Ford foundation international fellowships
1 comment October 20th, 2008
Academicians demand new Central varsities in backward regions
Press Trust of India reported the following.
The proposed 12 new Central universities, which received the Union Cabinet’s nod on Friday, should be set up in backward regions of the respective states to meet the collective aspirations of people, academicians have said.
Such a move would lead to socio-economic integration of the regions and give the traditionally deprived ones a unique opportunity to compete with confidence at the national level, they said.The new universities will be set up in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan.
Teachers in Jarkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan were especially vociferous in their demand for setting up these universities in backward districts, with a professor of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, stating that such a move would fulfil the long-cherished dream of marginalised people.
"For long, Orissa has been demanding a Central university. Now, that it has got one, it should either come up in Koraput or in the KBK region," he told PTI.
The Orissa government has evinced keen interest to set up the university in Koraput district.
Optimism was also expressed by the teachers about the proposed 374 ‘model colleges’ which would also come up in educationally backward districts of the country.
Teachers’ institute in the states concerned would act as a catalyst in bringing the deprived students to the mainstream education, they said.
October 6th, 2008
UGC pay hike proposal has rider
Times of India reported the following.
As the UGC-pay review committee has recommended over 70 per cent hike in the pay scale of university teachers, the faculty members would be required to put extra efforts in teaching and research.
Apart from taking general classes, the teachers will have to hold tutorials, guide research and carry out co-curricular activities, Prof G K Chadha, the chairman of the committee, said.
"The intention is that at the end of the day, the teacher should feel that he has done justice to his job," he said.
The practice of dual workload — one for directly appointed teachers and another for promoted teachers — in particular is abolished. All teachers in the category should carry out the same prescribed workload.
The committee said institutions should fill the vacant posts on urgent basis and the ban on recruitment should be lifted immediately.
About contract teachers, the committee has said such teachers should be appointed when there is a dire necessity and their qualification and procedure of selection should be same as for a regular teacher.
There will be multi-source evaluation system for judging the performance of university teachers. They are self assessment, assessment by students and assessment by the academic heads.
There will be several assessment parameters like regularity in classroom teaching, holding tutorials, availability to students for consultation, participating in faculty meetings, guiding and carrying out research and participating in academic activities like seminar.
The assessment should be made once a year and should be made available to the teacher concerned. The assessment should be placed before the selection committee at the time of teacher’s promotion, Chadha said.
The UGC should evolve parameters relevant to universities and colleges respectively for carrying out such evaluations uniformly throughout the country.
The eligibility for assistant professorship will be qualifying NET/SET examinations. However, those posses Ph.D degrees will be exempted from NET/SET qualifications, he said.
October 6th, 2008
Orissa govt. scholarship for girls in Orissa pursuing graduate studies in medicine, engineering and management: ad from Samaja
October 4th, 2008
Scheme for Girls’ Hostel for students of secondary and higher secondary schools
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43337.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for a revised centrally sponsored scheme for construction and running of girls’ hostels for students of secondary and higher secondary schools in each of the educationally backward block during the 11th Five year Plan. The CCEA also gave its approval to incur and expenditure of Rs.2000 crore as Central share with a sharing pattern of 90:10 between the Centre and the States. The revised scheme provides for construction of 3500 hostels through State Governments in all the educationally backward blocks in the country in addition to recurring grant to meet the need of inmates.
October 3rd, 2008
Hi-tech group to make a knowledge city in the Bhubaneswar area?
Following is from a report in myiris.
Hi-Tech Group of Institutions has drawn up a plan to develop a 150-acre knowledge city on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar at an estimated investment of Rs 20 billion, reports Business Standard.
The proposed knowledge city, a dream project of the Hi-Tech Group, will be developed in three phases with the entire project scheduled to be commissioned by 2012.
In the first phase, the city-based Hi-Tech Group will pump in Rs 5 billion and the first phase is set to be completed by 2010.
The company said it has identified three to four plots close to Bhubaneswar for their proposed knowledge city. The Hi-Tech Group expects to take possession of land and resume construction work within eighteen months.
