Odisha HRD

Past, present and future plans of Utkal University; Engineering college from next year

Following is from Samaja.

Following is from Sambada.

November 28th, 2011

CV Raman in Odisha is one of the 11 institutions in India offering Bachelors in Marine Engineering

Following is their ad.

The complete list of 11 colleges is available via http://www.imu.tn.nic.in/List%20imu%20institutes/list%20imu%20institutes.html. Following are screen copies.

Note that the Indian Maritime University now has a new campus in Kandla, Gujarat. The initial campuses were in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam and Kochi. The Odisha government should push for a campus in Odisha; perhaps by taking over or in adjacent to the existing Orissa maritime academy in Paradeep.

1 comment November 27th, 2011

Utkal University plans beyond the initiatives of the previous Sambalpur VC and plans to establish an engineering college

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph by Priya Abraham. 

Utkal University is set to establish an engineering college in the capital.

… “The proposal to set up a new technical college has already been discussed by the syndicate and will be taken up by the academic council. The target is to start the new institute by the next academic session. A committee of experts will be set up to finalise the project,” Utkal University vice-chancellor P.K. Sahoo told The Telegraph.

“The team would discuss technical and academic aspects of the institute. Based on its recommendations, the institute will be set up,” said Sahoo.

The college will be located on the varsity campus and will have modern facilities and equipment. “We are trying to bring in diversification. For the staff salary, pension and modernising the varsity, there is a need for adequate funds. The UGC and state government have already asked state universities to try and raise their own funds. Only then can the varsity be self sustainable,” said the vice-chancellor.

Officials said a special budget would be sanctioned to make various provisions for the proposed institute.

However, this initiative by the university has surprised many people because technical education in the state is passing through a grim phase. About 22,000 of the 38,000-odd engineering seats are lying vacant. This number is around 5,000 more than last year.

… “There is definitely a lot of scope. Utkal University is a premier university and has earned a good name at the national level. Like all other self-financing courses that we have launched, this would also be a successful one,” said PG council chairman Pradip Kumar Sarkar.

Although there is a glut of engineering seats in Odisha with more than half the available seats unfulfilled, this is still a good move. This is along the lines of the recommendation by the Yashpal committee which recommended more well rounded universities. Having an engineering college as part of the university will make Utkal a more well-rounded university. In particular, being part of a university, the engineering program can take advantage of the existing university faculty in many disciplines (especially, English, Business, Economics, Psychology, Sciences, and Mathematics) and foster many cross disciplinary programs  and research projects.

This action also shows that the new Utkal VC is a man of action and is willing to take risks. This bodes well for Utkal.

ps —  We thank Prof. Arun Pujari, the immediate past VC of Sambalpur University, for having led the way in this direction by establishing SUIIT with several engineering programs and several other innovative programs. It is unfortunate that several locals and some activists could not understand his groundbreaking contributions and lobbied to deny him a second term. We hope that the new Sambalpur VC will continue the progress than Prof. Pujari made in Sambalpur.

November 19th, 2011

Lots of empty seats in professional courses even after a second counseling

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

At the end of the first phase of web counselling for engineering courses, around 12,000 of the 38,000-odd seats were filled up. The huge number of empty seats forced the state government to conduct another round of counselling “to fill up as many seats as possible”. However, OJEE authorities said just about 3,000 more candidates have shown interest in admission, which still leaves more than 23,000 seats vacant.

… The faulty and lengthy e-counselling process has put off many aspirants, forcing them to look for other options,” said the principal of a city-based engineering college.

For the medical courses, the second phase of centralised counselling ended last evening. Although MBBS and BDS (dental) seats in all the three government colleges were filled up, 70 of 100 BDS seats at the Hi-Tech (private) Medical College here were still lying vacant.

There are 150 MBBS seats each in the government colleges – VSS, Burla, SCB Medical College, Cuttack, and MKCG, Berhampur. At Hi-Tech, there are 100 MBBS seats and all of them have been filled up. This year, a total of 2,203 medical aspirants had qualified the OJEE and the first phase of counselling was conducted on July 14 and 15.

