Union government has identified Bangalore among the three cities in the country for the promotion and development of Nanotechnology under the Union government grant of Rs 1,000 crore (approx. $225 million). The other two cities are Kolkatta and Mohali. As part of the nanotechnology research and development efforts, the Centre has called upon to set up the Indian Institute of Nano Sciences (IINS) at the three locations. Karnataka has already been granted the Rs 100 crore from the Centre for the commencement of the project and the State government has provided the possession certificate of the 14 acres of land to construct the IINS in Bangalore. The Institute will primarily focus on advanced scientific research. The other two cities will also have to set up similar institutes.
The seventh Indian Institute of Management will begin its first academic session next June on a temporary campus in Shillong that previously housed the North Eastern Hill University.
Union human resource development minister Arjun Singh will lay the foundation stone of the permanent campus of the IIM, named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, tomorrow.
Chief minister D.D. Lapang and Union minister for tribal affairs P.R. Kyndiah will be present at the ceremony.
“While construction of the permanent structure is going on, the institute will start functioning at the Mayurbhanj complex in Nongthymmai,” Rathindra Nath Datta, ex-chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (India), who has been appointed the chairman of the board of governors of the institute, said.
The Meghalaya government has provided 120 acres of land free of cost in the new satellite township of Mawdiangdiang, 20km from Shillong, for the permanent campus.
The institute will get a grant of Rs 120 crore for non-recurring expenditure over five years and Rs 45 crore for recurring expenditure over six years.
Ashok Kumar Dutta, who is at present the director of Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta, is the frontrunner for the post of IIM director.
A post-graduate diploma course in business management will begin in June with an annual intake of 60 students in the first two years. This will be doubled in the third year and increased by another 60 in the sixth.
LONG-TERM MEASURES TO MEET THE SHORTAGE OF PILOTS: CONTRACTING OUT OF MANAGEMENT OF INDIRA GANDHI RASHTRIYA URAN AKADEMI AND ESTABLISHMENT OF FLYING TRAINING INSTITUTE AT GONDIA, MAHARASHTRA
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for management contract agreement of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi with M/s. CAE Inc., Canada and also gave its approval for formation of a subsidiary company of Airports Authority of India for establishing a flying and aviation training institute at Gondia in Maharashtra as a Joint Venture Enterprise with M/s. CAE, Canada.
The management for taking of IGRUA would be taken over by M/s. CAE Inc., Canada for better management of the Akademi in a more professional manner in order to produce 100 pilots per year.
The subsidiary company of AAI will establish a flying and aviation training institute which will help in meeting the growing requirements of pilots and technical manpower relating to the aviation industry.
The Planning Commission, according to highly-placed sources, says GDP allocation to education will increase from its from current 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan. Around 19.7 per cent of the total plan resources would be set aside for education, according to the sources in the Commission.
The Plan outlay for the education sector as a whole will thus be over Rs 2,20,000 crore, five times more than what it was during the 10th Five-Year plan.
… The plan outlay on education has increased from Rs 151.20 crore in the 1st Five Year plan to Rs 43,825 crore in the 10th Five Year plan (2002-2007). The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP also rose from 0.64 per cent in 1951-52 to 3.74 per cent in 2003-2004.
In fact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his independence day speech, had announced the setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 30 central universities. The government is already working on which states will house these institutes of excellence.
"With increased funds, establishing these IITs and IIMs will not be an issue with the government. Besides, the government is also looking at public-private partnership to involve private parties in education," said a professor.
With less than 50 per cent of secondary school students in India continuing college education in any form, and almost two-thirds of Indian universities and 90 per cent of the colleges being rated as "below average" on quality parameters, the funds would be utilised to put in place a better system of education.
The Planning Commission is also targeting a gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 15 per cent by 2015. In the 10th Five-Year Plan, the GER was 10 per cent.
… It was in 1910 that the first educational institute under public-private partnership was set up. Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore was a joint venture between the industrialist Jamsetji Tata and the government.
But in independent India, most of the investment in higher education has been done by the state.
In the India of the future, preference will be given to private-public partnerships to set up top institutes. This partnership will also be explored in the research facilities at the 30 proposed world class universities.
