Sources suggest that the Xavier University Bill is getting finalized and may be introduced in the Odisha assembly in the upcoming assembly session. There is plan that the proposed Xavier University (which will be established by the XIMB people) will have undergraduate programs including in Arts and Commerce.
This would be a Godsend. While Odisha now has top notch programs in Engineering (at IIT, NIT, VSSUT, CIPET), Science (NISER), Law (NLUO), Business (XIMB), Social Work (NISWASS), Public Health (AIPH, and soon IIPH) and Education (RIE), and soon will have a top notch program in fashion design (NIFT) and medicine (AIIMS-like Institute), it does not have top programs in Commerce and Arts. Thus the proposed Xavier University offering these programs will fill a huge lacuna. There are several reasons I believe that the Arts and Commerce programs at the proposed Xavier University will be top notch.
- They have track record in Odisha and India. Their XIMB is among the top ranked business schools in the country.
- The top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in the country include many other sister Jesuit institutions such as Loyola Colleges, St. Xavier’s colleges and St. Joseph’s colleges.
- Xavier University being a university will be able to modernize and revise its programs at will and thus will have advantage over other colleges that need to work with their universities. (Some of the top ranked colleges are now autonomous though.)
- Many of the other top ranked colleges are uni-disciplinary. Xavier University will be able to share faculty among multiple programs and thus able to create more multi-dimensional programs.
The proposed Xavier University offering top notch arts and commerce programs would help the other institutions to improve their arts and commerce programs and may even encourage other groups (such as KIIT and ITER) to establish good programs in Arts and commerce.
Thus the Odisha government should not delay and speed up the creation of Xavier University.
Following is from India Today’s 2009 list of top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in India.
May 2nd, 2010
Update: For some time XIMB has been planning to expand in the Bhubaneswar area. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1679. It is also interested in becoming a private university. See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2788. A recent Business Standard report says the following about the campus in the Bhubaneswar area:
XIMB which had kicked off its operations in the city in 1987, aimed to operationalize its second campus in the state by 2012, the year marking the silver jubilee …
… P T Joseph, director, XIMB said, “We will be coming up with two new campuses in the state- one at Bolangir and the other at Khurda. The Orissa government has already alloted us 35 acres of land at Khurda and has agreed to provide 25 acres of land on the outskirts of Bolangir town.”
The XIMB campus at Bolangir will exclusively focus on the Rural Management Programme and will have an intake of 120 students.
“Our campus at Bolangir will be a fully residential facility with a built-up area of 1.55 lakh sq ft and it will only offer the Post Graduate Diploma course in Rural Management. We will phase out the Rural Management programme at our existing campus in Bhubaneswar after the establishment of the Bolangir campus”, Joseph added.
XIMB’s campus will come up about seven km from Bolangir town and the institute wants to offer a rural ambience to the students pursuing the Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management.
XIMB’s campus at Khurda is coming close to the campus of Orissa Engineering College.
It also seems to be making progress in the university front as tathya.in has a headline saying "XIMB University in offing".
See http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=3962 for the news item on this in tathya.in. Following is from Samaja.
April 12th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from his speech transcript in Business Standard.
It is in this dreary world of higher education in India that we have shining examples, such as St Xavier’s College. It was founded by the Society of Jesus. Long before Shri Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain, Dr Humayun Kabir and my good friend Shri Kapil Sibal, there was an intrepid soul named Fr H Depelchin. Along with six Belgian Jesuits, he arrived in Kolkata and founded the St Xavier’s College.
The college has been in the service of the nation for 150 years. Not only in Kolkata, but in many other parts of India, the Society of Jesus has rendered yeoman service to the cause of education. Its 153 high schools, 38 university colleges, 14 technical institutes and five business administration institutes teach, at any given time, over 230,000 students belonging to every section of the society. St Xavier’s alone has over 4,000 students.
Like every Jesuit educational institution, St Xavier’s College has an admission policy that is biased in favour of the poor, especially the socially and financially marginalised, and I commend the college on its sense of social responsibility. We are beholden to the Jesuits for the unwavering dedication, the sense of duty, and the strict discipline they bring to their work and to the institutions founded by them.
I passed through a Jesuit institution and I fondly remember the great teachers: Fr Murphy, Fr Sequira, Fr Coyle, Fr Lawrence Sundaram, Fr Amascua and Fr Yedanapally. It surprises me even today how so many of them could leave such an indelible impression in a period of barely one year.
We are still debating the norms and values that must prevail in an institution of higher learning, and especially the place of the non-government sector in providing higher education. I recognise and support the role of the private sector in higher education, but I am absolutely clear in my mind that the private sector in higher education ought not to mean private business in higher education. As far as I am aware, no great university in the world was established for the purpose of profit. I believe that some activities in a society must stand outside the world of profit and higher education, in my view, ranks first amongst such activities.
For over 150 years, the Society of Jesus has done just that in Kolkata, in Chennai and in many other towns and cities. For that and for many other blessings that they brought to India, we thank them and we salute them.