There have been several recent news about the Hi-Tech groups plans. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1496 and https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1203. I hope they are all real.
September 18th, 2008
Three new ITIs to be set up in Kandhamala
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.
The State Government Thursday decided to facilitate setting up of three more Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Kandhamal district which is limping back to normalcy from communal cauldron. The State-run Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) will be asked to set up two ITIs while the Government is contemplating to request Vedanta to set up the third one as part of its social responsibility for the State.
A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the Kandhamal situation and the progress achieved on the rehabilitation front.The Chief Minister reportedly directed the Industries Department to take up the issue with OMC and OHPC for the proposed ITIs which should come up as early as possible. The Government will provide land free of cost. It has been decided to set up the proposed ITIs at the block headquarters of Tumudibandha, Baliguda and G Udaygiri.
At present, the only Government ITI is located at Phulbani while a privately managed Industrial Training Centre (ITC) is also functioning in the district. The Chief Minister also directed the Industries Department to convert the Phulbani ITI into a centre of excellence by pooling assistance from industrial and corporate houses.
September 12th, 2008
Expert committee report on 374 model colleges in educationally backward districts
The expert committee report is at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/dpr374modelcolleges.html. The list of 374 districts contains 18 districts from Orissa. They are: Malkangiri, Baudh, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Nabrangpur, Gajapati, Koraput, Sonapur, Bargarh, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Balangir, Anugul, Rayagada, Kendujhar, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal. Of these, Malkangiri and Baudha are in Phase 1 with CPI (colleges per lakh population) below 4, Kandhamal and Nuapada in Phase 2 with CPI 4 to 8, and the rest in Phase 3 with CPI 8.1-12.4.
Following are some excerpts from that report:
The criteria for identification of location within the district may be the following:
a. The college has to be located in an area of the district having no college in the vicinity of 10 km radius.
b. Predominantly rural location where the proportion of rural population in area is higher than the State average
c. A new college as an additional one in the vicinity shall be permitted only if the existing college has more than 1000 students, or there is no separate college for women in the area of 10 km. radius.
d. Accessibility : The location of the college should be such that it is accessible, i.e. reasonably well connected by transport facilities so that the college may serve a larger catchments area.
e. Population density: The proposed college should be located subject to fulfillment of the above-mentioned criteria in locations having higher population density in comparison with other contending locations.
4.1. Non- recurring Budget requirements:
4..1.1. Land : Since the Model colleges are to be established in rural, hilly, forest, tribal and other priority areas as per the criteria already described in chapter.2., a minimum of 10 acres of land need to be provided by the State Government concerned to each of the college in the identified low GER district.
4.1.2. Non recurring infrastructure requirements per college:4.1.2.1. Academic & administrative buildings (3000 sq.mtrs) : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.2. Campus development : 2.0 crores
4.1.2.3. Hostels for 100 students : 1.0 crores*
4.1.2.4.Teachers’/Non teaching quarters – 20 each; : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.5. Laboratories : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.6. Library : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.7. Computer Centre : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.8. Health centre : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.9. sports facilities : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.10 Miscellaneous : 0.2 crore
Total per College Non-recurring :9.0 Crores.
* the expenditure towards hostel could be sanctioned through the UGC special scheme for “ hostels”. The net Non-recurring requirements would thus be Rs.8.0. crores per college.
4.1.2. Recurring Budget requirement: It would involve the salary requirements for 25 teaching and 25 nonteaching personnel for each college and the college maintenance expenditure of Rs.50.0 lakhs per annum to be provided by the State government concerned.
4.1.4.1. Model I: Fully Government supported Colleges:
Non-Recurring : 100 % by Central Government, while the required land for the colleges has to be provided by the State Govt.
(This pattern of financial support by Central Govt. is necessary to motivate the State Governments to
establish these model colleges in the Low GER districts adhering to the criteria suggested for actual location of these Colleges within the LOW GER districts) Recurring : 100% by the State Government;
September 7th, 2008
Bokaro steel plant sponsored medical college almost ready in Jharkhand; Orissa can not convince RSP or NALCO for a similar effort
Earlier we mentioned Bokaro Steel plant agreeing to set up an engineering college and a medical college in Jharkhand. Following is an update on that from a report in Telegraph.
