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

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

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

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

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 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

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

IGIT, CET, VSSUT, NIT RKL selected to proceed further on the TEQIP-II program

(Thanks to Biswa for the pointer.)

Update: It looks like IGIT Sarang was the only one in the 25 government colleges that are eligible (under sub component 1.1) to submit an Institutional Developmental Proposal (IDP). VSSUT and CET are in the list of Ineligible (under sub componnet 1.1) Govt. funded/aided institutions (for which the state is ready to co-sponsor) that can submit again for compliance of eligibility conditions & then submit IDPs. There are no private institutions from Odisha under sub component 1.1.

There are no eleigible institutions from Odisha under sub-component 1.2. NIT Rourkela is in the list of Non-Eligible Institutions (for which State is ready to co-sponsor) shortlisted for compliance of eligibility conditions for participation in the Project under Sub-Component 1.2.

The following table lists the institutions that applied from Oidsha, their over all scores and the problems they had (if any).

As per http://www.npiu.nic.in/faq.htm sub component 1.1 is about  Strengthening institutions to improve learning outcomes and employability of graduates and Sub-component 1.2 is about Scaling-up postgraduate education and demand driven R&D and innovation.

One  of the requirement for the BOG is that it be headed by an eminent industrialist/engineering academician with adequate representation from other stakeholders.

So it is not clear what the Telegraph article below is talking about.

As per the report in http://telegraphindia.com/1101207/jsp/orissa/story_13265662.jsp the five Colleges are:

• DRIEMS, Tangi, Cuttack
• NIST, Berhampur
• CEB, Bhubaneswar
• VSSUT, Burla
• IGIT, Sarang

The details of the program is at http://www.npiu.nic.in/faqi.htm. From a quick reading it seems that the government institutions will get about 10 crores each and the private ones about 4 crores each.

1 comment December 7th, 2010

M.Tech seat matrix in colleges under BPUT for the 2010-11 session

Following is obtained from http://odishajee.com/home.asp.

In addition to the above, additional M.Tech seats are available at:

• IIIT Bhubaneswar
• SOA University Bhubaneswar
• KIIT Bhubaneswar
• CIPET Bhubaneswar
• IMMT Bhubaneswar
• OUAT Bhubaneswar
• IIT Kharagpur, Bhubaneswar campus
• VSSUT, Sambalpur
• NIT Rourkela
• SUIIT, Sambalpur

See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4984 for seat matrix in the above places.

October 11th, 2010

New Odisha Institutions that have been recommended by AICTE; Approved number of seats in various colleges (old and new

Following is obtained from sheet1 http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/impann/371_New_Recommanded.htm.

• Bhubaneswar Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, Engineering College
• Capital Institute of Management & Science, Bhubaneswar, Management
• Capital Engineering College, Bhubaneswar, Engineering College
• DRIEMS BUSINESS SCHOOL, Cuttack, Management
• INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, Bhubaneswar, Engineering College
• Radhakrishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (RITE), Bhubaneswar, Engineering College
• RAYAGADA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, Rayagada, Engineering
• Saraswat Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Management

In Sheet 2 of that link there are a few additional institutes. Its implication is not clear.

• KRUTTIKA INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL, Bhubaneswar, Engineering College
• BHADRAK ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY, Bhubaneswar, Engineering College

The following two links have information on institutions that are recommended but need to submit additional information before getting an LOA.

• http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/impann/incomplete_data_185.htm
• http://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/impann/incomplete_data_371.htm

The following link has information on the number of seats approved by AICTE for various colleges in Orissa.

• http://www.aicte-india.org/excel/29jun/ORISSA.html.

1 comment July 4th, 2010

Odisha plans a power management institute along the lines of NPTI and PMI

From http://www.npti.in/about.html:

National Power Training Institute (NPTI) has been set up by the Government of India under the Ministry of Power, to function as the National Apex Body for Human Resources Development of Indian Power Sector. The Corporate Office of NPTI is located at NPTI Complex, Sector-33, Faridabad -121 003 (Haryana). It operates on an all India basis through its Institutes in the different regions/power zones of the country viz.. Neyveli. Durgapur, New Delhi, Nagpur, Guwahati, Faridabad and Bangalore.

From http://pmintpc.com/interface/about_us_overview.shtml:

The Power Management Institute (PMI) was set up by NTPC in recognition of the vital role that management development has to play, in the context of the challenges associated with the growth of the Indian Power Sector. The Institute is involved in the training and development of middle and senior level personnel not only from the power sector but from organizations outside the sector also.

… The institute’s integrated campus at Noida boasts of modern infrastructure and facilities.

Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard report in sify.com.

Keeping in view the huge manpower requirement for the upcoming power plants of the independent power producers (IPPs) in Orissa, the state government is mulling to set up a Power Management Institute on the lines of the National Power Training Institute (NPTI).

All the IPPs have assured their support to the state government for this institute. To implement the project, the state government would form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with IPPs as stake holders.

The location, investment, intake capacity and other relevant details are yet to be worked out as things are at a preliminary stage.P K Jena, the state energy secretary, said, "The state government is planning to set up a power management institute on the lines of NPTI. The proposed institute is still at a conceptual stage and a concept note is being prepared by the state government in this connection."

"The power management institute will offer diploma as well as degree courses in engineering. The institute will primarily focus on various areas pertaining to the power sector", he added.

