security and Network Management and Socially Relevant Technologies
Following are some quotes from another article about this.
"The total student strength in DTU will be almost three times of its current student intake in the next five years", the VC says.
The VC also announced the beginning of new programs including dual degree programs and integrated Master’s programs in areas of relevance to our country in Medical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Bio-informatics, Clean Energy and Environment Technology, New and Smart Materials and Nano-Technology.
Speaking to an NNE correspondent, the VC said that DTU’s board of management has already given its nod to construct a multi-storey academic block; a teaching block housing ICT enabled lecture theatres and additional hostel facilities for both boys and girls.
"As a part of our academic and research plan we shall set up transform selected research laboratories as world class test houses cum research centres, establish a knowledge park cum Technology Incubator in DTU campus to foster i2IP, student and faculty led techno-enterprises and facilitate effective industry institution interaction," Prof. Sharma added.
A finishing school in partnership with the industry and alumni to further boost employability of their graduates is also in the wish list of the VC.
A Staff College for Tech faculty development will also be set up in DTU to support the Faculty Development mission.
Following are excerpts from another recent article on this.
In an endeavour to attract the best talent to teaching and research, a leading technology university here has initiated 25 teaching-cum-research fellowships (TRFs), including 20 at the doctoral level and five at the post-doctoral level. …
Each teaching-cum-research fellow will be enrolled for a full-time Ph D. programme and will take 10 hours per week of teaching work at the B.Tech or M.Tech levels, a DTU statement said.
The incumbents will be initially appointed for two years, which will be further extended depending on academic and research performance.
The expenditure involved in the grant of TRFs has been estimated around Rs.60 lakh per annum, the statement said.
The first ordinance of the university relating to B.Tech. courses has already been approved by the government. The ordinance for M.Tech and MBA programmes was approved by the DTU board Saturday.
Highlighting the achievements of the institution during the last three months, DTU Vice Chancellor P.B. Sharma told the board: "Apart from a major R&D tie-up with US aerospace major Lockheed Martin for developing a next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle,the university has entered into a collaboration with the Groupe Des Ecoles Des Mines of France to foster collaboration, provide opportunities for global experience and facilitate advancement of knowledge in the field of engineering."
Overall Delhi plans 6 specialized universities. Following is an excerpt from an article about this.
Titled `Delhi as the knowledge capital’, and jointly organized by the Department of Training and Technical Education, government of NCT of Delhi and Delhi Technological University (DTU), the conference on Wednesday discussed a strategic framework for giving shape to the varsity system. Three out of the six universities are already functional. They include the National Law School University (NLU), IIIT-Delhi and Dr B R Ambedkar University.
"Under the new model of higher education, a number of discipline-focused smaller universities are being set up, which would be managed by a common apex system. The new institutes planned are the University of Science and Technology, University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, and University College of Medical Sciences,” said Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta.
The conference is being seen as a platform for creating a plan of action for the proposed initiatives of the Delhi government. It also discussed the public-private partnership model (PPP) of education where the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) was cited as an instance. In this system, a majority of the affiliated colleges are privately run.
The above has some lessons for Orissa, its VCs and its higher education task force. In particular, the VC of VSSUT, Burla must take note of the speed at which Delhi Tech U is moving. The VSSUT VC must take the opportunity provided by the document being drafted by the Orissa higher education task force and put into it a visionary plan for VSSUT. In regards to BPUT it may have a new VC soon. Hopefully the new VC will help BPUT Rourkela transition from an administrative unit operating from Bhubaneswar to a real university operating from Rourkela.
The VSSUT VC has announced some plans. Following is an excerpt from http://www.alumniuce.com/messages.asp?id=300.
(1) VSSUT is going to organize its First Convocation to award degrees to its 2009 batch graduands in December -2009/January-2010 in the auditorium with an invitation to a reputed personality from the country to deliver the convocation address as Chief Guest.
(2) A Webgroup with teachers and students be formed to develop and maintain our University website to make it one of the best website in the world.
