Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.
HCL’s Founder and Chairman Shiv Nadar is making a second foray into university education having sought 300 acres of land in Noida, near New Delhi, to set up a Rs 300-crore multi-disciplinary university.
Former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramaniam is said to be advising Nadar on this venture. The university will be residential and is expected to be operational by 2009.
The Forbes-listed Indian billionaire joins Mukesh Ambani and Anil Agarwal in committing funds to a major university project (see table).
… This university will be Nadar’s second major venture in education after Chennai-based SSN Institutions, which offers graduate courses and research programmes in engineering, biomedical engineering, IT and management.
“Education is a sunrise sector. Investments in this sector are limited, but the returns are very promising. This is why even companies are finding this interesting,” said another source, who is part of Nadar’s university development team.
India’s higher education sector is worth Rs 100,000 crore today and is expected to treble over three to five years, said industry players, as faster economic growth raises the demand for qualified people.
In 2006, Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Resources Plc, announced plans for a multi-disciplinary university in Orissa, where it is setting up an aluminium smelter, with an endowment fund of up to $1 billion and modelled on Harvard, Stanford and Oxford.
Mukesh Ambani is also reportedly planning a university in Pune at an investment of Rs 100 crore to offer courses in science, arts and professional disciplines.
August 11th, 2008
Update: As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41316&kwd= possible location of 9 of the 10 NITs are:
? … Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
ï‚· The NIT at Goa may also cater to the needs of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.
ï‚· Pudducherry or Andaman & Nicobar may have one common NIT, which will cater the needs of each.
Following are excerpts from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41190.
… The initiative to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technology is on course with the first academic sessions starting in 2008 in six of the new IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat . The session for IIT Orissa has already been started at lIT Kharagpur in July 2008 and classes will begin for IIT Punjab at lIT Delhi in Sept 2008. And the academic session for the other 4 new IITs, will begin during August 2008.
Out of the 7 new Indian Institutes of Management proposed the IIM at Shillong has already commenced its first academic session from July 2008. The remaining six IIMs will be established in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
The government proposal to set up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research is on schedule. Of these two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata were inaugurated in 2006-07 and are now fully functional, and the IISER Mohali started its first academic session in 2007-08. Two more IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvanthapuram will commence their first academic sessions in August, 2008.
Two Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) are being set up at Bhopal and Vijayawada . Classes in both the new SPAs will begin with the academic session of 2008 through temporary campuses. The SPA Bhopal will be mentored by NIT Bhopal while the SPA at Vijayawada will be mentored by SPA, Delhi .
The strengthening of Polytechnics is under way with steps being taken to set up 1000 polytechnics (300 in Government Sector, 300 through PPP mode and 400 private polytechnics); Further 500 existing polytechnics are being expanded and the Community Polytechnics scheme being revamped and their number being increased from 669 to 1000.
Steps are being taken establish 10 new National Institutes of Technology. The likely location of these NITs will be in States/UTs which at present don’t have an NIT.
Sixteen Central Universities are being set up under the initiative seeking to established a Central University in states not having a Central University . Four existing universities; Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhatisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttrakhand and Goa University, are proposed to be taken over and upgraded as Central Universities. The remaining 12 new universities are to be set up in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
14 World Class Central Universities (WCCU), are proposed with the locations being firmed up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The State Governments have been requested to identify suitable land.
A total of 373 degree colleges will be set up in the districts having GER lower than the national average as identified by the UGC. Out of these districts, about 90 districts have been shortlisted which have less than 6% GER, have less than 4 colleges per lakh of population and are also minority concentration districts. It is proposed to fast-track the starting of the degree colleges in these shortlisted districts this year.
Twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology are planned with NAASCOM having submitted a project report. The setting up of the IIITs under the PPP mode has been discussed with the States and most of the States agreed to tap not-for-profit private investment, while ensuring that PPP should not lead to any erosion of access to the poor sections of society.
