Odisha HRD

CM asks for IIT, IIM, and IIIT in Orissa

Tathya.in reports that  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has again highlighted the need of establishing IIT, IIM, and IIIT in Orissa while addressing the 54th National Development Council meeting. Following is an excerpt.

Naveen Patnaik has set the target of growth at 9 per cent during next five years.

Addressing the 54th meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) here on 19 December, Chief Minister of Orissa announced that the 11th five year plan for Orissa has an outlay of Rs.32,225 crore and targeted 9 per cent growth for the plan period.

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Establishment of prestigious Central institutions like IIT, IIM and IIIT in Orissa to meet growing needs of skilled manpower for upcoming industries, was highlighted in his speech.

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1 comment December 19th, 2007

Education to remain the most favored sector in the 11th Plan: PM

The Sahara Samaya reports on the Prime Minister’s address at the National Development Council meeting. Following is an excerpt.

Observing that education is the "most favoured sector", the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today said the outlay on education will be up from 7.68 per cent of the Central Gross Budgetary Support in the 10th Plan to over 19 per cent in the 11th Plan.

In fact, education is the most favoured sector and the three fold increase in its share and a five fold increase in the actual outlays demonstrate the criticality of this sector in ensuring sustained inclusive growth in the future," he told the National Development Council (NDC) meeting to approve the XIth Five Year plan.

Singh said the country needed a greatly expanded supply of educated and skilled labour to support ambitious growth targets.

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During the Plan period 6,000 model schools in all blocks, 30 new Central Universities, 370 new colleges in educationally backward districts, a Skill Development Mission to cater to one crore students per year and a huge expansion in the number of IIT, IIM, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research are proposed, Singh said. "This is a decisive start to bridging the knowledge gap in our country,"he said.

 

December 19th, 2007

Orissa in slumber and may miss taking advantage of the 11th plan opportunities in higher education: Tathya.in

Action Item: Readers concerned about this may write to the CM at cmo@ori.nic.in to take immediate action and copy to one of the journalists in Orissa (perhaps Braja babu of Tathya.in at brajakmishra@gmail.com)

Following is from http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1455.

Orissa this time also is all set to miss the bus for Higher Education.

While the Higher Education Program for the Eleventh Five Year Plan is being final touches, Orissa is in deep slumber. 

And who will be able to wake up a sleeping state, which is at the lowest ebb of the investment plan of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), asks educationists.

The Eleventh Plan is historical because investment in HRD sector will receive a big jump.

Just follow these numbers:

Currently there are 7 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s that was made over 60 years; there will 8 more during the 11th Plan.

There are 23 central universities made over 60 years; 30 more will be added during the Plan.

There are no world class universities in India and planners have decided to go for 14.

There are 6 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) s that was made over 60 years; there is a plan to establish 7 more.

There is a plan to set up Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).

Currently there is a single National Institute of Design that was made in 60 years since Independence; there is a plan to make 4 more during the Plan.

The 11th Plan’s stated goal is to take the higher education enrolment to 15 per cent.

Orissa’s higher education enrolment is at the bottom 6.1 per cent.

So Orissa must be working very hard to take advantage of the 11th plan.

Lo behold ! No home work in sight and this time also the state is going to loose heavily, feel the educationists.

Chitta Baral, Professor in Arizona State University is a worried person.

And Prof. Baral has every reason to worry.

We need a world class university and not a single soul has raised his voice for the same in the Government, lamented Prof.Baral.

This type of institution will have a budget of Rs.1000 crore. 

It  would be again a pity, if the state is going to lose the same as there is  opportunity to make a strong case.

It has the Ravenshaw University which without any affiliate colleges, matches the expected model of a world class university.

But will the State Government make such a case, asks Prof.Baral.

While Orissa is haunted by deaths due to cholera, it will be an appropriate place for setting up an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH)

Till date the State has made no efforts to get one of the proposed 5-7 IIPHs in Orissa.