(3)Construction of one 600 seated Boys hostel and 60 seated guest house.
(4) A digital library and 24X7 internet connectivity in the university campus, students hostels and staff quarters.
(5) Appointment of 39 new teaching faculties in next three months time and Phone, PC and Internet facility in individual faculty office rooms.
(7) Revision and Up gradation of Curriculum taking IIT-Kharagpur as a model.
(8) A Big Notice board at the Entrance near Golden Jubilee gate for coverage and information of all events of the University.
(9)Construction of A Big bounded campus with New staff quarters.
(10) Construction of another big auditorium with 2000 capacity.
Following is an excerpt from http://www.alumniuce.com/messages.asp?id=297.
Our priority will be to make the institution as one of the best of the country and for this we are planning to introduce few new branches of engineering courses. Textile engineering is one among them which will help to strengthen the development of the Sambalpuri fabric. We also plan to introduce Nano-science technology, Bio-medical engineering and surgical engineering soon”, the vice chancellor Dr Tripathy told.
According to him, several modification and changes are to be taken place in the infrastructure of the institution once it becomes university. But since it requires lot of expenditure we want to change it in phase manner. “I am meeting the industry secretary soon to place our immediate requirement. I am hopeful the government would give proper attention to solve the problem of the institution. We have shortage of faculty members. About 44 new faculty members are required immediately. So we advertise this in our website and soon we are able to fill up the posts”, Dr. Tripathy told.
These are good steps. VC Tripathy should take the Delhi Tech Univ plans as well has his own plans to our government and use that to leverage more support from the government.
In this regard I would like readers to comment on some future directions for VSSUT. We will collect those and give it to VSSUT VC as well as to the higher education task force. Thanks in advance.
November 22nd, 2009
Following is an excerpt from the blog entry at Education-In-India.
… some details about the Azim Premji University (APU).
- The APU will be an institution of excellence in the area of education to develop outstanding education thinkers & leaders, and also serve as a think tank for long-term education change and sustainable development. Akin to the IITs, AIIMS, IIMs and the NLSUI respectively focussed on Science & Technology, Medicine, Management and Law, the APU will in effect be an IIE focussed on Education.
- The APU’s vision is to promote, conceptualize and create a paradigm shift through development of outstanding leadership, research, knowledge and ideas for education and allied development sectors.
- The objectives of the APU include
- Creating Intellectual Capital: through research based theory and outstanding, creative and socially committed leaders and thinkers. Expand the frontiers of knowledge in education and allied disciplines
- Practice informed by sound theory: Serve as a national education resource center and present an alternative authentic voice for educational and social change
- Demonstrating models for effective development of teachers and education leaders
- The APU has been set up through a section 25 company and will be autonomous and self-funded with no dependency on funds from the Karnataka Government.
- The Azim Premji University Ordinance 2009, was passed by the Karnataka Government in November 2009.
- The APU is being set up on 50 acres of land in Sarjapur, near Bangalore. The land is being provided by the section 25 company, which is acquiring it directly from the owners.
- It will be a fully residential university.
- The APU will not be aiming to recover all its expenditure from tuition fees. Any budgetary gap between income and expenditure will be bridged by funds provided by Section 25 company being established by Azim Premji.
- The first students will join the university in 2011. The APU will start by offering masters level courses and eventually also run a Ph.D. program.
Two lessons from the above:
1. Orissa should move fast on Vedanta University so that it does not lose the first movers advantage to efforts like above that are also backed by people with deep pockets.
2. Orissa should push the upgradation of the existing five Regional Institutes of Education (one of which is in Bhubaneswar) to National Institutes of Education.
November 17th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.