Scholarships for College and University students, based on merit, to non-creamy layer students numbering about 2% of the. student population will be given to those who pass out from various intermediate boards. The scholarship will be Rs.l,000 per month for the first 2 years after which it will be of Rs.2000 per month for the balance period of the professional or other courses in Higher Education. Every year about 41,000 boys and 41,000 girls will benefit from the scheme.
The government is working on an Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme. It will be a Central Sector scheme for providing interest subsidy during the moratorium period on the educational loans taken by students belonging to "non-creamy" layer for pursuing professional education in India.
All the Central Educational Institutions are implementing OBC reservations as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 from this year onward on a staggered basis and the necessary funds have been released to all of them, after holding the meetings of the Empowered Committees. All the IITs, IIMs and the Central Universities that are covered under the Act have started giving reservations to OBCs in a staggered manner. As a result of the implementation of OBC reservations in this academic year, there is an increase of over 20500 in the intake capacity in the Central Educational Institutions.
The states and union territories that do not have NITs are:
- Delhi
- Uttarakhand
- Goa
- Dadra and nagar haveli
- Pondicherry
- Andaman and Nicobar islands
- Lakshadweep
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Manipur
- Nagaland
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Sikkim
So, I guess the majority of the 10 new NITs will be in these states. My guess would be 2, 3, 5, 8-13. (I skipped 1 because I wonder if there is any space left in proper Delhi for an NIT. The rest that I skipped, 4,6 and 7, are very remote as well as hard to reach places.) That makes 9 NITs. It would be interesting to see where the 10th NIT will be located.
August 8th, 2008
Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=40292.
Whereas the Central Government is empowered under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 to declare, on the advice of the UGC, an institution of higher learning as a deemed-to-be-university;
2. And whereas, a proposal was received from Department of Space for conferment of status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, to ‘Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology’ being set up at that point of time under the aegis of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) near Thiruvananthapuram in the State of Kerala;
3. And whereas, the University Grants Commission has examined the said proposal and vide its communication bearing No.F.27-1/2007 (CPP-I) dated the 2nd January, 2008 has recommended conferment of status of ‘deemed-to-be-university’ to Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram for a period of five years;
4. Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Central Government, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC), hereby declare that Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IISST) Thiruvanathapuram shall be deemed to be a university, under de novo category, for the purposes of the aforesaid Act, provisionally for a period of five years, with immediate effect, subject to the following conditions:
(i) The functioning of the IISST as well as its performance shall be reviewed annually by the UGC through its Expert Committee. The status conferred upon the IISST will be confirmed after five years on the basis of performance report s of the Expert Review Committee of the UGC and the recommendation of the Commission thereon;
(ii) The Department of Space shall finalise the Memorandum of Association (MoA) and Rules of the IISST in accordance with the model MoA/Rules prescribed by the UGC and in concurrence with the Commission. For this purpose, the Department of Space shall also take into account the variations observed by the UGC in the said MoA & Rules and rectify and amend the relevant provisions in concurrence with the Commission. The IISST may, however, retain the text of the provisions proposed under Clause 20 of its Rules.
5. The declaration as made in para 4 above is further subject to fulfilment of the following conditions :
(i) The objectives of the Trust concerned and ‘Deemed-to-be-University’ institution should confine to educational and related social and charitable activities. The IISST should not undertake or engage in any activities that are of commercial and profit making in nature.
(ii) As and when necessary, IISST shall update or revise or modify its MoA/Rules with the approval of the UGC. Further, specific changes/amendments, if any, suggested by the Ministry of Human Resource Development or/and the UGC shall also be carried out by the deemed-to-be-university institution in its MoA/Rules with the approval of the UGC.
(iii) The accounts of the IISST shall be open to inspection/audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. There shall also be no diversion of assets of the IISST Society without prior permission of the Government of India / UGC.
(iv) The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram shall continue to support the IISST with its infrastructure facilities till the time the IISST has a fully developed and permanent infrastructure of its own at the location near Thiruvananthapuram where such facilities are being developed by the Institute concerned.
