… the government has decided to allow private funding in setting up some of the proposed 14 national universities, which would be of world class standards.
During his interaction with British Trade and Investment Minister Mervyn Davies, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said the government was in favour of setting up some of the 14 universities in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode.
As per the government’s plan these universities would be "global centres of innovation". The HRD Ministry has already prepared a concept note on institutions proposed to be set up in the 11th Plan.
"Sibal told Davies that the government would seek PPP model for creation of some of these institutions. A few other may be set up under complete government funding," a ministry official said.
The Government is considering a proposal to set up 14 Universities aiming at world class standards at the following locations:-
Sl. No.
Location
1.
Amritsar (Punjab)
2.
GreaterNoida(Uttar Pradesh)
3.
Jaipur(Rajasthan)
4.
Gandhinagar(Gujarat)
5.
Patna (Bihar)
6.
Guwahati(Assam)
7.
Kolkata (West Bengal)
8.
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
9.
Kochi (Kerala)
10.
Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)
11.
Mysore (Karnataka)
12.
Pune(Maharashtra)
13.
Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
14.
Bhubhaneshwar(Orissa)
Universities aiming at world class standards would act as exemplars for other universities including Central Universities, in benchmarking standards of teaching and research to those prevailing in the best universities in the world.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D.Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in theRajyaSabhatoday.
There are some reports about a "brain gain" policy that is being considered for the National Universities. Following is an excerpt from a report in webindia123.
The brain drain from the country will be checked by a ‘Brain Gain’ policy, the Government told the Rajya Sabha today.
The steps mooted under the policy would attract talent from all over the world into the country’s 14 national universities aiming for world class standards as well as for Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and National Institutes of Technology, Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purundeswari told the House in a written reply.
In a move that could result in the exodus of Indian scholars and teachers from foreign universities back to the country, HRD ministry’s new Brain Gain policy promises unheard of academic freedom, negotiable salaries, massive research funds, right environment, freedom from regulation and bureaucratic control and a good quality of life.
… The ministry’s Brain Gain policy — aimed at attracting Indian talent for 14 proposed national universities to be developed as ‘global centres of innovation’ — is likely to be made public in the coming days.
Recognizing that funding is essential to support research environment, Brain Gain policy promises a Research Endowment Fund of at least Rs 200 crore per national university per year. The university will also have the freedom to source funding from non-government sources subject to their not being dubious organizations.
Grants will be provided to individual researchers on the basis of their proposal, which will be evaluated by ‘academic research peer group’ consisting of eminent academics. Researchers will be free to procure aids and equipment, appoint research associates and assistants and decide on their salary. The amount spent by the university or its academics on research or teaching will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. In this regard, the ministry has proposed amendment to CAG Act, 1971.
Accountability will be ensured by reviews by the academic research peer group for research work and teaching peer group for course work and teaching. National universities will have the freedom to establish chairs of studies with funding through non-government endowments to be occupied by eminent professors. Chair professors will receive pay, if any, both from the endowment as well as university.
On the academic front, national universities will be kept out of the purview of regulatory oversight as well as regulations on maintenance of standards or minimum qualification requirements for appointment to academic posts. As for academic freedom, researchers will be free to publish results. They will also have freedom to patent the results of research jointly with university without getting government approval, except in cases of research in strategic areas.
Some news reports mention about opposition to certain conditions in the Vedanta University act. In this regard a recent article by Ila Patnaik in Indian Express is illuminating. Following are some excerpts.
The existing framework for running universities in India has been tried for many decades, and has been shown to have failed. In striking contrast, China has been able to get far ahead of India in building universities. If progress has to be made in India, every assumption of the HRD ministry now needs to be questioned. In addition to removing entry barriers against new private or foreign universities, the four new ideas that need to be brought in are: autonomy of universities (including on budget); reduced core funding combined with more competitive research grants; a flexible salary structure; end of government interference in recruitment of staff and students.
The best universities in India, those that we are particularly proud of, are not well rated by international standards. The Times of London’s Higher Education Supplement ranks universities around the world. In 2008, their data showed IIT Delhi at rank 154 and IIT Bombay at rank 174 globally. No other university in India made this top 200 list. By way of comparison, China has universities at ranks 50, 56, 113, 141, 143 and 144. In other words, China has six universities which are superior to IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay.