In other streams, only 40 to 60 per cent seats have found takers. Approximately 4,000 of the 7,000-odd MBA seats and 2,000 of nearly 4,000 MCA seats are up for grabs. In pharmacy, around 1,200 out of 2,000-plus seats are lying vacant.

With much more seats than the number of students, the government, OJEE and BPUT authorities need to simplify and shorten the process of counseling. They may also consider scrapping the OJEE exams in the various fields, except the medical part.

5 comments September 15th, 2011

Orissa School of Mining Engineering (OSME) Degree Stream advertises for 26 faculty positions (Deadline: 20th September 2011)

Following is from http://www.bput.ac.in/bput_notice/1127recruitment_osme.html.

 REGULAR RECRUITMENT TO CONSTITUENT COLLEGE

 Applications in prescribed format along with details of qualification, experience and contribution to profession/ research are invited from Indian Nationals for the regular faculty positions (Professor, Asst. Professor and Lecturer) in Orissa School of Mining Engineering (Degree Stream), Keonjhar. The posts given below shall carry the revised pay and AGP as per notification of the 6th Pay issued by the Government of Orissa.

* UR (Unreserved); ST (Scheduled Tribe) ; SEBC (Socially & Economically Backward classes )

* Qualification and experience for regular faculty positions:  AICTE/ UGC norms would be applicable.

Application are invited in the prescribed format (format and other details are available in our website i.e.www.bput.ac.in) Applicants should enclose two passport size photographs and one A/c payee DD for Rs. 500/- (Rs.100/- for SC/ ST candidates) in favour of Biju Patnaik University of Technology, drawn on any Nationalized Bank, payable at Rourkela. The applicant is required to indicate the post applied for and submit separate application for each post. The applications would be accepted only by Post; No Hand Delivery is acceptable. In-service candidates would have to submit a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the employers at the time of interview. The last date of receipt of application by the undersigned at BPUT, UGIE Complex, Jail Road, Rourkela -769004 is 20.09.2011. Minimum eligibility does not ensure that a candidate will be called for interview and be selected for any post; the decision of the authorities is final. For details please refer to the University website www.bput.ac.in.

Click here to DOWNLOAD Application Form

August 21st, 2011

BIT offers attractive scholarships to attract top ranked students

(Disclaimer: I am listed as a "Friend of BIT" and as an adjunct and visiting faculty. So this is a biased posting. Nevertheless, I know many of its founders and am convinced of their sincerity to establish a top notch college in Odisha. Its Chairman, Prof. Rabi Mahapatra, was my professor at IIT Kharagpur. He is currently a full professor at Texas A & M University, a top university, especially in Engineering, in the USA. Even though BIT is new and its first batch has not graduated, I hope more top students will consider going to BIT. Besides the scholarship offer and other things mentioned in this ad, BIT has sent 1-2 of its top students to Texas A & M this summer.)

NOTE: The registration deadline has been extended till 22nd July.

1 comment July 20th, 2011

Web page of Parala Maharaj Engineering College (a govt. college) in Berhampur

http://www.pmec.org.in/. There is not much information there yet. They should at least put a list of departments and their faculty.

3 comments July 13th, 2011

SUIIT offers two B.Tech, two M.Tech, three M.Sc and an MCA program in its second year

It now has its own website at http://suiit.ac.in/. Following is the ad that appeared in various newspapers.

Following is a screen copy of the web page of SUIIT.

With the new B.Tech programs, Sambalpur University will become the first general university of Odisha to offer such a program. Kudos to its VC for his vision and this unique achievement.

May 13th, 2011

Which branch to take for Engineering Diploma in Odisha?