(v) The academic programmes being offered or to be offered by IISST shall conform to the norms and standards prescribed by the relevant Statutory Councils such as the UGC and the AICTE. The IISST shall not offer / award, as the case may be, any degree(s) that are not specified by the UGC. It shall also ensure that the nomenclatures of the degrees, etc. to be awarded by it are specified by the UGC under Section 22 of the UGC Act, 1956.
(vi) The IISST shall start new academic courses only as per the norms prescribed by the concerned Statutory Councils such as the UGC, AICTE, etc.
(vii) The IISST shall take all the required steps to get itself rated for valid accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), etc., as the case may be, in terms of instructions issued by the UGC vide its circular No.F.6-1(7)/2006(CPP-I) dated the 12th March, 2007.
(viii) The IISST shall not affiliate any teaching institutions / colleges.
(ix) The IISST shall take immediate steps to start Postgraduate, doctoral and post doctoral programmes in emerging areas of space technology.
(x) The IISST shall not conduct any distance education programme without prior approval of UGC and Distance Education Council (DEC). The guidelines issued by both the DEC and the UGC from time to time in the matter of imparting education through distance mode have to be complied with by it.
(xi) The IISST shall not start and run any study centre / extension centre / off-campus centre / off-shore campus without obtaining the requisite prior approval of the UGC/ Government of India, as the case may be.
(xii) The IISST shall take immediate steps to comply with all the suggestions made by the UGC’s Expert Visiting Committee in its inspection report submitted to the UGC, so as to bring about the recommended improvement.
(xiii) All the prescribed norms and procedures of the relevant Statutory Councils, such as UGC, AICTE, etc. and other authorities concerned in the matter of admission of students, intake capacity of students, starting of new courses / programmes, renewal of approval to the courses, etc. will continue to be in force, and shall be adhered to by the IISST.
(xiv) In all its advertisements, public notices, communications, etc., the IISST shall distinctly mention under its nomenclature by inserting (within brackets) a line, which shall read: “Declared as Deemed-to-be-University’ under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956”.
(xv) The IISST shall abide by all the norms and guidelines as laid down by the UGC and other Statutory Councils such as AICTE, etc. from time to time, as are applicable to institutions notified as ‘Deemed-to-be-Universities’
Deptt. Of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development
PIB, New Delhi/ Dated: Asadha 23, 1030/July 14, 2008
HB/
July 14th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Under pressure from the IISERs at Calcutta, Pune and Mohali, the Centre is rushing to amend the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Act of 2007 to recognise the degrees, top government officials have said.
Over 250 students are studying for unrecognised degrees at the institutes set up in 2006 at the behest of the Prime Minister as the Centre’s answer to the lack of top-quality undergraduate science schools.
In a month, the three existing IISERs — billed as potential Indian Institutes of Technology — are expected to increase their intake by 300 with a record number of students joining their courses this year.
Two new IISERs — at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram — are also starting classes this academic session, admitting an additional 42 students each in their debut year.
The human resource development ministry was earlier planning to introduce an IISER act recognising the five-year integrated MS degrees offered by the institutes.
But the new law, modelled on the IIT act that guides India’s premier engineering schools, was taking time and testing the patience of the IISERs, sources at the ministry and the institutes said. Now, the ministry has decided to recognise the IISER degrees through an amended NIT act.
“Minor amendments to an existing law are easier to pass through the cabinet and then Parliament. A completely new law is scrutinised more at both stages and takes longer. The IISERs are under pressure and can’t wait any longer,” a senior ministry official said.
The NIT (Amendment) Bill, 2008, has been drafted and is currently awaiting the approval of HRD minister Arjun Singh, sources said.
Ministry officials said they were hoping to introduce the amendment bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, expected in August.
… But the pressure from the existing IISERs is not the only reason behind the move now, ministry sources said. “We are starting two new IISERs this year, and the concern that five premier institutions would be offering courses without recognition proved too much,” an official said.
July 13th, 2008
Following are excerpts from a report in The Hindu.
The Central University, Tiruvarur, will begin functioning from this year.
Since the Centre has come forward to commence the operations of the university, the government will identify temporary buildings to locate the university.