Bokaro Ispat Institute of Medicine at Bokaro General Hospital, which was supposed to start its academic session this year, is still awaiting a nod from the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The college also needs an approval of the board of directors of the Steel authority of India Limited (SAIL) for availing infrastructure of the Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL).
… Health minister Bhanu Pratap Shahi had in 2006 promised that he would clear the project within 24 hours if he received any proposal from BSL for setting up a medical college. He had also assured that the college would become functional by 2008. However, the pace of paperwork for setting up the college has raised doubts on whether the academic session would begin even in 2009.
Sources said that MCI had completed its survey of the general hospital, which would be used for training students. It has surveyed other infrastructure that BSL is willing to extend. However, the council has not given its nod yet. …
After getting the approval of the Jharkhand government in November 2007, the managing director of BSL, V.K. Srivastav, had told The Telegraph that he was anxiously waiting for the MCI team’s survey of the hospital, one of the best in eastern India.
To speed up work, the BSL also constituted the Bokaro Educational Trust headed by its executive director Jivesh Mishra. …
4 comments September 2nd, 2008
3314 Merit-cum-Means national scholarships for Odisha high schoolers: Samaja
The following Samaja article details the procedure of how these scholarship awardees will be selected in Orissa.
1 comment August 30th, 2008
Dr. Laxman Mohanty, one of the founder of Silicon, Rest In Peace
Laxman Mohanty, 43, one of the co-founder of Silicon Institute of Technology passed away on August 11th 2008 in Ahmedabad.
I met Laxman in 1987 just after I finished my B.Tech. He and his BITS Pilani colleagues (Sanjeev, GP and Suchitra) had a year or two back founded the first IT Company in Orissa, ORICOM.
Since then I have been friends with him. He and some of his colleagues first founded the precursor of Silicon, which only had MCA. They then expanded it to have B.Tech program and now Silicon is perhaps the best private engineering college of Orissa.
Recently Laxman was after a bigger vision of establishing good schools. The first of these schools, Future Bhubaneswar, is about to start. A preschool version of it, Future Feets, is up and running for a couple of years.
I am extremely saddened by this loss and may be when I feel better, will come back to this and add some more thoughts about him.
(Following are two pictures I took of Laxman with my sister and brother-in-law in December 2006; the last time I met him was a couple of days after that.)
38 comments August 13th, 2008
UGC recommends 735 additional universities; actions that Orissa needs to take
Following is from a report in Economic Times.
To increase the enrolment rate in higher education, a UGC committee has suggested starting an additional 735 universities in the country during the 11th Plan ending 2012.
The UGC committee, comprising Prof Duraisami of Madras University and Prof Sudhansu Bhusan of National University of Education Planning and Administration, has said that more universities will be needed to increase gross enrolment rate — the percentage of youths in the age group of 18-24 years in higher education — to 15 per cent from the 10 per cent at present.
The committee, set up to suggest reforms on the affiliation system and monitoring of education in 11th plan, has worked out a formula of 20,000 students per university to achieve the target. As per this criteria, the requirement would be 735 universities in the country by 2012, the report said.
"We will study the report and make a final suggestion to the state governments for starting the new varsities," UGC Chairman Prof Sukhadeo Thorat said.
At present there are 388 universities in the country. The committee’s report assumes significance in view of the estimation of National Knowledge Commission last year, when it said that at least 1,500 universities are needed to make India a knowledge society.
The enrolment ratio in higher education is abysmal 10 per cent in India. It is less than eight per cent in states like Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Orissa’s population is 36,706,920, while India’s population is 1,129,866,154. So Orissa’s population is 3.24% of India’s population. So if India’s universities need to increase to a total of 388+735 = 1123. Then Orissa’s share should be 3.24% of that, which is 36.4. Considering Orissa at less than 8% is behind the national average of 10% in terms of enrolment ratio, Orissa will need to have at least 45.5, or say 46 universities. (This is based on using the 8% number for Orissa. It is actually a little over 6 for Orissa. So another 10 may be needed. But for the 11th plan lets stick with the number 46.)