Ayurvedic treatment, for instance, is now a Rs 8,000-crore industry, and growing at 20 per cent annually. And so you have Ramesh Vangal, former head of Pepsi India, having established an ayurveda firm, now merging it with Coimbatore Arya Vaidya Pharmacy to become the largest ayurveda company in India. Yash Birla has taken a majority stake in Kerala Vaidyashala, the therapy chain. Ayurvaid Hospitals, promoted by a Kochi-based group, got equity investment of Rs 4.5 crore last year from a US-based fund. And the Tata Group has now agreed with an NGO to jointly set up an Institute of Ayurveda Integrated Medicine near Bangalore, to offer formal graduate and postgraduate degrees, beside a 100-bed ayurveda and yoga hospital, plus research and drug production. The Tatas are putting in Rs 34 crore for the IIT-type institute. There are similar plans from the Mata Amrithanandamayee trust.
All this is excellent news, for the simple reason that when business gets into the picture, documentation and systems and reports have to be put in place. This has been the problem all along with what are loosely called alternative systems of medicine to standard allopathy. Each practitioner has his or her own way of doing things and you have to accept this on trust. And if something works, there is no publicly accessible system of how and why. One outcome has been the mutual scorn between allopathy and these other systems of treatment, with close to no attempt at reaching out to each other or researching if each can usefully learn from the other and so, improve itself. The public would benefit enormously if they could go to one place and get the combined benefit of different systems of knowledge working in tandem. You will never get this unless these processes are all systemised, subject to peer and public review, and are allowed to be replicated in a laboratory setting: this is the way knowledge progresses. If business and investors take a hand, this process should get a push. As, for instance, with the proposed Tata university.
November 16th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standrad.
The national design policy had recommended setting up institutes on the lines of NID in various parts of India to promote design programmes. Under this initiative, the government has narrowed down on Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh for setting up the new NIDs in the next two to three years. Cities like Hyderabad, Jorhat, Bhopal and Gwalior are some of the cities that have been shortlisted. An NID will also be set up in the Northern part of India for which target cities are yet to be finalised.
Interested state governments have offered around 30-50 acres of land for setting up the institute. Each NID will gradually have an intake of 1000 students. The national design policy had stated that public-private partnership mode could be an option for setting up these new institutes but sources say that no call has been made by the government for private partners as of now.
At present NID has campuses in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Bangalore. The institute runs 8 programmes in the Ahmedabad campus, 5 in Gandhinagar and 3 in the Bangalore campus. The Bangalore campus is the institute’s R&D campus where there are 30 students for the three programmes.
November 16th, 2009
Update: The following was written before I saw this article in Pioneer.
Tathya.in has a report on Dr. Digamabara Patra’s request for a national or central university in Bhawanipatna, Kalahandi. A lot of the arguments made there make sense. Many of the recent central universities have been established in rural and semi-urban areas and indeed there is no reason why one should not be established in Bhawanipatna; especially since its citizens have been asking for one for more than 2 decades.
However, as mentioned in the article https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/3229 adequate infrastructure seems to have been an important factor in determining the locations of the new IITs, IIMs and National universities.
For Orissa to have them in locations ouside of Bhubaneswar, there are two ways to go about it.
- Argue that adequate infrastructure should not be a requirement or they will automatically come once the institutions are established.
- Develop areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure.
To me pursuing (2) has a higher chance of success than pursuing (1) and even if (1) is successful the institutes/universities in locations without appropriate infrastructure will struggle until the infrastructure eventually catches up which may take a long time if just left to fate. (Such a struggle may result in Orissa not being given in appropriate numbers additional central/national institutes.)
[In India people sometime point out that IIT Kharagpur was established in a rural location. First, Kharagpur is only 116 kms from Howrah. Second it has been a major railway junction for a long time. Third it was the first IIT and for a long time only one of 5 IITs. Similarly Roorkee was the oldest engineering college and is close to Haridwar and Dehradun. There are a few top universities and institutions in the US that are in rural areas, but these are exceptions, and the infrastructure in rural areas of US are quite good compared to rural areas of India. For example, Univ of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Penn State University in State College, PA are often mentioned in that context. But both do have small airports with commercial flights.]
Before we suggest what needs to be done regarding developing areas outside Bhubaneswar to have adequate infrastructure, let us address what may be coming in the future and why Orissa needs to do this urgently so as to not risk missing future allocations of national institutions.