This was one of the decisions taken on the first day of the two-day annual District Collectors and police officers’ conference, chaired by Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi here on Thursday.
Mr. Karunanidhi advised Collectors of Perambalur, Villupuram, Tiruvarur and Sivaganga to expedite identification of land for setting up government medical colleges. He wanted them to hand over the lands at the earliest.
At the end of the first day of the conference, in which all the major schemes came up for elaborate discussion in the morning, it was decided that expeditious action would be taken to identify and allot land to the Central University in Coimbatore and the Indian Institute of Management in Tiruchi.
Following is an excerpt from a report in expressindia.com.
With the state government giving its nod to set up the Central university in Dehra sub-division of Kangra district, …
The university would include engineering, medical and other educational institutions to be opened under the umbrella of the Central University.
The Centre would bear the cost of the entire infrastructure. The state government has to provide the land and fulfill other formalities.
Sources said about 800 acres of land is available near Dehra town where the Himachal Road Transport Corporation workshop is situated. Sources said all revenue papers, along with the proposals, have been sent to the HRD Ministry. A team of the HRD Ministry has already visited the site and approved it.
July 2nd, 2008
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=39796.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for setting up of two Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and creation of 4 core posts of Director & Registrar for each Institute with immediate effect.
The total cost for setting up of two Schools of Planning and Architecture would be Rs.348.50 cores ( Recurring expenditure Rs.82.90 cores and Non-Recurring expenditure – Rs.265.60 crores). The project would be completed by 2012-13.
These Institutes would integrate graduate, post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral education in architecture and town planning while at the same time fostering research of a high order in these areas. Research in such areas can generate significant intellectual properties, which has the potential for generating sizeable revenues.
These Institutes will create a cadre of high calibre faculty members who will be devoted to teaching, research and consultancy in all disciplines that deal with Planning and Architecture. Also, SPAs will be socially responsible institutions providing research feedback to the Government for physical development of human settlements
The Institutes would also contribute to highly competent and trained manpower that would inevitably impact positively on the economic growth of the country.
****
HS/RK
June 26th, 2008
The following was reported in bbiiser.blogspot.com.
Preamble:
Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training & Education under the auspices of UNESCO at Faridabad, Haryana, India will be an autonomus institution fully funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.
The proposed Centre shall be a Category II Centre in terms of “Principles and Guidelines for the Establishment and Functioning of UNESCO Institutes and Centres”.
The emphasis is to support disciplinary & interdisciplinary education, training and research in biotechnology in order to produce skilled human resource to drive innovative research and development in the important gap areas.
As biotechnology sector is of global significance, the Centre would encourage global partnerships and co-operations.
Partnership with UNESCO would expand the opportunities to create world class education, training, research and will also facilitate global connectivity while preserving the regional & national focus of the institution.
Mission:
The Mission of the UNESCO Center is to create physical infrastructure in critical platform technologies and use it to support disciplinary & interdisciplinary education, training and research in biotechnology.
Vision:
To produce human resource tailored to drive innovation in biotechnology, particularly in areas of new opportunity and to fill talent gap in deficient areas.
Objectives:
(a) To produce human resource through education and training in a milieu of research and development for application of biotechnology for sustainable development towards building a strong biotech industry through regional and international co-operation.
(b) To establish desired infrastructure and Technology Platforms to support the activities of the centre.
(c) To establish a Technology Policy Development and Information Dissemination unit.
(d) To develop research programmes of a global quality through international partnerships to sustain world class education and training programmes.
(e) To enable periodic experimentation in design and implementation of biotechnology education and training and to be a source of new concepts and programmes, this can be assimilated by existing universities in India and the Region.
(f) To create a hub of biotechnology expertise in South Asian Association of Regional Co–operation (SAARC) region, and more generally in the Asian region and to address human resource needs.
(g) Promotion and strengthening of South-South & South-North co-operations around issues relevant to biotech education, training, innovation, commercialization and trade.
(h) Promotion of a network of satellite centers in the region.
