(Comments added at later dates.)
Based on a list in February 2013.
- Amity University (July 30, 2022 – They do have a business school in Bhubaneswar. See https://bhubaneswar.agbs.in/ . But no recent news on a university.)
- Amrita Viswa Vidyapitham University. (July 30, 2022 – They were interested many years ago. Our govt. could not find them land near Bhubaneswar and pointed them towards Bhadrak. They have not shown interest since then.)
- ASBM (Asian School of Business Management) University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2019.)
- Birla Global University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2015.)
- Chicago University to set up a satellite university within Utkal University Campus
- C V Raman International University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2019.)
- Devine Global University by Devine Education Trust, Delhi
- DRIEMS University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2022.)
- Educity in Rourkela by Knowledge Foundation Bhubaneswar
- GIET (Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology) University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2018.)
- GITAM University
- India International University
- Jagadguru Krupalu University (July 30, 2022: University act passed in 2020; no progress yet)
- JPM University by Sri Chandulal Minda Memorial Trust
- Koustuv University for Women
- Krupajal University
- Manipal Education and Medical Group
- Nabadiganta University
- Odia University (July 30, 2022: Act passed in 2017. No progress yet.)
- O P Jindal Global University
- Puspagiri University
- Rai Foundation
- RCM University
- Silicon University
- SPICMACAY University
- Synergy University
- Techno Global University
- University of Corporate Excellence
- Women’s University of Technology
- Xavier University (July 30, 2022: Became a university in 2013.)
February 16th, 2013
Our first posting in this site was on November 28th, 2006. It is at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/7. It was about a central university in KBK. We succeeded in our mission and a central university in KBK was announced in March 2008, and it has now been established in Koraput district.
Earlier this year (On May 22nd 2011) I wrote to the planning commission to establish a central agricultural university in Odisha as part of the 12th plan. Following are excerpts of my mail.
I propose that the 12th plan staring from 2012 include several Central Agricultural Universities in backward district clusters of India that have potential for agriculture.
Sirs and and Madams: One of the biggest achievement of the 11th plan was that the new institutions (16 central universities, 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, proposed 20 new IIITs, proposed 14 innovation universities) were located across India, in states ruled by UPA, in states not ruled by UPA, and so on. It was an inclusive distribution and less driven by political connections.
I request that similar distribution be made with respect to the institutions that are proposed for the 12th plan, starting with several central agricultural universities with various colleges (Agriculture, Horticulture, Veterinary, etc.).
The initial wave of creation of agricultural universities across India (in the 1960s) were an important factor in the initial Green revolution of India. However, as has been noted in the last two budgets (2010-11 and 2011-12) there is a need for another such revolution, especially taking into account factors such as (i) further mechanization (ii) urbanization (iii) looking east and (iv) developing backward and tribal areas.
In the 2010-11 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2010-11/bs/speecha.htm ) the Finance Minister had said the following:
44. The agriculture sector occupies centre-stage in our resolve to promote inclusive growth, enhance rural incomes and sustain food security. To spur the growth in this sector, the Government intends to follow a four-pronged strategy covering (a) agricultural production; (b) reduction in wastage of produce;
(c) credit support to farmers; and (d) a thrust to the food processing sector.
45. The first element of the strategy is to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and Orissa,…
In the 2011-12 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/bspeecha.asp ) he said the following:
Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern Region
52. The Green Revolution in Eastern Region is waiting to happen. To realize the potential of the region, last year’s initiative will be continued in 2011-12 with a further allocation of `400 crore. The program would target the improvement in the rice based cropping system of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
.
Both speech say the green revolution needs to be extended to the eastern region. The allocation of a total of 400 crores to 7 states is miniscule for the purpose and does very little.
Hence, I request that this aspect of extending the green revolution to the eastern region be taken seriously and in the 12th plan Central Agricultural Universities be established in appropriate locations in these states and some of the other states of the country.
Somewhat of a start in this direction has been made via the allocation of 30 crores for a Central Agricultural University in Bundelkhand in the 2011-12 budget.
It was reported by the press that Mr. Rahul Gandhi lobbied for this.
I would like to thank him for his vision and initiative and humbly request the planning commission that they need to also think of the other backward areas of the country.
Taking all the above into account, it would be a win-win to include the establishment of several Central Agricultural Universities in the country located in backward districts with agriculture potential. The win-win aspects are:
(i) They will help higher education and GER, but will not stress the MHRD budget or its management. The majority of the funding could come from the Ministry of Agriculture with some required contributions from the state governments.
(ii) They will help bring in a new green revolution in some areas and extend the green revolution to the eastern region.