The objective behind setting up this institute is to prepare skilled and semi-skilled manpower for the upcoming power projects.It may be noted that as many as 27 IPPs have inked MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government. All these 27 IPPs have a cumulative generation capacity of 32,420 MW.These power projects are set to generate around 50,000 direct jobs besides creating indirect employment for 150,000 people.

The page http://www.orissa.gov.in/energy/Mou-IPP/MoU_IPP1.htm lists 21 of the 27 MOUs that have been signed. We reproduce that list below.

4 comments June 20th, 2010

Demand to upgrade BOSE to an engineering College: Dharitri

It may be a good idea to consider upgrading all the government diploma colleges to also include degree programs. See the list at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4122.

May 8th, 2010

Andhra’s recruiting of IITians as faculty for its 3 recent IIITs

In 2008 Andhra created 3 new IIITs in rural areas of the state. These three IIITs at Basar, Nuzvid and RK Valley are the components of the newly established Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies. Following are excerpts from a report in Times of India that talks about hiring of faculty for these IIITs.

The institutes are going through a crisis at present due to inadequate faculty and lack of infrastructure because of which the state government has decided to reduce the intake of students by half — from 6,000 per year to 3,000 — from the coming academic year.

… “About 140 post-graduates from the five Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have come forward to teach the rural students even though they have lucrative offers on hand from the corporate sector and international institutes,” said R V Raja Kumar, vice chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University for Knowledge Technologies under which the three institutes function.

At least half of the selected post-graduates and PhDs are Andhrites and have expressed their willingness to stay among the students and impart engineering education in the country, the VC said. Raja Kumar himself is an IITian from Kharagpur. “The hunt for talent will continue. We want to recruit post-graduates from the institutes of national and international repute in the country,” the VC said.

.. “This is for the first time in India that campus recruitment is being done by a university for the recruitment of the faculty. The response has been very encouraging and several post-graduates have volunteered to join the institutes located in remote areas,” said Raja Kumar.

In Odisha KIIT has been recruiting heavily from IITs. We reported on it in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2492. I hope the Odisha government engineering colleges, IIIT Bhubaneswar, SUIIT and VSSUT follow a similar approach and go for campus recruitment in the IITs.

The program at these IIITs in Andhra are different from programs anywhere else. See http://www.rgukt.in/program.html. They offer 6 year dual degree programs after the 10th class and take students mainly from the rural areas.

May 2nd, 2010

New dynamic VCs lead the Sambalpur region towards a knowledge hub

UCE Burla becoming VSSUT and the hiring of dynamic vice Chancellors at VSSUT (Prof. D K Tripathy from IIT Kharagpur) as well as at Sambalpur University (Prof. Arun Pujari from the University of Hyderabad) has given a huge momentum in making the Sambalpur area a knowledge hub and together with similar progress at Rourkela a western knowledge corridor is now in the making. In this write-up we will focus on the greater Sambalpur area ranging from Bargarh in the west of Sambalpur to Jharsuguda and Sundergarh in the north and north east.

• Universities: Two exists; 2 more in the making
  • There are two universities with dynamic leadership at their helm: VSSUT and Sambalpur University
  • Sambalpur University has received approval and funding for a SU-IIT (Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology) and is pursuing a sports institute.
  • VSSUT has significant expansion plans.
  • There is a proposal to upgrade GM college to a unitary university.
  • The health minister had announced to upgrade VSS Medical College to a university.
  • Branch of OUAT in Chipilima.
• Engineering Colleges: Besides VSSUT, there are five more engineering colleges in the area. 2 in Baragarh, 1 in Jharsuguda, 1 in Sundergarh and 1 in Sason (Silicon West).
• Management Institute: XIMB plans a campus in this area.
• Centrally funded Institutes: IIHT (Indian Institute of Handloom Technology) in Baragarh.
• Research Institute: CIFT Burla.
• Other Colleges: Panchayat College Baragarh, NSCB College Sambalpur, Govt. Womens College Sambalpur, Govt. College Sundergarh and Govt. Womens College Sundergarh.
• Demography: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2715
• Infrastructure:
  • Rail Connectivity: See https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/2005
  • Airport: Jharsuguda airport is under construction.

The above gives the current status of this area. In addition to the efforts mentioned above, following should also be pursued.

• The VSSUT must be upgraded to a national level institute such as an IIEST (Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology)
• An STP must be established in Sambalpur.
• Operationalization of Jharsuguda airport must be expedited.
• One of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. needs to open a research center here.
• The Orissa government should push to upgrade the VSS Medical College to the AIIMS level.
• Establishment of private medical colleges in this area must be encouraged.
• The OUAT college in Chipilima needs to upgraded and expanded
• A regional university (similar to the old regional engineering colleges, with 50-50 partnership between the state and the central govt.) should be established in Jharsuguda. (This could be part of the 12th five year plan starting from 2012.)
• A state university should be established in Jharsuguda during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• A state university should be established in Baragarh during the 13th plan. (by 2020)
• Considering the rapid industrialization of the area, the Govt. Engineering School in Jharsuguda should be upgraded to an engineering college, perhaps as a constituent college of VSSUT.

NOTE on Comments: Only constructive comments will be allowed. Please do not submit comments that advocate separatism, conspiracy theories, shifting, badmouthing, etc.

March 14th, 2010