Focus:
The primary focus of the Centre is to provide high quality human resource in disciplinary and interdisciplinary areas.
The Centre would provide outstanding disciplinary/interdisciplinary short term training programmes which will include Science & Technology training for physicians, biologists and engineers by networking through local hospitals/ medical & engineering schools etc.
In addition, short term training programmes in platform technologies will be conducted for skill development in existing personnel.
Specialized domain specific programmes will also be created in new emerging areas.
The Centre will offer specialized master’s degree courses, unique Ph.D. programmes, domain specific training programmes, high quality research and development in the specific areas.
The Centre will have a centralized Science & Technology platform and Technology Management & Enterprise Development Unit.
India is poised to be the hub for biotechnology in the coming decade; therefore the Centre would provide a window for showcasing Indian competence in global market for economic gains. Policy harmonization on trade and regulation will also be facilitated as a part of this effort.
Programmes Details:
1. As Educational Hub:
(a) Special Master’s Degree courses:
The Centre will offer special Master’s Degree courses of two years duration in the following areas:
v Biosciences,
v Bioengineering,
v Drug Discovery Science,
v Translational and Clinical Health Science,
v Molecular Crop Breeding,
v Regulatory Affairs,
v Biomedical Quality Systems and Product Development,
v Infectious Disease Biology,
v Bioinformatics etc.
It will also help to enrich the existing Master’s in Biotechnology programmes and cater to the needs of the Asian region and members countries.
(b) Unique PhD Programmes:
The Centre will offer unique M. Tech.-PhD programme in Biomedical engineering,
Integrated M.Sc-PhD programme in Medical bioscience and drug discovery,
PhD in
v Molecular Crop Biotechnology,
v Nano-biology,
v Synthetic Biology related to Health, Plants and Energy
v Interdisciplinary PhD programme (on the lines of MIT Harvard HST programme).
The Ph.D. programmes of the UNESCO Center will be open to Indians as well as students from the member countries and Asian region. A few fellowships will be available to students opting for these programmes on a competitive basis.
The students will have access to:
v Disciplinary & Interdisciplinary, Tech Strong & Industry Linked Environment
v Expertise of Research Centers of Excellence: Institutional, Regional & Global
v Multicultural & Global Environment
v Learning Skills of International Standard
v Overseas Mentors
2. Training Programmes:
(a) The training programme will be unique to the Centre with the goal to arrange/organize personalized or user-friendly opportunities for career development. Structured training courses for physicians and engineers (intending to enter biology), science managers and industry personnel in specific areas where they require skill enhancement will have emphasis.
(b) The Centre’s Technology Incubator & Business Development Unit will be open to industry for enhancing their skills in specific areas through structured training courses for career opportunities/ advancements in the areas like:
v IPR,
v Technology Transfer,
v Bio-enterprise/ Management in Biotechnology,
v Platform Technologies,
v Regulatory Procedures,
v Biosafety,
v Bioethics,
v Process Development and Up-scaling,
v Preclinical Toxicity and Clinical Trials,
v Good Manufacturing Practices & Good Laboratory Practices,
v Biostatistics,
v Epidemiology etc.
(c) Specialized Domain Specific Training Programmes will also be designed for people from basic sciences in:
v Nanotechnology,
v Implants and Devices,
v Vaccine Development,
v Stem Cell Biology etc.
3. Research:
The research emphasis will be in the areas like:
v Nano-biology,
v Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering,
v Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics,
v Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition,
v Bone & Cartilage Biology,
v High Throughput Clinical Genomics,
v Diabetes,
v Infection Science Microbiology & Vaccinology,
v Molecular Diagnostics,
v Crop Breeding etc.
Post-doctoral Programmes:
v Re-entry Grant to Talented Scientists working abroad.
v Young Investigator Awards to work for 3-5yrs after PhD
PROGRAMMES AND SUB-PROGRAMMES AT UNESCO CENTRE
Programmes:
v Biological Sciences
Sub-programmes:
F Immunology
F Molecular biology
F Molecular biophysics
F Structural biology
F Molecular Cell biology
F Bioinformatics
F Bio-organic Chemistry
v Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
v Bioengineering & Material Science
v Industrial Biotechnology
v Molecular Crop breeding
v Molecular Medicine – I (Infectious diseases)
v Molecular Medicine – II (chronic diseases)
v Applied health science Division
v GMP Units
F Vaccine production
F Cell and tissue based therapies etc.