The paper finds that the first element that pulls down the rank of a university is the process of budgetary approval from the government. The average European university that sets its own budget has a rank of 200 while the average European university that needs approval from the government has a rank of 316. In other words, giving a university autonomy to set its own budget on average yields an improvement of 116 ranks. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give universities autonomy.
The second important feature is the role of government in funding universities. They find that each percentage point of the university’s budget that comes from core government funds reduces the rank of the university by 3.2 points. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give them less money through core funding from the government.
The third issue is inequality in wages. European universities which pay the same wages to all faculty of the same seniority and rank have an average rank of 322. Universities which vary wages for each faculty member and pay different salaries to two people of the same seniority and rank, have an average rank of 213. In other words, flexible HR policies yield an improvement of 109 ranks. The message for India: freeing up HR policies is essential to building high-quality universities.
The fourth issue is the recruitment process for students. Universities which are free to recruit undergraduate students as they like have a rank 156 points higher than those where the government determines the composition of students. The message for India: universities should have full freedom to recruit students as they like, without interference from the government.
The fifth issue is competition. Each percentage point of a university’s budget that comes from a competitive research grants process yields an improvement in its ranking by 6.5. …
Variation across state governments in the United States shows that the best universities come up in states which allow more autonomy, such as independent purchasing systems, no state approval of the university budget, and complete control of personnel hiring and pay.
There is only one university in India which has autonomy on budget setting, recruits its own students, has flexible HR policies, etc., and this is the Indian School of Business. It is perhaps logical that, in 2008, ISB was ranked the 20th best MBA programme by The Financial Times, and in 2009 this rank was improved to 15. None of the IIMs feature anywhere. This is a striking contrast between enormous state expenditures on the IIMs failing to yield measurable results when compared with an alternative which has landed India in the top rankings of the world.
Foundation Stone of Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, laid
TO ACT AS A CATALYST FOR THE RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE STATE
15:15 IST
Foundation Stone of the Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT ), Bhubaneswar, was laid in Orissa today. Shri Arjun Singh, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, was to lay the Foundation Stone, but due to unavoidable reasons he couldn’t go to Orissa and the ceremony was held in his absentia at KANSAPADA ( Khudupur-Taraboi Road ) near Jatni Block Office, Khordha.
This new IIT at Bhubaneswar is part of the 8 new IITs that have been established in the country by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Ministry. Orissa is also to get a new Central University under The Central Universities Ordinance, 2009 which was promulgated by the President of India on 15.01.2009.
Following is the full text of the speech of Shri Arjun Singh, delivered on his behalf :
“ IITs are our national pride and owe their existence to the scientific temper and disposition of our First Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Making India, the knowledge hub of the world was a cherished dream of our first Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Way back in 1951, the Government of India, under the leadership of Panditji, planned to have four such institutes of excellence in the field of Engineering and Technology. The first amongst four such institutes (one for each zone) came up at Kharagpur in eastern region.
During the Eleventh Plan Period, the Government of India has decided to have eight new IITs, including IIT Bhubaneswar. IIT Bhubaneswar was one of the new IITs to become operational with 120 students in July, 2008. It is also heartening to note that the mother of the IIT system, IIT Kharagpur, is mentoring this new IIT. I would like to compliment Prof. Damodar Acharyaji, Director, IIT, Kharagpur who has made all possible efforts to mentor this IIT. The necessary facilities are being created in IIT Kharagpur Extension Campus at Bhubaneswar so that the students of IIT Bhubaneswar could have their education from Bhubaneswar itself from the forthcoming academic session starting from July 2009. IIT Bhubaneswar will offer science based engineering graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes of international standard in various disciplines.
The State of Orissa is a resource-rich state and we expect that IIT, Bhubaneswar will act as a catalyst for the rapid industrialization of the State. Indian Institutes of Technology are known the world over for imparting quality and relevant education to students. I am confident that this new IIT also carry forward the great tradition of IITs.
I am happy to note that the Government of Orissa has allotted 935 acres of land for this IIT. The State Government has also agreed to provide adequate facilities of water, electricity and road connectivity. I appreciate the support of the Government of Orissa to have this IIT in Bhubaneswar and would like to specially thank Shri Naveen Patnaikji for his support for the venture.