(iii) Since there have not been many new agricultural universities across the country, it will be comparatively easier to recruit faculty for these new institutions.
(iv) By locating them in the backward district clusters, they will bring Bharat and India closer.
I had sent copies of my mail to the MPs of Odisha as well as the Chief Minister’s officer. I talked to the secretary of agriculture Ranglal Jamunda by email at agrsec.or@nic.in as well as by phone and urged him that the Odisha government must push for a central agricultural university in Odisha, especially in the KBK regions (in particular, Kalahandi, as Kalahandi is known to be one of the rice bowl of Odisha; and Kalahandi was skipped over when deciding on the location of the central university in Koraput).
My emails and phone calls has had no visible impact on Odisha government, Odisha officials or Odisha MPs as so far I have not read any news regarding Odisha pursuing a central agricultural university. However, the news of the West Bengal government pursuing a central agricultural university came out after a few days of my writing to the planning commission. It is possible that may mail to the planning commission somehow got forwarded to the right people in West Bengal or it may just be a pure coincidence. Following is from a Telegraph article on 13th July 2011.
I think there is still time to pursue to get this included in the 12th plan. I request all readers to write to the Chief Minister’s office at cmo@ori.nic.in regarding this.
Sincerely,
Chitta Baral
November 29th, 2011
While for reason of pride it is important that BPUT buildings get completed soon in Rourkela and BPUT becomes fully operational from Rourkela asap, what is most important for Rourkela in terms of higher education is a general university with programs in all disciplines: arts, commerce, sciences, engineering, pharmacy, etc. etc.
Rourkela is one of the few metropolitan areas of the country with a population greater than 500,000 that does not have a general university. There are a few other outliers such as Asansol and Dhanbad. (Dhanbad has ISMU; but its not a general university.) I would say if one checks the cities with more than 500 K population anywhere in the world, most would have a general university. In US, most cities with a population greater than 200K have a general university. In Odisha itself, much smaller cities and towns (Berhampur, Sambalpur, Balasore, Baripada and Koraput) have general universities.
As one can notice from recent news regarding Utkal University’s plan to have an engineering college (see also here), and before that about various new programs at Sambalpur university (see also here , here and here), once there is a general university, all kinds of disciplines, including engineering, can be added to it. One can go through the list of top universities and look at the various programs that are offered there. For Utkal see here and here. Moreover, these days while engineering seats are going empty (not in the government colleges though) there is a lot of demand for various general programs. See for example the number of applicants to various programs this year and last year at Utkal. The commerce program seems to have a very high demand and graduates of this program are doing well. Some numbers with respect to Sambalpur University are here.
Last year the higher education taskforce, among many other items, recommended a general university in Rourkela. However, I am not sure if any action is being taken based on that report. Regardless, I think the resurgent residents of Rourkela need to put the establishment of a general university in Rourkela among the top of their demands. I would put it at number one. The first thing that a city needs to become a real city is a general university. If people have to go out of town to pursue masters degree in regular disciplines like Economics or Commerce then the city is severely lacking.
November 28th, 2011
(Appeal to readers: I would appreciate any additional pointers to literature where the knowledge center aspects of the Odisha buddhist monuments have been discussed and/or they have been compared with the well-known buddhist sites in India such as Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Sanchi, etc.)
We all have read about Nalanda and Taxila as ancient learning centers and they are often referred to the as precursor of the present day universities. In Odisha the yet to be identified Puspagiri mahavihara as well as the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri have been compared with Nalanda in the art history and Buddhist literature. Following are some slides (in facebook) which compiles that information. In these slides we quote extensively from Mrs. Debala Mitra’s two books. 
Mrs. Mitra was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (1975-1983) [Page 448 of this book] and has written extensively on various Monuments of India.
The above slides do not have any pictures. As is mentioned in some of the slides, the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri Mahaviharas are also comparable to Bodhgaya in certain respects and one slide mentioned how none of the monasteries in Nalanda can compare with the embellishment in one of the monastery found in Ratnagiri. The following pictures, again from facebook, gives one the idea of what has been found in Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri and the beauty and significance of them.
In 2010 the Indian Parliament passed the Nalanda International University Bill. This university is in the making now and this wikipedia page has information on it. We hope that some day more people in Odisha and India will know about Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri and a similar university (perhaps called Puspagiri University, the yet to be identified Mahavihara about which Hiuen Tsang wrote glowingly) will be established in Odisha. Towards that effort some background information has been compiled in a facebook page and a facebook account. Following is a glimpse of the information that has been collected.
November 18th, 2011
There is a good campaign going on for the Odia University. I fully support this proposal. Details on this can be found in:
See also the following flier.