The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) in its December 2006 note on higher education has explicitly suggested 50 national universities in India. It says:
We recommend the creation of up to 50 National Universities that can provide education of the highest standard. As exemplars for the rest of the nation, these universities shall train students in a variety of disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, commerce and professional subjects, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The number 50 is a long term objective. In the short run, it is important to begin with at least 10 such universities in the next 3 years. It is worth noting that the National Universities need not all be new universities. Some of the existing universities could also be converted into National Universities, on the basis of rigorous selection criteria, to act as exemplars. We recognise that there could be a human resource constraint if faculty members are not available in adequate numbers to establish these universities.
The current government has implemented most of the recommendations of the NKC and exceeded some of them. For example, instead of the recommendation of 10 national universities in the three years following the report (2007-2010), establishment of 14 have been announced. Moreover, the higher education budget has been increasing drastically from one five year plan to the next. The 12th five year plan starts in 2012 and it is expected that it will take up on the long range objectives of the knowledge commission. In other words there could and should be more central and national universities in the 12th plan.
[My impression is that how soon additional national universities are established will depend on the success of the first 14. It seems to me that the locations of the first 14 have been greatly influenced by the consideration of, where in each of the states selecetd, does it have the best chance to succeed.]
Unless Orissa is prepared for it, Orissa may lose out pieces of those plans on lack of infrastructure grounds. Other states with multiple locations with adequate infrastructure will get preference and Orissa may lose out.
However, 2012 is still 3 years away and if adequate steps are taken very soon, Orissa should be able to get its fair share.
The pity is there are areas in Orissa which are on the verge of having the necessary infrastructure, mostly through private investment, but because of non-constructive opposition, blind suspicion towards industrialization and the relcucatnce of many to speak out in favour of development and industrialization, the development and associated infrastructure building has been greatly hampered. The governments (state and center) are also at fault for their sluggishness on some aspects.
Following are some suggestions:
- The state government should push for the completion of the airport in Jharsuguda within a year.
- It should make an all-out effort to have commercial flights operating out of the existing airport in Rourkela. In general, the people of the area need to recognize the existing infrastructure and potential of Rourkela and take advantage of it. Currently, as a friend of mine would say, Rourkela is an orphan. This is a pity. It is a big asset to Orissa, especially to the western parts of Orissa; but is severely underutilized and undermined.
- Coming back to Jharsuguda, the people there should follow a smarter approach in not opposing and rather facilitating industries coming up there, and at the same time being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R issues. If these industries and investment are allowed to materialize there soon, then Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area would become a large metro with adequate infrastructure to have and support any and all kinds of institutes and universities. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of the anti-industry activists.
- Similarly, both Bhawanipatna (Lanjigarh to be precise) and Rayagada areas have industrial investors who have been senselessly opposed. If the people would take a smarter approach that mixes development with being vigilant about environmental and land acquisition related R & R then both these areas would be able to get infrastructure where a central university (and possibly more) would flourish. But will the people do that? Or will they continue to be controlled by or scared of anti-industry activists. In Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, the local MP has recently taken a more sensible approach. I hope there is a quick resolution as this area desperately needs development and the resulting infrastructure.
- The state government should push for the rail infrastructure, particularly, the Khurda-Balangir line, the Talcher-Bimlagarh line and connectivity to Kalahandi, to be completed at the earliest.
The above is extremely important for the development of the western parts of Orissa where there is often a feeling of neglect. If the people there do not follow a smarter approach and only follow the strange approach that many (not all) seem to be following (such as opposing industrialization and thus infrastructure building but wanting things that need infrastructure) the places that follow a smarter approach (inside and outside Orissa) would be gainers. The same is happening in some other places in Orissa too – Paradeep and Kalinganagar come to mind, but these places are in closer proximity to Bhubaneswar and because of that they may be less harmed.
October 4th, 2009
The following table is from a Current science article by G. Prathap and B. M. Gupta. It gives a ranking of top 25 universities in India in term of their publications. The detailed methodology of the ranking is discussed in the above mentioned article. The same authors earlier ranked the engineering and technological institutes which we discussed here.