So far Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s are concerned Orissa has not done much beyond the Chief Minister sending a couple of half-baked and impolite letters to the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, many other states have sent more detailed proposals.

Take the case of KBK Central University, in the past Orissa has made a case regarding a Central University in KBK.

However, it has not followed up on it recently.

Is not it time the State Government to follow up on this and makes a case, by pointing to the central universities in the North East, asks he.

It is not too late for many of the above; otherwise Orissa will get the pea nuts and predictably complain about Central apathy against the state.

3 comments December 18th, 2007

More tidbits on Education and HRD in the 11th plan

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

The 11th five year Plan document proposes an almost 10-fold increase in outlay for higher and technical education. The planners have set ambitious targets — to attract 15% students passing out of class XII (from the current 10%) into higher education by 2012 and 22% by 2017. The way to do this, they say, is to expand and upgrade on an unprecedented scale.

In the new Plan, there’s more of everything — 30 new central universities are to be set up, seven IITs and IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five research institutes to be called Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs, two schools of architecture and 330 colleges in educationally backward districts. All this is in line with the PM’s announcement in his August 15 speech this year.

Infrastructure in existing universities and institutions is also in for major upgradation. Among the big beneficiaries of these special grants will be 17 yet-to-identified central universities which will get Rs 3,298 crore. Besides, 39 engineering institutes will receive a whopping Rs 6,749 crore, again for ramping up infrastructure. A good dose of funds has also been set aside for upgrading agriculture, management and medical institutions.

But this money comes with a plan. …

For instance, the document seeks to raise fees for higher education to up to 20% of operational costs, which is 5% at present. “Higher education is highly subsidized. The document seeks to reduce this subsidy to improve quality of education,” said Bhalchandra Mungekar, member Planning Commission.

Another proposal is to break up large affiliating varsities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune into more manageable units. The document says large universities are unsustainable. Osmania University has more than 900 affiliated colleges while Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore varsities have around 500. Some of these institutions conduct over 1,000 examinations annually. “These universities have ceased to be centres of higher education. They are becoming agencies for conducting examinations,” said Mungekar.

Not all experts share this view. Deepak Pental, V-C of Delhi University (which has 83 affiliated colleges), said, “I am not convinced that smaller universities are better managed. Most of the varsities in the country are smaller than DU, are they better managed? Yes, we definitely won’t like to have any more colleges, but proper way of reforms would be to invest in the existing universities and upgrade their infrastructure.”

V N R Pillai, V-C of IGNOU, central open university, endorses this view. “A sizeable amount of new allocations should be earmarked for improving existing facilities of 18,000 colleges and 400 universities. This should be the first priority of reforms,” he said.

Another target of reforms is the examination system. … The paper says annual examinations have become irrelevant for testing knowledge. It suggests replacing this with continuous assessment and evaluation. The document calls for implementing the semester system and continuous evaluation in all central universities from the coming academic year (2008). It also suggests introducing a credit system where students will also be allowed to appear for papers in other streams. UGC chairman, Sukhadeo Thorat said, UGC has set up a committee to devise an action plan for exam reform within one month.

The paper also expands on the growing trend of private universities coming up in the country. It says the government isn’t in a position to ensure growth levels of 15-20% in higher education. Private investment will therefore be encouraged through tax breaks and other incentives. It has also sought private participation in providing services in existing institutions.

November 27th, 2007

Orissa has asked for two central universities: Assembly answer by Higher Education minister (in Samaja)

November 23rd, 2007

Higher education crisis in India: Samaja op-ed

November 21st, 2007

14 World class universities in India: Guidelines being formulated, States to compete

Following is an excerpt from a report on this in Economic Times.

NEW DELHI: With a thrust on improving the standard of higher education, government is working on a proposal to set up 14 ‘World Class Universities’ across the country at an early date.

A blueprint is being prepared by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and Planning Commission to set out the criteria for such universities, which will have a business management school, an engineering college, a medical college, a law college in a single campus.