I take this opportunity to mention that we had made an assessment of various States about availability of degree and diploma level courses per lakh population in the field of technical education. We find that the availability of degree and diploma level courses per lakh population in Orissa is much below the national average. This obviously means that the regional imbalance in respect of technical education needs to be corrected. It is in this context that the setting up of an IIT in Bhubaneswar is a right and timely step. I am sure the Government of Orissa will derive maximum benefits from the Central Government schemes for educational advancement of this State.
The Government of India in its Eleventh Plan has given a major thrust to education. The Central Government has taken several initiatives in respect of new institution building. These include setting up of 30 new Central Universities, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, eight new IITs, seven new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), two new Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), 10 new National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and 20 new IIITs. For this unprecedented expansion, the credit goes to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, who has been kind enough to accord very high priority to the education sector and provided a nine fold increase in the budgetary outlays for the higher education during the XIth Plan as compared to Xth Plan.
Capacity building in the diverse fields of basic science, engineering and technology, architecture, management will empower besides providing opportunities to the youth. It has been decided to launch a massive National Initiative for Skill Development under which it is proposed to give assistance for the establishment of 1000 new polytechnics. It is also proposed to upgrade infrastructure facilities of existing diploma level Government and Government aided polytechnics. In order to attract women in polytechnic education, we are proposing to provide financial assistance for the construction of women’s hostels in 500 polytechnics.
The Government is also going to incentivise the States for starting new Universities, besides giving a one time grant to the States on a matching basis to develop the infrastructure of State technical institutions. With these initiatives, we hope to increase access (by 5% GER during XI Plan) with equity and excellence.
8. I am happy to say that the State of Orissa is also getting its due share. We have decided in this Plan Period to have in Orissa State, one Central University, one National University aiming for world class standards, one IIIT, and several Polytechnics in those districts which currently do not have a Polytechnic. The Government and Private Engineering Colleges will also be getting opportunity to upgrade their facilities through TEQIP. This will provide our youth in the State with vocational and professional educational opportunities to realize their full potential.”
… The academic-turned prime minister chose to call them ‘World Class Universities’, sexing up the comeget-me factor. “These universities should focus on international standards of excellence and be rated among the top institutions in the world. They must become the launching pads for our entry into the knowledge economy,” Manmohan said at a function held to celebrate 150 years of the University of Mumbai in June 2007.
… The chances of missing the February deadline to pass the bill in the short session of Parliament are high and the Government is looking at the possibility of pushing it through an ordinance.
…The UGC is of the view that the universities should be run by the government and wants to underplay the role of private players and corporates.
The ministry on its part is ready to open it up to “creditable private organisations” and offer them public land. The Knowledge Commission has a different take.
“Since public finance is an integral constituent of universities worldwide, most of the new universities shall need significant initial financial support from the Government. Each university may be endowed with a substantial allocation of public land, in excess of its spatial requirements,” says Sam Pitroda, chairman, NKC.
The excess land can be a subsequent source of income generation, he says. Exceptions need to be made in existing income tax laws to encourage large endowments.
… The NKC in its letter to the UGC chairman has also suggested that the syllabi should be revised every year to keep up with the changes and current developments in various disciplines. “Departments that do not update their syllabi for two consecutive years shall be asked to provide justifications,” says the letter. Another contentious issue is that of fixing fees and granting autonomy to the proposed universities.
The commission had envisaged that these universities shall have the autonomy to set student fee levels and tap other sources for generating funds such as industry collaborations and overseas operations. The autonomy of fees and greater autonomy for each university is a strict no-no for both the ministry as well as the UGC. Prompted by incisive memos from the Prime Minister’s Office, which is attuned with the views of the NKC, the ministry is planning to prepare a bill with critical minimum provisions, thereby enabling autonomy and innovation without going through a parliamentary process at a later stage. Otherwise, it will have to resort to the ordinance route, bypassing Parliament.
… As a first step, the ministry has decided to do away with the tag of World Class University, an idea which has won it the NKC’s applause . The Act will now be termed the National Universities System Act instead of the World Class University System Act.