These days many students after their Class X exam instead of joining a +2Sc/Arts/Commerce program enroll in an engineering diploma program. The reason being:

(a) They can avail of lateral entry to the 2nd year of B.E program if they have "Pass in 3 years diploma course in Engineering with at least 50% ( 45% in case of candidate belong to SC / ST category) marks in aggregate from State Council of Technical Education and Training (SCTE&VT)". For them there is a reservation of "Upto a maximum of twenty percent of sanctioned intake capacity of 2010-20 11 in appropriate discipline of engineering (these seats will be over and above the intake capacity) and carry forward vacant seats of first year of engineering (as per list submitted by JEE-2010) will be available for lateral entry at third semester level."

(b) They can also join the first year of B.E program if they wish to do that.

Now when choosing what branch in Diploma they should pursue they should look at the following table from the JEE prospectus. It will tell them from which diploma branch they can join "laterally" (i.e, to the second year) to which B.E. branch .

As per the JEE 2011 stipulations, the most flexible branch seems to be "Mechatronics" as it allows them to pursue Mechanical Engineering as well as several Electronics related branches.  (This may change in the future. So students need to check the latest JEE prospectus.)

1 comment May 9th, 2011

Seat availavility to study architecture in Odisha (via Odisha JEE 2011)

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

May 8th, 2011

Seat availability in Engineering Colleges in Odisha via JEE 2011

The following is extracted from the Odisha JEE 2011 brochure. Thanks to a post in rourkelacity.com for the pointer.

Note that in addition to the above colleges (8 govt + 94 private), students can study engineering at the following other institutions in Odisha; but one needs to use different channels to get admitted there.

• NIT Rourkela
• KIIT Bhubaneswar
• SOA Bhubaneswar
• Agricultural Engineering at OUAT Bhubaneswar
• IIT Bhubaneswar
• SU-IIT Sambalpur

In total, aspiring students of Odisha currently have  a total of 108 institutions to pursue their Engineering degree.

2 comments May 8th, 2011

Odisha government decides not to approve any new engineering colleges for 2011-12: Samaja

With large number of seats falling vacant in the last two years, this is a good decision. Although, they have decided not to approve any new engineering colleges this year, there may be a handful (5-6) that were approved by the Odisha government last year but did not get AICTE approval in time, which may be able to go forward this year. (I am not sure, if they will need a fresh No Objection certificate from the state.)

3 comments March 11th, 2011

Odisha Power Technology and management Institute (OPTMI)

We earlier wrote about this proposal in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4781. There is a new article about it in tathya.in. Nothing much new in this article except it gives the name of the institute. Nevertheless, the new article suggests that that authorities are thinking about its implementation. Following is from this tathya article.

With 40 000 Mega Watt (MW) power production being lined up, the Government of Odisha is mulling to set up a Power Technology Management Institute in the state. 

So the Government of Odisha has decided to set up the Odisha Power Technology and management Institute(OPTMI), which will be of international standard, said official sources. 

More than 30 Independent Power Producers (IPP)s are setting up their plants in the state, major share of such capacity addition is expected within Twelfth Plan Period(2012-17), foresee officials in Department of Energy(DOE).

In fact increase in power generation capacities also requires commensurate development of transmission capabilities as well as enhanced techno-commercial and  management skills as well as modern Grid management and Energy metering, said Pradip Kumar Jena, Secretary DOE.

Mr.Jena said that it would increasingly become necessary to adopt highly efficient technologies, commercial and management practices to handle such high volume of power generation, transmission and distribution. 

Needless to say that this would also require a vast pool of human resources having skillsets and competency of a nature not widely available today, said an expert in Power Sector. 

So the Power Administrators have felt the necessity to simultenously plan an accelerated growth of human resources having right competence . 

Moreover, in order to utilize newly emerging frontier technology and management concepts it would be necessary to develop an advanced facility to undertake research in such high technology and management sectors with continuous focus on Power Sector of Odisha.

Keeping this in view OPTMI is being planned to be set up on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, said an official. 

This institute will be set up with active participation of the upcoming power projects in the state and the Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)s of the Power Sector, said the official.

1 comment February 23rd, 2011

The 100 Engineering Colleges under BPUT

This list is from the page http://www.bput.ac.in/colleges_bput2010.html.