October 1st, 2009
Following is an excerpt from an IANS story by Prashant Nanda that we found in a report in thaiinidan.com.
… “We will retain our original name (NIT-Warangal) but it will become an integrated university with both medical and legal education among other programmes beyond engineering and technology.
“We will also provide postgraduate courses in humanities, business economics, biotechnology and many others. The focus will gradually shift to from under-graduation to post-graduation and research,” Rao explained.
NIT Warangal is the first among the NITs. It was dedicated to the nation by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru way back in 1959. Then it was known a regional engineering college. The institute is older than many IITs, including IIT-Delhi.
… The director said the institute, which started its journey with a little over 100 students from a temporary campus, now boasts of 4,200 students. In 2006, the institute had 2,000 students of which 1,600 were pursuing B.Tech courses and the rest M.Tech.
“While all the central government institutes are implementing the OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota in three years, we did it at one go. With an increase in the number of seats, we have shifted our focus to post-graduation and research. Out of 4,200 students, currently 1,400 are M.Tech students and 300 are PhD scholars,” Rao added.
Like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, NIT-Warangal will become an integrated university and provide all kinds of courses to students to help the country move forward in the field of higher education, he said.
“The process of becoming a university will start from the coming academic session but it may take a few years to become a full-fledged one. We are targeting 5,000 students by 2011 and 15,000 by 2015,” Rao said, elaborating on his mega plan.
“We are planning to have the school of medical science next year. We are going to give emphasis on biotechnology and microbiology and here the school of medical science will help us grow in both research and innovation.”
NIT Roukela has recently started a program in Biotechnology and is about to start MBA. But it must go beyond and pursue a medical school.
September 29th, 2009
The March 28th 2008 PIB mentioned a central university and an IIM for J & K. But the Jammu and Kashmir valley area both wanted a central university. The solution that MHRD came up with is as described in the following PIB release.
In view of the special status of State of Jammu and Kashmir, which has separate regions with distinct geographical, social, cultural and ethnic characteristics, the Central Government has decided to establish, as a special dispensation, two appropriate Central Universities in the State – one in Jammu region and another in the Kashmir Valley. It is expected that this will meet the regional aspirations in the State. The Government proposes to undertake appropriate legislative measures in this regard shortly.
The two Central Universities will have instructional and research facilities in emerging branches of learning like information technology, biotechnology, nanosciences, etc., setting exemplary standards of education for the other universities in the State to emulate.
However, in view of the constraints of resources and greater demand for a second Central University in Jammu and Kashmir State, it has been decided to drop the proposal for the establishment of an Indian Institute of Management in Jammu and Kashmir and instead use the savings for the establishment of a second appropriate Central University in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Budgetwise a central university (at 300 crores) is about 40% more expensive than an IIM (at about 210 crores).
Since Goa university opted out of becoming a central university and a new IIM was added to Rajasthan, the total number of new IIMs and Central Universities remains the same as announced in the March 28th PIB. (Of course, for now, Goa will not have a central university. Rajasthan was a lucky gainer because of a typo in the finance minister’s announcement. But they are delaying things by not adhering to MHRD hints with respect to their IIT location.)
A similar action that MHRD took was to reduce its number of new NITs to 9 so as to accommodate the proposed ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering & Technology.
It seems MHRD is taking great pains to keep its budget and number of institutions as decided during the 11th plan deliberations. Perhaps because of that Orissa CM did not pursue an IGNTU campus with MHRD and raised the issue of a tribal university with the Minister of Tribal affairs. I think one has to wait till the 12th plan for any new additions (beyond what is mentioned in the 11th plan) regarding central institutions through MHRD. (There may be more flexibility in other ministries. For example, the AIIMS-like institutions budgets have been increasing. But by the time they start running the 12th plan period will be on.)
This means if Orissa wants an IIM before the 12th plan, it has to go after an existing IIM and make a deal with them, similar to what Andhra Pradesh did with IIM Ahmedabad.