- The exisiting universities in Orissa are (13): Utkal, Sambalpur, Berhampur, NOU, FMU, OUAT, KIIT, SOS, Culture U, Ravenshaw, Sri Jagannath, NIT RKL, BPUT.
- The new universities that are under construction are (8): WCCU, KBK Central, Sri Sri U, Vedanta U, ICFAI, Jagadguru, National Law U, Orissa Open University
- Some institutes that are operating or under construction and that could become universities are (4): IIIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Bhubaneswar, NISER Bhubaneswar, AIIMS Bhubaneswar
- Some institutes that may be opened and become universities are (3) : IIIT Berhampur, BITS, NID
- Some colleges that have applied for deemed university status are (8): Krupajal, CEB, ASBM, Gunupur, Koustuv, Hi-Tech, CV Raman, UCE/OIT.
- So the state needs to make at least 10 more universities.
- One should be made in each of the undivided 13 districts which do not have a university yet. The 13 undivided districts are: Puri, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Baleswar, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Phulbani, Dhenkanal, Kendujhar, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj. Among them the five districts of Balangir, Kalahandi (Bhawanipatna), Phulbani, Dhenkanal (Angul) and Kendujhar do not have a university nor any new one has yet been announced. So the state should establish 5 universities, one each in each of these undivided districts.
- CET Bhubaneswar should be made to a university.
- A comprehensive university should be established in Rourkela.
- A Bhubaneswar-Cuttack metropolitan university consisting of all government colleges in the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack area should be made.
- Berhampur medical college should be made to a unitary health university.
- A health university encompassing all of Orissa, with possible head quarters in Naraj should be made.
- During the 12th and 13th plan at least the undivided districts which do not have two universities should get their second one (8): Those would be Baleswar (Bhadrakh), Balangir (Titlagarh), Kalahandi (Nabarangpur), Koraput (Malkangiri), Phulbani (Boudha), Dhenkanal, Kendujhar (Joda) and Mayurbhanj (Bangiriposi).
- In addition universities may be established in major population centers without an university. These places include (5): Rayagada, Kalinganagar, Paradeep, Parlakhemundi, Jharsuguda,
- And in districts which do not yet have a university (5): Bargarh, Deogarh, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Sonepur.
If someone thinks that the above is too many, then they should compare the number of universities in California, whose population,at 36,553,215, is around the same as that of Orissa. However, Orissa’s area at 155,707 sq km is less than 40% of California’s area of 410,000 sq km.
9 comments August 10th, 2008
Some details on the proposed South Asian University in Delhi
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
The common university of the regional grouping, to be set up on the lines of American Ivy League universities, will also induct students and recruit faculty from across the globe so that it is not confined to "narrow distinctive barriers".
The proposal for SAU was made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the SAARC Summit in Dhaka in December 2005 and later ratified by the eight member nations.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee laid its foundation at a 100-acre plot in Maidan Garhi, Mehrauli in south Delhi on May 26. The campus construction is due to start early next year.
… A course likely on offer is "conflict resolution given that terrorism is a major problem confronting the world", he said but the final decision on academic activities will be taken in February next year when the curricula and by-laws would be drafted.
SAU will have a cafeteria approach where a student pursuing science can also take up a course in humanities.
"In a cafeteria you can pick and choose any item you like. In this university too, you can have more liberty and wider choice and there will be no narrow distinctive barriers," Chadha said.
The initial investment for SAU will be made by the Indian government after which the member countries could contribute and the university would also raise money from international financial institutions and donors, the CEO said.
The university could take up special studies on economy, culture, religion and societies in the SAARC nations, Chadha, who is on the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, said.
… The governance structure of SAU, with link campuses in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan, will be laid down by February, Chadha said.
Gowhar Rizvi of Harvard University, who was entrusted with the task of preparing the university’s concept note, has advised a middle path between government-funded and private education.
The role of the SAARC nation governments will be confined to providing annual subsidies and grants, the concept note has recommended.
July 14th, 2008