Hope the people who wonder about Vedanta University’s land requirement will get a better understanding of it from the NKC’s suggestion regarding providing excess land to the proposed National Universities.
Aragul near Jatni has been finally chosen as the place for setting up of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar.
A four-member Central team sent by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development selected Aragul after visiting four different places.
The team comprised Ashok Thakur, Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development; Damodar Acharya, Director of IIT Kharagpur; A.K. Dey, former Director of IIT Mumbai; and K. Narayan Rao, Secretary of All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The place selected is 12 km from Bhubaneswar airport by road and four km away from Jatni railway junction.
Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.
Ashok Thakur is impressed with Argul.
The Chairman of the Site Selection Committee for the IIT-Bhubaneswar found the site near Jatni a ‘nice’ one.
… The State Government has identified Argul near Jatni and Malipada near Khurda.
Both are in Khurda district.
Secondly Ramdaspur near Naraj and Dampada near Banki in Cuttack district were also identified for the purpose.
Mr.Thakur himself visited Argul on 25 December and expressed satisfaction over the place, said sources.
It is 891 acre of land out of which 500 acres are readily available.
Very near to the Capital city and well connected with rail and road.
Institutions like NISER, various engineering colleges and other institutions are coming up in the near by area.
This place was favored by the State Government for the IIT-Bh as the most suitable one.
It looks very likely that Argul will be chosen for the IIT site. But the others sites would soon come into play; especially for the world class central university (national university).
The Government proposes to establish 14 National Universities aiming towards world-class standards the 11th Plan period.A State- wise list of cities identified or locating these universities is annexed.A preliminary draft of the Concept Paper on setting up of these universities was prepared by an Expert Committee constituted by the University Grants Commission.The Expert Committee has held extensive consultations with eminent educationists, academics and policy makers.The relevant recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission have also been taken into consideration by the Expert Committee while revising the draft Concept Paper. The Concept Paper is, however, yet to be finalized by the Committee.
SI.No.
Name of the State
Name of the City
1
Andhra Pradesh
Visakhapatnam
2
Assam
Guwahati
3
Bihar
Patna
4
Gujarat
Gandhinagar
5
Karnataka
Mysore
6
Kerala
Kochi
7
Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal
8
Maharashtra
Pune
9
Orissa
Bhubaneswar
10
Punjab
Amritsar
11
Rajasthan
Jaipur
12
Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore
13
Uttar Pradesh
Greater Noida
14
West Bengal
Kolkata
This information was given by ShriArjun Singh, the Minister of Human Resource Development in a written reply to a question in the LokSabha today.
The Prime Minister’s plans of setting up a new class of universities to specifically compete with global institutions are being held up by differences between key government arms.
The HRD ministry has proposed a category of “Navratna” institutes comprising 14 new universities and existing top state varsities, government officials have said.
These institutes would be on a par with “world-class” universities but would be known by the new name because some people are against the earlier nomenclature.
The universities of Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai are being considered for Navratna status.
However, the University Grants Commission has opposed starting institutes with the specific mandate of competing with the world’s best, sources said.
… The UPA government had promised 14 new world-class universities, including one in Calcutta, under the eleventh five-year plan. But the differences have led to an impasse and the plans, though not yet shelved, are headed for the backburner, the sources said.
… At meetings with universities in July, September and last week, HRD ministry officials were questioned on how a new university stood a better chance of becoming “world-class” compared with established institutions.
So, the ministry — through higher education secretary R.P. Agrawal — suggested that instead of having just 14 new world-class universities, a new category could be created.
This could be called the Navratna category and it could include top state universities apart from the 14 new ones aspiring to world-class standards.
But UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat apparently said that creating another category would introduce a new Brahmin into an already layered “caste system” in higher education.
Under the “caste system”, central universities receive maximum attention from policy makers, followed by state universities. Deemed-to-be universities are a rung lower.
… Officials have also questioned the basis on which state universities would be given Navratna status.
“For instance, if Calcutta University is given the status, how can we refuse Jadavpur University?” an official asked.
The concept of “world class universities” is a part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plans to make India a “knowledge economy” — a global hub of myriad branches of education and learning.
The initial plan sees them as unified centres of excellence in engineering, the sciences, humanities, management and medicine — on a par with the IITs, IIMs and the AIIMS.