UNESCO Center
The research carried out at the Centre will be supported by various programmes and collaborations at the national and global levels like Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Autonomus Research & Development Institutions, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Medical Schools, Biotechnology Centres at regional and international level etc. as per the guidelines to be formulated by the Board of Governors. It will consider supporting Research Resource Units (RRU’s) and Centre for Excellence (CoE) with Indian or Regional institutes in strategic areas where partnership is critical for collaborative research. It will also provide access to technology platforms to scientists from other institutes and industry. The extramural collaborations will have provisions for adjunct professorships, visiting professor programmes and scientist exchange programmes etc.
OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE UNESCO CENTER:
The Centre will have the provisions for Visiting Professorship for Indian Nationals & International Scientists, Adjunct Professorship, Stanford-India Bio-design Programme, Re-entry Grant and Young Investigator Awards.
CENTRALIZED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM:
The platform technologies will be available in the areas of
v Large Scale Sequencing,
v Genetic Analysis,
v Proteomics,
v RNAi,
v Imaging,
v Chemical Biology,
v Bio Bank etc.
This centralized science and technology platform is expected to provide service to the scientists of the research divisions of health science & technology, and provide support to the training activities of the UNESCO Centre and other research institutes in the country.
In due course it will develop liaison with national and international databases and consortia in order to contribute to global scientific resources.
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT UNIT:
The infrastructure of this unit will have ready to use laboratory space for extramural scientists for innovative & translational research projects. In partnership with the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), GMP units for cell based therapy and vaccine will be made. The faculty of this unit will have skills in technology transfer, IP managements, finance and enterprise creation.
Organization Structure:
Administration & Finance Unit:
This unit will provide administrative, financial, engineering and other support services to the Centre. Services like security, housekeeping, office attendants, operation & maintenance of services will be outsourced to firms who provide manpower on contract.
Location:
The Centre will be situated in a picturesque location in Faridabad about 25 km from New Delhi (40 minute drive) in the academic and research ambience of the Life Sciences Cluster and an adjacent R & D Centre of another Ministry of the Government of India to be set up in the near future.
The site is also close to other renowned institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS); Indian Institute of Technology (IIT); International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB); Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); National Institute of Immunology (NII); National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), with whom the centre is likely to establish network and collaborative programmes, are also situated within 20-30km radius of the centre.
v Meeting with National Experts was held on May 18, 2007.
v An interactive meeting on the UNESCO Centre was jointly organized by DBT and UNESCO on June 18-19, 2007 at New Delhi to discuss the focus, activities, organizational structure and linkages of the proposed Centre.
The meeting was attended by eminent scientists, educationists, policy makers and stakeholders from the members countries, counties of the South East Asian Region as well as by representatives from the industries as well.
The experts nominated by UNESCO provided insights into global partnerships and benefit- sharing especially with regard to guest/visiting faculty, fellowships and participation of member countries.
Meeting held on June 18-19, 2007 at New Delhi
v A meeting was organized with Boston University delegation, USA, led by its President – Prof. Robert Brown, towards developing partnerships for education, training and research with the UNESCO Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training & Education and Translational Health Science & Technology Institute (THSTI) in New Delhi on September 25, 2007.
Current Status:
v An Interim Advisory Committee (IAC) has been constituted to provide Scientific and Academic directions.
v A Management Cell has been created at NII, New Delhi to address the interim issues
v Initiatives for collaborations/partnerships with international institutes/universities have been started. MoUs have been signed with Stanford and Boston University.
v Actions have been initiated for revised Cabinet approval, Legislative Bill for Act of Parliament, constitution of various committees, web-design, building construction etc.
June 18th, 2008