September 25th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
… law minister Veerappa Moily has designed a grand plan to set up four regional institutes of excellence to equip lawyers and bring them on par with Indian IT professionals, who are known the world over for their competence.
Moily prefers to call these regional institutes of excellence simply "regional hubs" of legal education. "We have written to the Planning Commission for approval of the plan to set up these four institutes which will match standards of best law institutes anywhere in the world," he said, adding this move was spurred by one of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission.
September 24th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from deshgujarat.com.
… at present Maharashtra possesses highest 40 permitted medical colleges in the country. Karnataka has 38, Andhra Pradesh has 33 and Tamilnadu has 30 medical colleges. Kerala has 22 medical colleges, Uttar Pradesh has 21, Gujarat has 14, West Bengal has 10, Madhya Pradesh has 9, Rajasthan has 9, Bihar has 8, Pondicherry has 8, Punjab has 8, Orissa has 6, Delhi has 6, Jammu & Kashmir has 4, Uttaranchal has 4, Assam has 3, Haryana has 3, Jharkhand has 3, Chhattisgarh has 2, Tripura has 1, Sikkim has 1, Manipur has 1, Goa has 1, Chandigarh has 1 medical-college.
… Nationwide, ten new medical colleges opened this year, three of them were in Gujarat. Kerala, Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh each added two new medical colleges this year, while Madhya Pradesh added one.
…five more new medical colleges are in pipeline in the state [Gujarat] and the government intends to start them in next academic year.
The Gujarat Government plans to start two new medical colleges in Ahmedabad by next year at Ahmedabad based Sola Civil Hospital under a charitable trust and another college at Asarwa Swadeshi Mill Compound by Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute(GCRI).The colleges each have 150 seats and a proposal is at present under process at Medical Council of India.
The government also plans to start three new medical colleges in next academic year at Vadodara, Patan and Valsad also will get new medical colleges . While medical college in Vadodara will be attached with TB hospital, the medical colleges in Patan and Valsad will be attached with the government hospitals there.
September 9th, 2009
Update 3: Expressbuzz mentions that the unergraduate program under discussion will be at Bangalore. Following are some excerpts.
The Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) much-anticipated Undergraduate (UG) programme is most likely to be held at the institute’s Bangalore campus, and not at its proposed campus at Chitradurga.
This is part of a series of changes that the Institute incorporated into the original plan to bring on board faculty members who had expressed reservations on the programme.
… The revised proposal fleshes out details of the UG programme, and expands on proposals mentioned in the earlier one. To allay faculty fears, the new proposal specifies that the UG programme will not compromise the institute’s postgraduate nature, by limiting admissions to around 100 per year. “In the next 5 years, the envisaged undergraduate student population of the IISc will never exceed a number (400-500) which is more than 20 per cent of the post graduate population,” says the proposal.
Thanks to Abi for the pointer.
Update2: See http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2009/09/undergraduate-program-at-iisc.html for more links and past coverage on this.
Update: There have been some earlier news that the undergraduate program will be in a new campus at Chitradurga which is 200 kms from Bangalore. Chitradurga is to the North West of Bangalore. (Mysore is to the south west.)
Following are excerpts from a report in the Telegraph by Charu Sudan Kasturi.
… IISc is planning to introduce a unique four-year, research-based undergraduate programme, including interaction between the students and its researchers,
… The draft course prepared by the institute received the stamp of approval from the faculty at a meeting on September 2.
… The institute is hoping the undergraduate programme emerges a model for other institutions involved in higher education and research to follow. It will be titled a bachelors in science (BS) programme in a specialisation of the student’s choice — for instance in physics, chemistry or biology.
… IISc sources were tight-lipped about the selection process they plan to use to pick students for the course, but said it would be restricted to around 500 of the “brightest” students interested over the first five years.
… The undergraduate course structure drafted by the institute will in the first three years — over six semesters — aim at strengthening basic knowledge of classical scientific, mathematical and engineering subjects in students.