The following excerpt from a news item from the statesman is confusing. It talks about MHRD starting 6 central universities. It is not clear what is happening with the other 24 proposed central universities.
The Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry has decided to allot Rs 6,200 crore to six states including West Bengal, for setting up Central universities.
The funds would be disbursed to the respective states after the plots are identified. Funds will be provided under the eleventh five-year plan, HRD ministry officials said. …
Other than West Bengal, universities will be set up in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttaranchal. These states have already identified lands for the proposed institute and have accordingly informed the HRD ministry. A senior official of the ministry said the universities are supposed to come up on 700 to 1,000 acre of land, which are easily accessible.
… The proposed residential university will lay more emphasis on courses in foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Subjects like engineering, medical science, computer science, arts and management will also be taught in the university. Students from Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Tibet and Singapore are expected to seek admission to the university. The university will also offer courses in Buddhist philosophy, Chinese philosophy and Tibetan philosophy.
An all-India common entrance examination, a student-count not exceeding 12,000, the best of faculty with incentives over and above regular pay, a curriculum revised every three years, a semester system, private sector funding, vice-chancellors with at least decade-long teaching experience, collaboration with universities and institutes in India and abroad, academic creativity free from red tapism — all this and more will go into the making of 14 World Class Universities (WCUs) very shortly.
And these sweeping changes are also likely to be applied to all existing universities and 16 Central universities that have recently been approved by the Cabinet. What will change, however, is the nomenclature for the 14 WCUs. Officials say these are now likely to be christened National Universities and the related legislation will be called the National Universities Act.
The basic blueprint for the WCUs has been formulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the first round of discussions, held in New Delhi today, involved academicians, experts, officials from the Human Resource Development Ministry, UGC and Planning Commission.
“There was a very interactive discussion on the WCUs and a major viewpoint emerged. Participants felt there should be a similar legislation for all Central universities, including the 16 which just got Cabinet approval, and all existing universities. The view was that there should be no hierarchy or disparity in standards amongst universities and the reforms and changes suggested for WCUs should be applied to all universities,” an official who attended the meeting told The Indian Express.
“There were strong reservations against the term ‘world class’ and it was decided they will be called National Universities instead,” the official said.
While more discussions will follow, sources said that the UGC and HRD Ministry hope to be ready with a legislation in time for the Parliament session. …
The WCUs are envisaged as unitary universities, like JNU, without any affiliation and multi-facility based, offering subjects ranging from natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to engineering, technology and medicine among others.
Promised autonomy in matters of admission of students and standards for selection, introduction and revision of contextual and innovative curricula, opening of new campuses and new programmes, intake of students, examinations and evaluation systems, faculty recruitment and national and international collaborations, the WCUs are planned as model institutes that will stand apart from existing universities.
That getting the best of faculty is high on the agenda for these new universities is apparent as the concept paper suggest that individuals with high quality research/training experience could be invited to join the faculty even if they have not applied for the job — as is also done in JNU. The universities, the paper says, should also be allowed to develop own hiring policies and pay higher emoluments and non-salary incentives over and above regular pay scales. The blueprint also recommends that private sector funding be permitted as long as it does not compromise academic integrity and autonomy of the university.
While the UGC’s earlier draft on WCUs did not quite impress the Prime Minister’s Office — it is keenly following the ambitious project — the new concept paper is said to have been found to be more “forward looking”. The legislation will also be so worded that it does not lead to rigid bureaucratic controls that stifle quality and creativity and spell out only “what to do” instead of “how to do”.
… The initiative to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technology is on course with the first academic sessions starting in 2008 in six of the new IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat . The session for IIT Orissa has already been started at lIT Kharagpur in July 2008 and classes will begin for IIT Punjab at lIT Delhi in Sept 2008. And the academic session for the other 4 new IITs, will begin during August 2008.
Out of the 7 new Indian Institutes of Management proposed the IIM at Shillong has already commenced its first academic session from July 2008. The remaining six IIMs will be established in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
The government proposal to set up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research is on schedule. Of these two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata were inaugurated in 2006-07 and are now fully functional, and the IISER Mohali started its first academic session in 2007-08. Two more IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvanthapuram will commence their first academic sessions in August, 2008.