The proposal is being pursued by the Prime Minister’s office which has asked the HRD Ministry and Planning Commission to expedite formulation of guidelines for such universities and give the final picture by the third week of this month.

… The HRD Ministry and Planning Commission have started working on these guidelines acting on the proposal of full Planning Commission meeting on education sector that held on September 13.

"We are working at a very fast pace on the guidelines because we have already been told once by the PMO that we are behind the schedule. So soon we will have the guidelines in place," said Mungekar, former Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University.

… Proposals for setting up the ‘World Class Universities’ will be invited from all the states and those meeting the criteria will benefit. This will, in effect, do away with allegations of discrimination by states.

"The rules are going to be very stringent. The states have to compete to get the world class university," Mungekar said while giving an outline of the regulations.

Besides reasonable rules like a big plot of a land for free in prime location, there would be other demanding criteria that the states will have to meet while competing for having such universities.

In the allotment of such centrally-funded universities, priority will be given to states which do not have central varsities at present.

Orissa must get ready to prepare and send a good proposal on this. After the criteria is announced there may not be much time to do this. So preparing for this beforehand is important.

1 comment November 18th, 2007

Samaja letter to the editor on two central universities for Orissa

November 15th, 2007

Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar on the 11th Plan education budget

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

Education is set to receive a Rs 2.85 lakh crore boost, with the Planning Commission increasing the allocation for the sector by a massive 19.9% in the 11th Five Year Plan.

The education budget has been classified into elementary, adult and secondary, and higher education. For elementary education, Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being earmarked, which is a major hike from the Rs 30,000 crore allocated in the last Plan.

Likewise, the share of adult and secondary education is being increased to Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 53,000 crore, respectively. As per the plan document, Rs 84,000 crore are being set aside for higher and technical education.

Planning Commission member, Bhalchandra Mungekar, said the increase in the budget for health and education is an attempt to achieve inclusive growth.

…  "The most important issue is our agenda for reforms in higher education system, where we have asked for major structural changes," he said. "Major reforms are a must like introducing credit and semesters systems and exam reforms."

The Plan has set aside resources for a massive expansion of higher education. It seeks to establish 30 new central universities of which 16 are to be set up in areas which don’t have a central university. The rest 14 are to be model universities of world class infrastructure.

According to HRD ministry, each of these 14 universities would cost around Rs 1,000 crores. There are plans for seven more IITs, seven IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs and two schools of architecture. There will also be 330 new colleges in educationally backward districts.

November 14th, 2007

Business Standard on allocation for education in the 11th plan

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.

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.

November 7th, 2007

Orissa’s share of central universities in the 11th plan: Samaja op-ed by Sahadeva Sahu

November 2nd, 2007

GOI expects states to compete for the 14 (=30-16) world class central universities.

Of the 30 new central universities proposed 16 will be in states that do not have any. It seems the rest 14 will be chosen from proposals sent by the state governments. Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on this issue.

The State Governments have to compete among themselves in providing land in prime locations free of cost if they wanted to have prestigious Central University with world class facilities.

The Central Government is making mandatory for the States to provide land and other infrastructure facilities free of cost in the prime locations for setting up world class Universities.

After getting a nod from the Planning Commission for establishment of 14 Central Universities with world class standards in the 11th five-year plan, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development made it clear that a prime location is the key for deciding the place for setting up such prestigious Central University.

Giving an example of what is prime location, the Union Ministry is asking the states to come out with proposals to provide land free of cost in attractive locations such as proximity to Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs.

Sources said that prime location is very important keeping in view of the magnetism of the location for attracting top class faculty. The location of the new Central Universities would be decided on the basis of careful consideration of alternative possibilities proposed by the State Governments.

The 14 universities would be planned with careful planning to have various schools including medical and engineering. The Union Ministry would soon set up autonomous project teams comprising of eminent people for each proposed world class university to design and implement the project creatively. Sources said that initially the beginning would be made with five such teams. …

September 20th, 2007