September 18th, 2011
Following is from http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=28773.
the much talked Odia University Bill to be tabled soon in the assembly. Today Speaker permitted the bill to table in the assembly for discussion. Dr Sipra Mallick, MLA, Kendrapara took the consent of other MLAs to discuss on this bill. But it could not discussed due to lack of time.
It is worth mentioned that this Odia University bill is much talked these days in all most all forums. Demands were there from many corners for this bill so as to protect our art, culture, literature & to promote the same. Unlike universities like Telugu, Tamil Kannad this Odia University will work for the development of Odia language and the ethnicity of this Odia community.
The Odia University trust has been working for setting up this varsity in the state. But according to UGC the concern state govt must approve the bill. Hence since long this bill is pending. But now it’s a good news for the Odias in general if this bill gets approval in the assembly.
August 27th, 2011
Update on July 21, 2011: Following is from Samaja.
Following is from a report in Times of India.
With an aim to develop Oriya language and to promote the literature, traditions, culture and folklore of the state, a group of Oriya language lovers have come forward to set up an Oriya University. The university has been planned on the lines of Tamil university Tanjavur, in Tamilnadu; Telugu University, Hyderabad, in Andhra Pradesh; and Kannada Universty, Hampi, in Karnataka.
"Even though Orissa is the only state to be formed on the basis of language, unfortunately Oriya language has not got its due. English still remains the primary language used for all government and judicial communiqu’. Despite its richness and antiquity, the growth and development of the language has been restricted over the years," said Gajanan Mishra, founder member of Odia Viswavidyalaya Trust, a lawyer from Titilagarh.
Though the initiative to set up an Oriya University was started a couple of years ago, first concrete steps in this regard were only taken in 2010 with the formation of the trust. "So far we have not faced any challenge or obstacle in the formation of the university. Rather the journey has been quite encouraging and supportive. We are hopeful the dream would be realised soon," Mishra said.
With over 250 active members, including students, academicians, litterateurs, lawyers and politicians, the trust has launched a massive awareness campaign across the state to solicit public support for the university.
"We are planning to table the draft of Odia University bill in the coming assembly session. The proposed university will be set up in a public-private partnership mode in association with the state government," said member of draft committee, Panchanan Kanungo.
In a preparatory meeting here on Sunday, executive members of the Odia Biswabidyalay Sthapana Committee decided to solicit more members from across the state. "The finance committee and draft committee of the university were selected in the meeting. Now we would expedite the work to establish the university at a faster pace," said secretary of the committee, Chitta Ranjan Behera.
A research scholar of Oriya language in Utkal University and founder member of the university trust, Subrat Prusty, said, "The medium of education in the university will be Odia. Emphasis will be given on the development and growth of the Odia language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, morphophonemics, syntax, semantics, semiotics, preparing pedagogical grammar, comparative vocabulary, lexicon, and language learning."
The university will also deal with history and economics of language use, creation of dialects, sociology dealing with various aspects of sociolinguistics and psychology, dealing with cognitive aspects of Odia. Sciences including acoustic phonetics and scientific discourses will also be taught in the university, founder members said. Separate departments for translation, folklore and culture, manuscriptology, and faculty of Odia development and tribal studies are proposed in the draft bill.
July 11th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
December 17, 2010 11:59:31 AM
BIKASH KHEMKA | BHAWANIPATNA
Spiritualism pervaded the air here with Art of Living Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s visit and didactic discourse on Wednesday evening at the college field here thronged by the people of both Kalahandi and adjacent districts.
The backdrop of the dais was catchy with the images of Maa Manikeswari Temple, Chhatar Yatra and the primitive tribal groups depicting the true aura of this tribal district.
In the morning hour, Ravishankar laid a foundation stone at nearby Dharmagarh for an agriculture university and air-dashed here by chopper at around 2.30 pm.
Following is an excerpt from a report in orissadiary.com.
The founder of Art of Living , Spiritual Guru HH Sri Sri Ravishankarji meets Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the Orissa Secretariat on Thursday and discussed with the Chief Minister regarding progress of proposed Sri Sri University at Narah Bidyadharpur.
In course of Discussion, Ravisankarji has proposed to set up an Agriculture University at Kalahandi. Ravisankarji also expressed that besides Agriculture, training will be imparted on Medicinal Plants.
This is wonderful news. Earlier it was reported in kalahandia that about 100 acres has been identified for the above mentioned university.
December 17th, 2010
The following research was done by our regular commentator Stingidea.
Amity University, one of India’s largest private university seems to be looking at setting up a campus in Bhubaneswar. While it is has not officially announced any such plans it appears to be scouting around for land in the capital city as evidenced from this advertisement that one of it’s holding companies – AKC Group of Companies through its affiliate company Tegro India Private Limited (advertisement attached) – has put in the Oriya vernacular daily Dharitri.