Two Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) are being set up at Bhopal and Vijayawada . Classes in both the new SPAs will begin with the academic session of 2008 through temporary campuses. The SPA Bhopal will be mentored by NIT Bhopal while the SPA at Vijayawada will be mentored by SPA, Delhi .
The strengthening of Polytechnics is under way with steps being taken to set up 1000 polytechnics (300 in Government Sector, 300 through PPP mode and 400 private polytechnics); Further 500 existing polytechnics are being expanded and the Community Polytechnics scheme being revamped and their number being increased from 669 to 1000.
Steps are being taken establish 10 new National Institutes of Technology. The likely location of these NITs will be in States/UTs which at present don’t have an NIT.
Sixteen Central Universities are being set up under the initiative seeking to established a Central University in states not having a Central University . Four existing universities; Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhatisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttrakhand and Goa University, are proposed to be taken over and upgraded as Central Universities. The remaining 12 new universities are to be set up in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
14 World Class Central Universities (WCCU), are proposed with the locations being firmed up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The State Governments have been requested to identify suitable land.
A total of 373 degree colleges will be set up in the districts having GER lower than the national average as identified by the UGC. Out of these districts, about 90 districts have been shortlisted which have less than 6% GER, have less than 4 colleges per lakh of population and are also minority concentration districts. It is proposed to fast-track the starting of the degree colleges in these shortlisted districts this year.
Twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology are planned with NAASCOM having submitted a project report. The setting up of the IIITs under the PPP mode has been discussed with the States and most of the States agreed to tap not-for-profit private investment, while ensuring that PPP should not lead to any erosion of access to the poor sections of society.
Scholarships for College and University students, based on merit, to non-creamy layer students numbering about 2% of the. student population will be given to those who pass out from various intermediate boards. The scholarship will be Rs.l,000 per month for the first 2 years after which it will be of Rs.2000 per month for the balance period of the professional or other courses in Higher Education. Every year about 41,000 boys and 41,000 girls will benefit from the scheme.
The government is working on an Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme. It will be a Central Sector scheme for providing interest subsidy during the moratorium period on the educational loans taken by students belonging to "non-creamy" layer for pursuing professional education in India.
All the Central Educational Institutions are implementing OBC reservations as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 from this year onward on a staggered basis and the necessary funds have been released to all of them, after holding the meetings of the Empowered Committees. All the IITs, IIMs and the Central Universities that are covered under the Act have started giving reservations to OBCs in a staggered manner. As a result of the implementation of OBC reservations in this academic year, there is an increase of over 20500 in the intake capacity in the Central Educational Institutions.
The states and union territories that do not have NITs are:
Delhi
Uttarakhand
Goa
Dadra and nagar haveli
Pondicherry
Andaman and Nicobar islands
Lakshadweep
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Manipur
Nagaland
Arunachal Pradesh
Sikkim
So, I guess the majority of the 10 new NITs will be in these states. My guess would be 2, 3, 5, 8-13. (I skipped 1 because I wonder if there is any space left in proper Delhi for an NIT. The rest that I skipped, 4,6 and 7, are very remote as well as hard to reach places.) That makes 9 NITs. It would be interesting to see where the 10th NIT will be located.
The Centre is set to approve a proposal soon to start 14 world-class central universities across the country, … , in an ambitious bid to catch up with the West’s higher education standards.
The proposal for the universities, enunciated in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, will be placed before the cabinet on Thursday and is expected to be cleared soon, top government officials said.
Cabinet recognition is required to formally begin work on the proposal.
The universities will, like other central universities, be funded by New Delhi, but will have the additional mandate of competing in standards with globally renowned varsities like Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge, sources said.
“We expect the cabinet to clear the proposal soon, ideally in one sitting itself. We do not anticipate any opposition,” a senior official at the human resource development ministry said.
Pune, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Greater Noida have been selected as places where the universities will come up.
“Each of the state governments concerned have identified 700 acres of land. But they cannot begin land acquisition till the cabinet clears the plan,” a source said.
The HRD ministry expects each university to cost over Rs 720 crore, putting the total price tag for the venture at a minimum of Rs 10,080 crore.