(Excerpts from Home Minister P Chidambaram‘s valedictory address at St Xavier’s College (Autonomous) in Kolkata on January 17, 2010)
The above is very relevant to the proposal of a Xavier University in Odisha. The Odisha government should expedite that proposal.
February 7th, 2010
Following is from a report in tathya.in.
… Mr.Patnaik (the CM) has asked Country’s one of the topmost B-School, Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar(XIMB) to open another campus in Sambalpur.
A U Singhdeo, Minister Planning & Coordination and Public Enterprises also urged XIMB authorities to expand their empire.
So with the blessings of the Chief Minister and his government XIMB soon will open another campus in Sambalpur district of Western Orissa.
On being invited by Government of Orissa, XIMB opened its first Institute here in 1987.
That time 20 acres of land and Rs.5 crores were given to the institution to open a campus in Orissa.
During these 22 years, XIMB brought Bhubaneswar on the national B-School map and earned a good name for being in list of top ten Management Institute of the country.
It is run by Jesuit Society on no profit, no loss basis.
In fact XIMB has the most reasonable fee structure among the top institutes.
It has also produced about 1500 students in the last 20 years who have reached to the top post of private sector in the various parts of the country.
Many of them have returned back to the state and started their own enterprise.
Many successful entrepreneurs of the state can trace back their relation with XIM one way or other.
Vijay Arora, Secretary PPP, known for his dynamism and original thinking knowing the strength of the XIMB, conceived the idea of opening another campus in the state preferably in Samblapur.
He discussed the concept with P T Joseph SJ, Director XIMB who agreed to the idea in case the Government provides the necessary support.
This was to allow the Western Orissa benefit of quality educational Institution.
Matter was discussed with the Government in the Department of Planning & Coordination.
Satya Prakash Nanda, Development Commissioner is favorably disposed off towards a new campus of XIMB in Sambalpur, said sources.
After arriving at a mutual understanding, a report was submitted by the Director XIM Professor Joseph to the Government outlining the project and the support required.
Along with Management XIMB proposes to run courses in Agri-Business Management and Rural Management etc.
This is a great move from all aspects.
October 17th, 2009
Our sister site in Twitter is http://twitter.com/orissalinks. (Often when we are busy or do not feel like writing a full posting here, we post a micro-blog in our Twitter sister site. The Twitter sister site also automatically adds the headline from this site and the orissagrowth site. Once in a while we will collect those headlines here. But readers wanting a broader and more immediate coverage should consider following our Twitter site at http://twitter.com/orissalinks.) Following are some selected items from that site since July 12th.
August 20th, 2009
Tathya.in (see also Pioneer) reports that XIMB (Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar) is contemplating to become or create a university so as to accommodate its expansion plans.
This is a great idea.
As of now, XIM B is the best ranked higher education institution in Orissa. 2008 Outlook ranking has it at number 8 among the management institutions in India and number 3 among the private management institutes (XLRI is number 1 privatre management school in that list ). The next best ranked institute from Orissa is NIT Rourkela which is often ranked in the early thirties among engineering colleges/institutions. The best it has been ranked is 18.
Besides XIMB, the Xavier brandname is well established in India and abroad. In India, XLRI Jamshedpur is higher ranked than XIMB and is a perennial top 10 among management institutions in India. Similarly, XISS (Xavier Institute of Social Sciences) Ranchi is also well thought off. In USA, there are three Xavier Universities: http://www.xavier.edu/ (Cincinnati), http://www.sxu.edu/ (Chicago), and http://www.xula.edu/ (Louisiana) and are all well regarded.
The Xavier institutions are Jesuit institutions and XIMB was established by the Jesuit Society of India. Besides the Xavier institutes the Jesuit society also established the many well known Loyolla colleges in India. In US, there are about 30 Jesuit universities including famous ones like Georgetown University and Boston College. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Jesuit_Colleges_and_Universities for the list.
With such background and past history of establishing and running quality higher educational institutions, a Xavier University in Orissa, which will be the first such university in India, would be a coup for Orissa and the Orissa government should jump at it, expedite this proposal and provide all necessary support.
In this regard, it may be noted that while the Sri Sri organization have a few higher education institutions, none of them appear in any ranking. In case of Vedanta University, they do not have a past track record. They do have very good people, plans and consulting agencies associated with it and one can imagine that they will be top notch.
But in case of Xavier there is no need of any imagination. With XIMB and XLRI they have proven themselves in India and with the Xavier Universities in the US and with Gerorgetwon University they have proven themselves internationally. So this is a great opprtunity for Orissa, which it should not let slip out. Also, it should expedite the process so that the first Xavier University in India is in Orissa. XLRI has contemplated becoming a deemed university. Xavier University in Orissa should be established before that happens. The one that is first has a first-mover’s advantage and that advantage should not be squandered away.
July 25th, 2009
Next Posts