Soon two of the above colleges will move from BPUT to be under Centurion University. Also IIIT is scheduled to become a state university.

The other places to study engineering in Odisha are:

1. KIIT Bhubaneswar (Deemed university)
2. ITER Bhubaneswar (Deemed university)
3. VSSUT, Burla (State University)
4. NIT Rourkela  (Institute of National Importance)
5. IIT Bhubaneswar (Institute of National Importance)
6. College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology (CAET), OUAT, Bhubaneswar

3 comments February 3rd, 2011

10 more IITs? Bangalore University to push for upgradation of UVCE to IIT status.

Update: From a report in DNA.

Sources from the ministry of human resource development said that under the 12th plan, the Centre would announce 10 more IITs.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Deccan Herald.

The Bangalore University will submit a memorandum to the Union Law Minister on January 2 urging him to upgrade University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) to an Indian Institute of Technology.

"The HRD ministry has announced that it would set up ten more IITs soon. UVCE has the necessary infrastructure, expertise, faculty and students. This can be converted into an IIT with a campus at Muddenahalli," Vice-chancellor N Prabhu Dev told reporters on Friday. The memorandum will be submitted at the mega reunion event of UVCE alumni, which will be held from January 1 to 3 on the occasion of Sir Visvesvaraya’s 150th anniversary. "UVCE might remain a constituent college of BU. Even if we have to let go of the administration of UVCE, we will not mind," he added.

VSSUT Burla must be watchful and take appropriate steps at the right time.

3 comments January 1st, 2011

Sibal’s plans to expand engineering seats and involve corporates: new AICTE norms unveiled

Update: Following is the PIB release on it.

Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, announced revised norms for the approval process, for 2011-2012, of institutes that are regulated by the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE), here today. 

The AICTE has been making an effort to facilitate stake holders in establishing good technical institutions in the Country. In order that a planned and coordinated development is ensured in technical education, AICTE for the coming year 2011 -12 has taken the following facilitative measures for Institutions, Faculty and students and others. 

1. Introduction of Section 25 of Company’s Act to allow good corporates to setup Technical Institutions. However no Joint ventures can apply for this. 

PPP and BOT model

2. Extended to 241 Districts where currently no AICTE Institution exists. This will facilitate spread of Technical education to all under represented areas. 

3. Benefits of MEGA Cities extended to Metros and MRDA regions. Now there shall be two classifications of Rural and Other areas where the land requirement is: Rural area 10 acres, Other areas 2.5 acres. 

4. FSI / FAR shall be considered for vertical Expansion where Management Programs will be allowed on FSI / FAR basis

5. Social Responsibility

5pm to 8 pm Courses for skill development that are based on the expertise areas possessed by the respective Institutions in the areas of Engineering / Technology / Architecture / Town Planning / Hospitality / Pharmacy etc are being allowed to be conducted by AICTE approved Institutions. This will facilitate the community around the Institutions to benefit by acquiring the skills provided by these Institutes. These Institutions are expected to form clusters with other institutions in the neighbourhood and collaborate with the Industries in the area in running these skill based programs. 

6. Upto year 2010, Architecture had 40 students / division. This has been raised to 60 Seats / division. to provide for larger no. of seats and optimisation of resources without having to set up new institutions in the area. 

7. Upto year 2010, different Programs like Engineering / Architecture / Pharmacy / Management / Hotel management and catering Technology, one each were allowed to be integrated into a single campus so that resources can be shared and optimised. Now this facility has been extended to more than one program to be integrated. Ie, 2 or more Engineering colleges, 2 or more management colleges and so on can be integrated as Technical / integrated campus to optimise resources

8. Upto year 2010, Tuition fee waiver scheme operated by AICTE allows for providing 10% supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category. These seats were provided for Instituitions who may apply for such a scheme. Now these seats are made manadatory for every Institute upto 5%.

9. Security Money Deposit that takes care of contingencies in case of Institutions defaulting on their obligations, shall be replaced as money deposit in AICTE account. All existing FDR’s shall be converted to money deposit. This is necessitated because of 

• Earlier FDR’s being encashed without AICTE knowledge or permission

• Custody and logistics of maintaining FDR’s being a source of problems. 