Once the cabinet clears the proposal, the HRD ministry plans to hurry through the construction of infrastructure in a bid to try and start academic sessions for “most” of the institutes by 2009, sources said.
“We have been given a clear political indication to get things ready for the launch of the universities by the next academic session,” a source said.
Each campus will have four schools — of engineering, medicine, humanities and sciences — sources said.
Each of the four schools will be built along the lines of India’s best institutions in their field. Unlike existing central varsities, the new centres will focus more on cutting-edge research across streams than on teaching, sources said.
IIT Bhubaneswar will be mentored by IIT Kharagpur for three years. Initial information suggests that the first year of classes will be held in IIT Kharagpur and the students will stay with the IIT Kharagpur students in one of the hostels. Most likely they will stay in the MMM Hall.
The most important of these culture and traditions is the equal relationship between students at IIT Kharagpur. There every student is equal and no student fears another student. There are no big bosses or connected students in the campus who are feared by other students. Juniors call seniors by the same name that others call them; with no addition of a "bhaiyya" or "Sir." There are no physical fights in the campus. There are rivalries though; often centered around sports and cultural competitions; but NO physical fights.
This is in contrast to most other college campuses in India where students defer to their seniors and there are some students in campus to whom every body is afraid of. Thus it is great that the first batch of IIT Bhubaneswar students will spend a year in IIT Kharagpur and bring back with them the fear-free non-violent culture of the IIT Kharagpur campus.
With Professor Damodar Acharya at the helm of IIT Kharagpur, the mentoring of IIT Bhubaneswar is in good hands. Prior to being the director of IIT Kharagpur, Professor Acharya was the AICTE Chairman in Delhi and prior to that the vice-Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology, then operating from Bhubaneswar. Thus one can infer that he is well known and well connected in both Bhubaneswar and Delhi circles and this is a big advantage. For example, his suggestion that the Orissa government allocate more than the 500 acres, which the central government required, was received warmly and the Orissa government is indeed looking for a land of at least 1000 acres for IIT Bhubaneswar. So far, none of the other new IITs are thinking along those lines. Having extra land is very important as it will allow further growth of the IITs, which are being built for decades if not centuries to come. Decades later, IIT Bhubaneswar will have Prof. Acharya to thank for this foresight.
IIT Kharagpur, only 321 kms and 4.5-5hrs away from Bhubaneswar, and with 30+ trains, has many other ties with Bhubaneswar and Orissa. It has an extension center in Bhubaneswar from where it offers a PG Diploma in Information Technology and a 1.5-year part-time Diploma in intellectual property law. IIT Kharagpur professors have signed an MOU to develop a perspective plan of the Bhubaneswar metroplex and are involved in many other projects in Orissa. More than 50 faculty at IIT Kharagpur, including the Director and at least two Deans, are natives of Orissa. Thus faculty and leadership of IIT Kharagpur are familiar with Bhubaneswar and Orissa and their aspirations and are in a good position to mentor IIT Bhubaneswar. (There are many Orissa origin faculty at the various IITs and IISc who may also help IIT Bhubaneswar.)
Looking forward to the future IIT Bhubaneswar’s progress will be partly shaped by its competition and collaboration with three other marquee universities and institutions that are being established in the Bhubaneswar area.
NISER is a DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) funded institute that is admitting its second batch of students this year in 2008. The Prime Minister Dr. Mammohan Singh, while announcing the setting up of NISER said: "NISER will be at par with the IISER being established in other places but will operate under the umbrella of DAE. … When completed, I am confident that the National Institute of Science Education and Research will become a Mecca for science just as TIFR and IISc are today." Incidentally, NISER has a higher initial budget of 823.19 crores than the 500 crore budget of each of the IISERs, the 760 crore budget of each of the new IITs and the 720 crore budget of each of the WCCUs. With interdisciplinary research becoming key to solve complex grand challenges, like IISc, NISER will soon branch out to interdisciplinary centers and technological departments. With IITs also having scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary centers, down the road, IIT Bhubaneswar and NISER Bhubaneswar are expected to collaborate and compete with each other. This will drive both to excellence.