Students will have to study humanities — they can pick from courses in areas of history, philosophy, sociology and the management of science and technology.
After the first three semesters, students will have to pick a “stream” of their choice — a subject within the sciences and engineering that they wish to pursue in greater detail than other subjects.
While majoring in their chosen stream, students continue to study a certain minimum number of courses in other streams — to keep the course inter-disciplinary.
The final year of the course will largely be devoted to a research project each student must undertake.
September 6th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in TOI.
… The Delhi government is now working on starting a second wave of universities to cater to the burgeoning demand for bachelors education.
… In its blueprint, the city government has submitted to set up a university system for the capital, which also envisages to create multiple universities/campuses united by a common system of management and governance. New universities such as UST, University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, National Law School University, University College of Medical Sciences, IIIT and Dr B R Ambedkar University would be brought under this system.
The blueprint submits that the proposal to set up a University of Undergraduate Education has been referred to the UGC and is under consideration. According to the report, though Delhi has five universities, these are inadequate. It further says such a university would increase students’ access to undergraduate education in Delhi. Moreover, the new university would draw the initiative of self-financed institution to set up a number of colleges in academic areas that have considerable market demand.
Similarly, the government claims that the setting up of UST would fill the gap in international quality science and technical education at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels.
With an intention to promote pharma education, the government has also started work on setting up of University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. The report mentions setting up of Medication Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University under this new university that would be engaged in developing new drugs that are specific to India.
Moreover, to promote self-financing institutions and to accommodate them on one campus the Knowledge City would be developed on PPP model. In this case, department of higher education would provide the buildings on lease and infrastructure facilities to private colleges.
The report also maintains that the government has proposed to launch a Delhi Skills Mission to make a concerted and time-bound effort for skill development.
June 20th, 2009
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
While one proposal has come from the State Planning and Coordination Department (SPCD), another was offered by the Defence Department. Though these proposals are in the preliminary state as observed by ADM Sribatsa Jena, …
According to sources, the State Planning and Coordination Department has asked the district administration to identify adequate land for setting up the medical college. The district administration also earmarked a land for the purpose at Remuna.
“We have intimated SPCD Secretary Bijay Arora regarding the land position and we have a patch of land adequate enough for the purpose at Remuna. The land was earlier earmarked for setting up a hospital by some private parties, who later abandoned their ideas,” said Jena.
Meanwhile, another inquiry has come from the Defence Department, asking the district administration for feasibility of setting up a medical college in line of the Armed Forces Medical College.
“We received intimation from the Defence headquarters before the general election and we are working towards it. The district Collector will shortly hold a meeting in this regard with the directors of the PXE and ITR,” said Jena claiming the administration is keen to convert the planning into reality.
Notably, the Defence (Army) has begun initiations to establish a training school at Amarda, acquiring land including Rasgobindapur in Mayurbhanj district, besides reviving the British time unused airstrip at the place.
June 16th, 2009
Update on 27th April 2011: The Central University location has been changed to Bander Sindri near Ajmer and only 80 kms from Jaipur. The Innovation University (previsouly referred to as National University) aiming for world class is now pushed for Jaipur. [Times of India]
The panel set up by the CM of Rajsthan has picked the following places to recommend to the central government for the various national institutes and universities coming up in Rajasthan. (From a Times of India report and another Times of India report)
- IIT : Jodhpur
- IIM: Udaipur
- National University aiming for world-class: Ajmer
- Central university: Bikaner.