10. The interest accrued shall be used to facilitate more stake holders like faculty, students, funding Institutions through schemes, and enhanced scholarships. AICTE has recently taken a decision to include all Government and Government aided Institutions as QIP centres in order to promote more research amongst faculty and produce more Ph. D’s. Hence a lot more faculty would be needed to be provided with QIP scholarships. This is also expected to be met from the money so generated. 

11. All institutions completing more than one batch shall be eligible to get 2 Courses / program / level / shift on self disclosure if facilities and infrastructure are available. One Course would mean an addition of 60 students or one division. The ceiling which was there earlier like no increase after an intake of 540 students has been removed. 

12. Institutions not completing one batch of passed out students shall get 1 Courses / program / level / shift on self disclosure if facilities are available. 

13. If institutions have accreditation a further 1 Courses / program / level / shift shall be given additional in the course accredited. 

14. 2nd Shift Courses and Women to Co-Ed Institutions shall be processed only after expert visits confirm that the infrastructure required exists with the Institutions. 

15. Stand alone PG Institutes can be started which was not the case earlier. 

16. Indian Degrees can be given in Campuses of Indian Institutions abroad subject to local laws. 

17. Overseas campus can be setup subject to local laws and Indian Government clearance. 

18. PGDM courses to be regulated as per several representations made. 



• Date of admissions and Model curriculum to be given by AICTE



• Admissions to be effected by States and Fee to be regulated by State fee committee. 

19. All approvals for Polytechnics shall be processed by AICTE. 

20. Students of XII Vocational / Technical of the State Boards or any other to be admitted to 2nd Year lateral entry of a Diploma Program

21. Students of B. Sc to be admitted to 2nd Year lateral entry onto a Degree Program provided they have passed Mathematics at XII or B Sc level and would be required to pass Engineering Graphics and Engineering Mechanics along with the second year subjects. 

22. 10% lateral entry setas increased to 20% in all states except Andaman Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Diu Daman where it is 30%

23. A separate division of 60 students / course can be started from 2nd year onwards in all AICTE approved Institutions subject to availability of infrastructure, exclusively for Polytechnic students for lateral entry. 

24. All approval process to be completed by May 31st 2011 to enable coordinated planning. 

MV/Hb

Following are excerpts from a report in India Today.

The new norms, allowing for an increase in the number of institutes and seats in various courses, will come into effect immediately.

(1) … all institutions completing more than one batch will be eligible to get two courses and programmes.

One course would mean the addition of 60 students.

(2) The earlier ceiling, which did not permit any increase after an intake of 540 students, has now been removed.

(3) All these steps envisage an increase in the number of total available seats by 50 per cent and a sharp increase in the workload of the faculty members. …

(4) The reforms also include relaxing land requirement for setting up institutions from 3.5 acres to 2.5 acres in urban areas and introducing section 25 of the Companies Act to allow ‘ good corporates’ to set up technical institutions. No joint ventures can apply for this.

(5) Until recently, postgraduate programmes could be started only where an undergraduate programme existed. But now, the AICTE will permit standalone postgraduate institutions to be started.

In regards to point (4) above one may note that one of the controversy regarding Vedanta University is regarding its status as a Section 25 company.

Following are excerpts from a report in expressbuzz.com.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday announced the revised norms for the approval process for 2011-2012 of institutes that are regulated by All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE). …

… From now onwards, technical institutes approved by the AICTE, have to reserve up to 5 percent of their seats for students from economically backward sections of society.

“Till now, tuition fee waiver scheme, operated by the AICTE, allowed providing up to 10 percent supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category. It was the discretion on the part of the institution to apply for such a scheme. Now, these seats are made mandatory for every institute up to 5 percent,” Sibal said. The minister said, “These measures are aimed at easing pressure on the education sector and providing relief to the students in matters of admission.” 

January 1st, 2011