As of now Bhubaneswar is the only metropolitan area of the country which will have a science institute (NISER), an IIT and a WCCU. The metro areas that will have two of them are: Kolkata (an IISER and a WCCU), Pune (an IISER and a WCCU), Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar (an IIT and a WCCU), Chandigarh (an IISER and an IIT), Delhi-NOIDA (an IIT and a WCCU), Patna (an IIT and a WCCU), Guwahati (an IIT and a WCCU) and Bhopal (an IISER and a WCCU). Along with some of these metro areas Bhubaneswar will also have an AIIMS (like institute) with a budget of 332 crores as well as a IIIT.
The above is a projection to the future. But the ground reality is that it will take time for a new IIT in Bhubaneswar to catch up with the existing IITs in many respects. The existing IITs not only have an existing infrastructure and history, but also an alumni base that contributes to their growth and development. Same with respect to NISER and the well established IISc Bangalore. However, Bhubaneswar has one more trump card: the Vedanta University, that is coming up in Puri, about 40 kms and less than an hour from the outer edges of Bhubaneswar.
Vedanta University is a brainchild of industrialist Anil Agarwal, who has pledged a $1 Billion (i.e., Rs. 4,000 crores) towards it and envisions a budget of $3 Billion (i.e., Rs 12,000 crores) in making that university. The budget of this university is illuminating in its scale in that just the pledged 4,000 crores is close to the sum of the budget of two new IITs (760*2 = 1520 crores), a new IISER (500 crores), two new WCCUs (720*2=1440 crores), a new AIIMS (332 crores), and a new IIM (210.25 crores). However, the aim of the Vedanta University is to be like Stanford University and have a similar impact. In 2007, Stanford had an operating expense of $2.9 billion, an operating revenue of $3.2 billion, endowment of $17.2 billion and total asset of $29.3 billion. Hence, the 4,000 crores pledge by Anil Agarwal is only the cost of the initial phases of the Vedanta University and despite the cost differential between the US and India, to be comparable with Stanford, Vedanta University needs the 12,000 crores and perhaps more. However, the Anil Agarwal foundation has the foresight to acquire 6000+ acres of land (comparable to Stanford University’s 8180 acres) and build a city of 500,000 around the University with research parks similar to Stanford Research Park. The real estate holdings of the planned city will be able to provide Vedanta University with a sizeable endowment to realistically aim to become the Stanford of India. In the following interview of Anil Agarwal by a New York area PBS station, one can hear from the horse’s mouth about his vision for Vedanta University (starting at 3:20).
There is a high possibility that Vedanta University will not only play a significant role in Bhubaneswar and Orissa, but in all of India. Its private financing, sound financial model, lofty goals and an unprecedented donation of $1 billion, makes it likely to actually be able to hire top professors and nobel laureates, have graduate programs that rank high at the international level and produce graduates that will populate the premiere institutions and universities of India. This is relevant to the development of IIT Bhubaneswar in particular and all the IITs in general because there is a severe shortage of good academics to fill all the available positions in the IITs (and the WCCUs). In this the proximity of IIT Bhubaneswar to Vedanta University would put it at an advantage as many graduates of the later may prefer to remain in the area and maintain collaboration with their mentors and many may join IIT Bhubaneswar just to be close to Vedanta University.
Thus, with competition from, collaboration with, and synergies associated with NISER, WCCU and Vedanta University, IIT Bhubaneswar has a chance to excel and become one of the top IITs in the country. And if (a big if, but not impossible) all these institutes achieve their stated goals, then the Bhubaneswar-Puri area will have equivalents of a Stanford (Vedanta University), MIT (IIT Bhubaneswar), Berkeley (WCCU Bhubaneswar) and CalTech (NISER Bhubaneswar).
Update June 11, 2009:Tathya.in reports that the Education Minister Debi Mishra mentioned this in the OLA. Following is an excerpt.
The Orissa Government has identified a patch of 700 acre plus land at Talabasta in Banki Sub-division of Cuttack district for the proposed World Class University.
Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education has revealed in the Orissa House on 11 June here.
Replaying to a question Mr.Mishra said that the State Government has informed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in this regard.
The land is free from litigations and it was also near to the Capital.
The River Mahanadi at the backdrop, makes the place a picturesque one, said he.
“We have asked MHRD to send their site selection team to finalize the site”, said Mr.Mishra.