"One has to change the order and we have to change the organisational setup,” says Chairman of Knowledge Commission, Sam Pitroda.
This is a crucial decision. Within the Government itself, there has been tremendous opposition to the entry of private players in higher education.
But by throwing open the IITs and IIMs to private sponsors, the Government is finally breaking down resistance.
The Uttar Pradesh government has started the process for setting up Manyawar Sri Kanshiram Uttar Pradesh Institute of Technology on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on the pattern of the prestigious Bangalore institute.
The Kanshiram institute is proposed to be set up in Lucknow while the IISc will be set up in Greater Noida. An eleven-member committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the chief secretary for the projects.
For the Kanshiram institute, the Lucknow Development Authority would provide 200 acres, while the Greater Noida Authority would give 200 acres for IISc. Both these institutes would be set up by the Rajkiya Nirman Nigam.
In a recent meeting presided over by Principal Secretary to the chief minister Shailesh Krishna, it was decided that the proposed institutes would be centres of excellence and set up under the Acts passed by the state legislatures.
With the help of TCS, Maharashtra has made a plan (3 MB file) to upgrade couple of its state engineering colleges to "IIT level." (See this 3 MB presentation for what is meant by "IIT level.") The initial colleges they have shortlisted for this are VJTI Mumbai, College of Engineering, Pune and Guru Govind Singh College of Engineering, Nanded.
Orissa should follow Maharashtra’s example and take a PPP approach to upgrade UCE Burla and CET Bhubaneswar to IIT level. (Orissa did initiate a plan to upgrade the Keonjhar School of Mines to the ISM level; but that plan has not progressed much.)
After Hyderabad, the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) would commence operations at Ahmedabad, Hajipur (Bihar) and Kolkata this year, Arun Ramanathan, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Fertilizers, said.
NIPER at Hyderabad, the second in the country after Mohali in Haryana, was inaugurated on Friday on a sprawling 150 acres of the sick Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL).
Full-scale operations
Mr. Ramanathan told reporters after the inauguration that the four institutes would take up to two years to commence operations on a full scale. The establishment cost of each of the institutes would be Rs. 200 crore but it would be lesser here as the existing building of the R&D centre of IDPL was utilised for accommodation.
Answering a question, the Secretary also said the Centre was yet to identify a consultant to determine the roadmap for successful functioning of NIPERS in public-private partnership.
In the case of Hyderabad, there was no need of their presence in the initial stages as the State Government had donated the land and the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) offered to be mentor organisation, providing its lab facilities and faculty, Mr. Ramanathan added.
Trained manpower
He also said the Centre decided to start six NIPERs in the country at Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Hajipur, Kolkata, Guwahati and Rae Bareli during the Eleventh Five Year Plan. They planned to provide highly trained manpower for pharma industry which recorded the second highest growth rate after Information Technology. Manpower, however, was a major bottleneck for the pharma industry.
… The Hyderabad NIPER commenced its academic activity with an intake of 40 students in three post-graduate courses.
This article is mostly well argued and has a lot of information regarding recent announcements. My only issue is that it is a bit short-sighted at the end: If Andhra Pradesh can upgrade two of its existing colleges to IIESTs and still get a greenfield IIT, why should Orissa just ask for one upgradation; Orissa should ask for upgradation of UCE Burla to an IIEST and the establishment of a greenfield IIT. Also, just asking for UCE Burla to an upgradation to an IIT is a bit dangerous as the central govt. may say that they are not upgrading any institution to an IIT. If that happens we become double losers. So, Orissa govt should ask that UCE Burla be upgraded to an IIEST and Orissa should get one of the proposed 5 new IITs. Furthermore, as we have argued earlier Orissa govt, should immediately make UCE Burla a state university.
Birla Institute of Technology and Science(BITS) based in Pilani(Rajasthan) has announced plans to set up elite management institutes on par with the IIMs in the next five years.
"As of now, we have not given any concrete shape to our plan but we are targeting to set up full-fledged management institutes in the league of IIMs in another five years. Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar can be the possible locations for these management institutes as the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have evinced a keen interest for these institutes", LK Maheshwari, vice-chancellor of BITS, Pilani told mediapersons.
the Prime Minister’s Office has primed the ministry of civil aviation to draft a policy document for setting up an ‘aviation university’ on the lines of international institutions.
