.. One such letter written to the Prime Minister, President and other top political leaders of the country including one to the Chief Minister of Orissa and members of Parliament, by Dr Sanjib Kumar Karmee of Bio-catalysis and Organic Chemistry group of the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, has made a fervent appeal to the powers that be to open a Central University in the Koshal region.
He has appreciated the efforts of Ministry of Human Resources and other Central Government ministries in the establishment of many centrally funded institutions in Orissa keeping the backwardness of the State in mind.
He has cited that the current Government of the State is adopting a capital centric approach, clustering Bhubaneswar with National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Railway Medical College.
The State Government has chosen only two such centrally funded institutes outside Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri region of having a Central University at Koraput in south Orissa and a proposal to set-up the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Berhampur which is also in south Orissa.
Koshal region he writes is one of the most backward regions in Orissa, and has demanded the establishment of centrally funded institutes in Koshal region. At the same time he writes about the connectivity and amenities of the region which has infrastructural readiness to have a Central University, besides he says the region has two universities – Sambalpur University and VSS University of Technology – a Government Medical College, and a few private engineering colleges. Rourkela city which is close to Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area has a National Institute of Technology at Rourkela. On connectivity he writes there is a proposal by the Government of India to have an airport at Jharsuguda and further that Jharsuguda is well connected by rail to the various States in India. Burla-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area is emerging as a central location for on going industrial activities in the region.
Since MHRD is very serious about increasing the GER, I think the 12th plan would include some more central universities (or at the worst case universities that are funded 50-50 by center and state). Also, as I mentioned earlier, many states have regions which have been left out of the national university (mostly went to the state capital or the 1st or 2nd most populated metro area of the bigger states; but all went to metro areas with a population of greater than 1 million; the obvious reason seems to be the vision behind these universities as stated in the first announcement as well as in the concept papers) and first central university distributions (many went to smaller places of the states), and they would like to have a central university/institution. This includes Nagpur in Maharastra, Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur/Asansol/Siliguri in West Bengal, Bhawanipatna/Jharsuguda/Rourkela in Orissa etc.
In Orissa, after CUO Koraput and national university in Bhubaneswar, the government should strongly consider a location in its Western part (and far from Bhubaneswar) for that. Among the possible locations, a sentimental favorite would be Bhawanipatna, as it has been reported that at one point the CM had assured the representatives from Kalahandi regarding locating the first central university there. Other good locations could be Rourkela (a bit in the corner though; but is a metro and has a sizable population and does not have a regular university; it does have NIT) and Jharsuguda (lots of industrial development happening here, not too far from Rourkela, but close to Sambalpur which has two universities; But Jharsuguda itself has nothing and is going to have an airport soon).
After joining our alma-mater as its First Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Deb Kumar Tripathy has addressed the HODs, Deans, Faculty and Staff members of the University in the auditorium and shared his vision for the future. VSSUT Burla finally got a open minded and real visionary dynamic leader to excel in the field of technical education in the country. Here is a brief excerpts from his vision for VSSUT as delivered in his inaugural address.
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(1) Make VSSUT Burla the No. 1 University in the state and a top ranked university in the country in future.
(2) Develop a new colourful big campus for the University with the support of Govt.
(3) Establish various centres of excellence to promote quality teaching and research in the university.
(4) Strengthen Industry-academia interaction and set up research laboratories at our university in collaboration with industries.
(5) Improve the residential life of students and develop more hostels with modern facilities.
(6) Recruit well qualified and potential talents as faculty of the university.
(7) Bring a dynamic change in the system so that every stackholder contributes and delivers their best for the betterment of the University.
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Prof. Tripathy has a high aspiration from our 15,000 strong alumni to materialize his vision. He is soliciting high cooperation from our alumni association. He has requested the alumni to come forward with innovative ideas and constructive suggestions and join hands with him for the development of our alma-mater.
I request all the alumni members to congratulate our Vice-chancellor and put forward your valuable suggestions to help him build the VSSUT of our dream. His current e-mail id is as follows –
dkt@rtc.iitkgp.ernet.in
With best wishes and complements
Rakesh Mohanty
Secretary, VSSUT Alumni Association
… 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.
Update: He has now joined as the VC. He will be felicitated by the alumni association in Bhubaneswar on 19th Sept 2009 at 6:30 PM in the Institue of Engineers building.
Governor and Chancellor of Universities Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare today appointed Prof Deba Kumar Tripathy as the new Vice-Chancellor of the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla.
Prof Tripathy is currently Professor of Rubber Technology Department in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. The post was lying vacant as previously appointed Vice-Chancellor Ganapati Panda did not join.