The committee also recommended:
- a "futuristic" heritage conservation and museology centre in Jaipur
- an institute of Food Technology in Hadoti region of Kota
Currently the following national institutions exisit or are being made in the following places in Rajasthan:
- NIT: Jaipur
- LNMIT (private but top-notch): Jaipur
- National law School: Jodhpur
- AIIMS-like institution (being made): Jodhpur
The institutions are nicely distributed between various cities of Rajsthan, although people of Jaipur and Kota are not happy. The population of these locations are:
- Jaipur (World Gazetteer 2009): 3.1 million (has inetrnational air connectivity)
- Jodhpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 988K – (332 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
- Udaipur (World Gazetteer 2009): 457K – (400 kms from Jaipur; has air connectivity)
- Ajmer (World Gazetteer 2009): 604.7K – (131 kms from Jaipur)
- Bikaner (World Gazetteer 2009): 624.6K – (321 kms from Jaipur)
- Kota (World Gazetteer 2009): 823 K (242 kms from Jaipur)
In contrast in Orissa the distribution of national institutions are more Bhubaneswar centric. Following is the status:
- IIT: Bhubaneswar
- NISER: Bhubaneswar
- AIIMS-like (being made) : Bhubaneswar
- National Law University: Cuttack (part of Bhubaneswar metroplex)
- IIIT (state-funded) : Bhubaneswar
- National University aiming to be world class: Bhubaneswar
- Vedanta University (private): Puri
- NIT: Rourkela
- Central University: Koraput
- IIIT (centrally funded): state wants it in Berhampur; center has identified as Bhubaneswar
Unfortunately, one of the reason given behind the above selection is the lack of connectivity and the size of places. Following is some information on that.
- Bhubaneswar (World Gazetteer 2009): 1.67 million (has airport but no inetrnational connectivity)
- Rourkela (World Gazetteer 2009): 551 K (no air connections) – 334 kms from Bhubaneswar
- Berhampur (World Gazetteer 2009): 403 K (no air connections) – 160 kms from Bhubaneswar
- Koraput-Jeypore-Sunabeda: 200K+ (no air connections) – 499 kms from bhubaneswar
- Puri (World Gazetteer 2009): 185K – 60 kms from Bhubaneswar
- Sambalpur (World Gazetteer 2009): 258 K (no air connections) – 321 kms from Bhubaneswar
- Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Brajarajnagar: 200 K (no air connections) – 374 kms from Bhubaneswar; 50 kms from Sambalpur
For the future, following are some of the steps that Orissa government needs to urgently take regarding developing more larger urban areas and having the national institutions more evenly distributed:
- Make sure the centrally funded IIIT is established in Berhampur
- Establish functioing airports in Jharsuguda, Rourkela and Koraput at the earliest
- Push for international flights to Bhubaneswar
- Push for upgradation of UCE Burla (Sambalpur area) to an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
- Push for the establishment of a branch of IGNTU (Indira Gandhi National Tribal University) in Phulbani
- Push for the establishment of IIM outside of the Bhubaneswar area
- Push for the establishment of a centrally funded KBK Inst of Engineering and Technology (along the lines of SLIET and ABAGKIET) in Kalahandi or Balangir.
- Push for upgrading another medical college (Berhampur or Sambalpur) to AIIMS level.
- Push for establishing NID in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
- Push for establishing NIPER in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
- Push for a BITS Pilani campus in a location outside of Bhubaneswar
June 12th, 2009
On March 28th 2008 eight new IIT and seven new IIM locations were declared. The IITs were to be located in Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Gujarat. The IIMs were to be located in Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana. At that time one of the deciding principles was that no state would have both a new IIT and a new IIM.
Since then establishment of a new IIT in Karnataka is often mentioned and because of a typo in the speech of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a new IIM will most likely be established in Rajasthan. Following is an excerpt from a recent news item about an IIT in Karnataka.
Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily on Sunday said that an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) would be established at Muddenahalli on the outskirts of Chickaballapur. Addressing a meeting of Congress workers here, Mr. Moily, who represents Chickaballapur in the Lok Sabha, said that he had discussed the matter with Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal. Steps would be taken soon to set up an IIT at Muddenahalli, he said. During his election campaign, Mr. Moily had promised that he would strive to get an IIT established at Muddenahalli, the birthplace of the legendary engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya.
Following is an excerpt from a report about the IIM in Rajasthan.
What seemed to be a typographical error made by the HRD Ministry in Budget papers has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Rajasthan, as Rajasthan will now get a new Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for the error.
In light of these Orissa should continue to vigorously push for an IIM.
June 2nd, 2009
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