Ministry sources say that the proposed university will be a registered autonomous body and its administration will be based on the lines of IITs and IIMs. The ministry is also forming a group of experts to examine the various models for setting up the university. The varsity will initially be located in Delhi and Mumbai which accounts for more than 50% of the air traffic.
The move has been initiated after the PMO asked the ministry to look into this issue. “The civil aviation sector is growing at the rate of 35-40% in the country and the industry is facing a crunch of skilled manpower in all departments.
If we have to compete as an international hub, we need to have the best trained manpower. The sector has the potential to absorb more than three million jobs directly by 2020 and this will further supplement the direct growth of this sector,” said a senior ministry official.
The expert panel that will work on the university project, will have eight members, consisting of a vice-chancellor of a renowned uni versity, officials of DGCA, HRD and the civil aviation ministry, and people from industry and aviation associations. The committee will first give shape to the objectives of setting up the aviation university and the broad areas and disciplines which will be covered by the curriculum such as gpround handling and technical training for pilots and engineers.
The expert committee will further advise the ministry on the modalities for private sector participation to bring in close coordination between the university and industry.
Besides setting up modalities, the group of experts will also study many international aviation universities which offer such courses. The faculty will have people from a diverse backgrounds such as those with professional aviation experience, including airlines, air traffic control, military, test pilot, and corporate aviation.
Orissa being one of the less dense- in terms of population – states, may be it can pursue this university. However, my guess is this will happen in Nagpur, one of the favorite area of the civil aviation minister, Mr. Praful Patel.
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.)
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.
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to the following proposals:
i) Setting up of six National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) at Hyderabad (Andhra pradesh), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Hajipur (Bihar) Guwahati (Assam), Raibareilly (U.P.) and Kolkata (West Bengal).
ii) Commencing some courses at four locations of New NIPERs from the current academic session i.e. September, 2007 with the assistance of Mentor Institutes.
iii) Continuation of courses under the present arrangements from the plan budget for two years i.e. 2007-08 and 2008-09 and preparation and preparation and approval of the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) by the Competent Authority.
iv) Appointment of a Consultant of repute to prepare the DPR for each NIPER wherever possible on the Public Private Partnership model.
v) Pending the constitution of board of Governors under the NIPER Act 1998, an Apex Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (C&PC) to oversee the functioning of these NIPERs may be set up.
This decision will facilitate training of high caliber pharmaceutical experts and award of Masters degrees to cater to the demand of pharmaceuticals industry, academic institutes and the pharmacy profession.
My comments: In a few years, Orissa should try for a NIPER around Paradip which will become a mega petro-chemicals hub.
Later, Patnaik met Union Minister of Commerce and Industries Kamal Nath.The discussions centred around the proposal of the State Government for setting up a new National Institute of Design (NID) in Bhubaneswar in light of the National Design Policy 2007, which envisages four new National Institute of Design in different regions of the country during the 11 th Plan period.Kamal Nath stated that Bhubaneswar has been short-listed as one of the possible locations for setting up of a new NID and the proposal of the Orissa Government would be considered seriously.
Following is an excerpt on the same topic from the Statesman:
Mr Patnaik met the Central minister in Delhi today and raised the matter saying Bhubaneswar ought to be one of the four new NID’s that were being proposed in the country.He assured Mr Nath that the state will provide necessary infrastructure and even identify institute of university to partner the NID. The Central minister informed the CM that Bhubaneswar figures in the short list drawn up for establishment of NID’s during the 11th Plan period.
Later during the day, Shri Patnaik met the Union Minister for Commerce & Industries, Shri Kamal Nath.The discussions centered around the proposal of the State Government for setting up of a new National Institute of Design (NID) at Bhubaneswar, in the light of the National Design Policy 2007, which envisages four new NIDs in different regions of country during the11th Plan period.The Chief Minister stated that the Orissa Government would provide all necessary infrastructure support like land etc. for the institute.The State Government is also willing to identify an Institution / University which can partner NID for setting up the new institute.Shri Kamal Nath stated that Bhubaneswar has been shortlisted as one of the possible locations for setting up a new NID and that they would consider the proposal of the State Government seriously.