He is considered an expert in metal and rubber forming, die mould, tool design for metal and elastomer, rubber product manufacturing, rubber processing, rubber blends and composites, vibration isolation, cellular rubber and plastic and environment engineering.
Recently there was some news reports regarding 7 new IIMs. This resulted in reactions from various circles in Orissa, including the CM. The CM shot off a letter to the PM. As per a report in Times of India:
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Naveen protested the Union government’s decision to ignore Orissa’s "repeated demands" for an IIM.
The Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) has threatened to launch a State-wide agitation if the Centre does not consider the State Government’s demand for the establishment of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Orissa.
However, the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has demanded establishment of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the State.A memorandum was submitted to Sibal by the OPCC at the Congress Bhavan here today.
The memorandum maintained that as Orissa is witnessing rapid industrialisation, the necessity for setting up an IIM is increasingly felt.Stating that such an institute will accelerate the economic development and consolidate the quality of human resources development in Orissa, OPCC requested the Minister to announce an additional IIM for the State along with the seven announced by the Centre.
Besides, OPCC demanded establishment of one national tribal university on the lines of Indira Gandhi Tribal University at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh in view of the heavy concentration of tribal population and their economic backwardness.
In a sense this is a good development as this shows that the politicians in Orissa are now aware of the importance of Orissa getting its share of centrally funded institutions. However, their knowledge is half-baked. The news they are reacting to is not a new announcement. On March 28, 2008 when an IIT and 2 central universities for Orissa was announced, there were announcements of new IIMs. At that time it was made clear that the new IITs and IIMs were announced in different states. So based on that, Orissa has nothing to complain about. It got an IIT instead of an IIM. An IIT costs 4 times than that of an IIM and can have its own management school.
It would be good to have an IIM in Orissa. But now the central govt. is stretched to implement the new IITs, IIMs and central universities it has announced for the 11th plan. So it is very unlikely that they will make any commitments for a new IIM. (The IIM in Rajasthan was a recent addition to the list announced on March 28, 2008. It was because of a typo in the speech of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee; but the govt. decided to honor his speech.)
What Orissa can do is follow the path of Andhra Pradesh which made a deal with IIM Ahmedabad for a campus in Hyderabad. Orissa can approach one of the other IIMs and make a similar deal for an IIM in Orissa. Because of the proximity, IIM Calcutta would be a good candidate. For now that is the best path. In addition, it should be ready to push hard for an IIM when the 12th plan documents are made.
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.
Orissa govt. adopts AICTE-introduced Tuition Waiver Scheme for women, poor & PH students in professional institutions. http://bit.ly/BVJPs.
As on 16thJuly, 2009, One hundred twenty-nine institutions have been declared by the Central Government, under section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act 1956, as institutions ‘Deemed-to-be-Universities’.The State wise details are given below:
Sr.No.
Name of the State/Union Territory
Number of institutions declared as ‘Deemed to be Universities’ under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956
1.
Andhra Pradesh
07
2.
Arunachal Pradesh
01
3.
Bihar
02
4.
Gujarat
02
5.
Haryana
05
6.
Jharkhand
02
7.
Karnataka
15
8.
Kerala
02
9.
Madhya Pradesh
03
10.
Maharashtra
21
11.
Orissa
02
12.
Puducherry
01
13.
Punjab
03
14.
Rajasthan
08
15.
Tamil Nadu
29
16.
Uttarkhand
04
17.
Uttar Pradesh
10
18.
West Bengal
01
19.
New Delhi
11
Institutions ‘Deemed to be Universities’ are only teaching institutions, and they are not permitted to affiliate any college or institution.
Institutions ‘deemed-to-be-universities’ have expanded the base of higher education in the country and are offering education and research facilities in various disciplines such as Medical Education, Physical Education, Fisheries Education, Languages, Social Sciences, Population Sciences, Dairy Research, Forest Research, Armament Technology, Maritime Education, Yoga, Music and Information Technology, etc
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.
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.
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.
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.
Various reports (Economic Times,PTI) mention that Orissa government has introduced bills for three private universities. They are: Vedanta University, Sri Sri University and ICFAI University.
In this context it should be noted that the UGC currently (as of June 2009) recognizes 42 such private state universities in India. None of them are in Orissa. This list of 42 universities obtained from the UGC site http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/updatedpriuniver.pdf is as follows:
CHHATTISGARH
1. Dr. C.V. Raman University, Kargi Road, Kota, Bilaspur.
39. Himgiri Nabh Vishwavidyalaya (University in the Sky), Dehradun.
40. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), C-1/103, Indira Nagar, Dehradun-248 006.
41. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Building No. 7, Street No. 1, Vasant Vihar Enclave, Dehradun-284 006.
42. University of Patanjali, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar.
In that document, after giving the list, the notice says the following:
These universities are competent to award degrees as specified by UGC under Section 22 of the UGC Act and with the approval of the statutory councils, wherever required through their main campus. Wherever the approval of the statutory council is not a pre-requisite to start a programme, the universities are required to maintain the minimum standards regarding academic and physical infrastructure as laid down by the concerned statutory council.
It is also informed that private universities cannot affiliate an institution/college. They cannot establish off campus centre(s) beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the concerned State. However, they can establish off-campus centre(s) within the concerned State after their existence of five years and with the prior approval of the University Grants Commission. So far, UGC has not approved any off campus centre(s) of any Private University.
Approval letters for course under distance mode should clearly state that the course has been approved by the Joint Committee UGC, AICTE and DEC and the approval letter should be jointly signed by Secretary UGC , Member Secretary, AICTE and Director, DEC as per the provision laid down under clause 9 of the MOU signed by UGC, AICTE and DEC.
Students/Public at large are advised to go through this website carefully before taking admission in any of the above State Private Universities and report the matter to Secretary, UGC on finding any violation of the above provisions.
Interestingly, none of the above are in the southern states (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala) or Maharastra which took a huge lead in establishing engineering colleges.
Regular JEE counseling started yesterday with Women’s categories. In addition to the colleges that were listed for the AIEEE round of Orissa JEE counseling, the list of colleges also includes IIIT, Silicon Sambalpur, Parala Maharaj and Govt. College Bhawanipatna. This does not yet appear in the Orissa JEE web site, but I was told by a friend that this is the case. So the complete list of new colleges is:
Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Mouza: Barakuda, Post Panchagoan, Bhubaneswar-752 050
Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology, Plot No 4, Village Harapur, Khurda, Pin- 752 054
Einstien Academy of Tech. & Management (EATAM) Bania Tangi Bhubaneswar
Eklavya College of Tech., and Sci., At Kusumati PO Jatni Bhubaneswar Khurda
Gandhi Academy of Tech. & Engineering At/PO Golonthara Konisi, Berhampur, Dist Ganjam Orissa
Gandhi Institute for Education & Technology, At Banlatangi, P.O. Bajpur, Dist : Khurda-752060
Government Engineering College, Kalahandi
Gurukula College of Engineering for Women (GCEM) At- Jamuhari Chhatabar, Bhubaneshwar Dist- Khurda Odisha
Hi-Tech College of Engineering, Rasulghar, Pandara Bhubaneswar
Indotech College of Engineering, Plot No. 144, AT/PO Mallipada, Via Pallahat(Khurda-2) Dist-khurda,Orissa-752056
International Institute of Information Technology, Plot No – 570(P), Gothapatna, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar – 751030
KMBB College of Engineering and Technology AT-Daleiput, PO-Talahat Dist. Khurda,Orissa
Parala Maharaj Engineering College, Berhampur
Rahul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Govindapur JN Tata Dapalli, Village Konisi, Berhampur, Ganjam (DT) Orissa-761 008.
Shibani Institute of Technical Education , At-PO-Chhatabar,Via, Hanla, Bhubaneswar – 752054, Khurda, Orissa
Silicon Institute of Technology, Sason, Sambalpur -763 200, Orissa.
Srinix College of Engineering College At-Ranipatna, Dist Balasore-750001 .
Suddhananda Engg. & Research Centre, Phulnakhara Cuttack At Anchhipur P.O. Bhatapatna Orissa
Synergy Institute of Technology, At : Bhimpur,P.O. Jagannathpur, P.S. Balianta, Dist:Khurda, Orissa
Vedang Institute of Technology, Durga Prasad, P.O. Ramachandi, Dist. Khurda, Orissa
Vikash College of Engineering for Women (VCEW) plot No. 2766, P.S. Dist- Baragarh, Odisha
Vivekananda Inst. Of Tech., at Chhatabar Dandi, Chaatabar, Orissa
Xavier Institute of Tech., Princess Avencue Ghangapatna Bhubaneswar Dist Khurda Orissa
Among the above Silicon Sambalpur, IIIT, and Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) are colleges which I would recommend the most. As I wrote earlier, I would even say that students with good enough ranks to get CET or UCE may also consider BIT and IIIT seriously. (Disclaimer: As far as I can recall, I am in the advisory board of BIT, Centurion, JITM and was in the advisory board of Silicon some years back.)
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.