A domain name search for the owner of tegroindia.com reveals that it is registered by AKC Group of Companies (http://whois.domaintools.com/tegroindia.com). Further research on the web reveals that AKC Group of Companies is the holding company for the Amity Group of Educational institutions.
December 15th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in pagalguy.com.
Great Lakes business School, Chennai is all set to open a university in Orissa, besides another b-school in Delhi. This is after taking Mumbai Business School, Mumbai under its wings a few months ago. Disclosing this, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, Dr Bala V. Balachandran told Pagalguy that the university in Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa will be modelled differnetly and not like the usual universities.
“This university will cater to different subjects like engineering, law, schools of art, science, economics, math,” said Dr Balachandran. This university may not be called Great Lakes but could be called the University of Corporate Excellence. When asked why, Dr Balachandran replied that Great Lakes already has an identity of a b-school. “Would be confusing to name the university with the same name.”
With regards to the b-school in Delhi, it would be called Great Lakes, like the one in Chennai. While the Great Lakes in Delhi is expected to come up in the next six months, the university is Bhubhaneshwar will come up in a year’s time.
Prof. Balachandran has already created the top notch business school, Great Lakes, in Chennai. Following is an excerpt from the page http://greatlakes.edu.in/Dr–Bala-V-Balachandran.html about his current and past associations.
Founder and Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India J L Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management (Emeritus in Service), Northwestern University, Illinois, USA Executive Professor & Strategy Advisor to the Dean, Bauer College, University of Houston, Texas, USA
December 12th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Orissadiary.
As a part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities the Subarnarekha Port Private Limited (SPPL), which has undertaken the project for establishment of a port at Chaumukh, Balaiapal in the district besides renovating the Coast canal is mooting for establishment of a hi-tech 300-bed hospital initially and further a medical college within 30 km of port perimeter and a maritime university to meet the growing activities in the field in the state.
Among others, General Manager Mohan Chandra Mishra, advisor Pramod Kumar Singh, and SC Das and others company officials were present.
October 26th, 2010
Following are excerpts from a report in http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4397.
… the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) passed the Centurion University of Technology & Management Bill 2010 on 5 August.
The new University, which will be a self financed private university, will come up at Parlakhemandi in tribal zone of the state, Gajapati district.
The Centurion University, which is being promoted by the Jagannath Institute of Technology & Management Trust (JITM Trust) which runs Jagannath Institute of Technology and Management will run the new University.
… Minister said the new University aims to provide high quality education and will open the School of Engineering & Technology, School of Natural Science, School of Humanities & Social Science, School of Management & Law, School of Vocational Education & Training and School of Tribal & Development Studies.
The University will have an endowment fund of Rs.3 crore, revealed the Minister Higher Education, shall be invested and kept invested until the dissolution of the University in long term securities issued or guaranteed by the State Government.
August 5th, 2010
Update: Samaja also reports on it.
December 22nd, 2009
In the following figure the red dots indicate where the current universities in Orissa are, including the ones that have been announced, such as the proposed central university in Koraput. As the map illustrates, all the existing and planned universities are in the periphery of the state and the interior districts lack university level higher education opportunities. This needs to be corrected by establishing state universities at the blue marked points: Bhawanipatna, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar. In addition, the Rourkela metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Orissa, needs a regular university. Neither BPUT nor NIT Rourkela serve the purpose. Thus a regular university needs to be established in Rourkela.
October 20th, 2008
August 12th, 2008
LOCATION FOR THE PROPOSED UNIVERSITY:
The proposed university will be developed at Banki, near Cuttack, Orissa, in multiple stages. Kripaluji Maharaj has lakhs of followers in Orissa. In the first stage, 110 acres of land has been finalised, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Trust and the Govt. of Orissa.
PROPOSED COURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY:
1. B. Nat (Ayu) – Bachelors of Ayurved in Naturopathy.
2. B. Nat (Yogic Sciences) – Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences
3. Rural Economics
4. Rural development on Health, Hygiene, Homes, Human Values and harmony in diversity
5. Rural Management
6. B.A – Bachelor of Arts
7. B.B.A, M.B.A – Bachelor and Master of Business Administration
8. B.C.A – Bachelor of Computer Application
9. Bachelor and Master of Oriental Learning
10. Bachelor of Professional Studies
11. Bachelor and Master of Social Work
12. B.Sc – Bachelor of Science
13. B.E – Bachelor of Engineering
14. Yog Therapy
Continue Reading August 6th, 2008
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