BPUT vice chancellor’s vision: an interview he gave to Naxatra news
NaxatraNews (NN): Orissa is poised for a major industrial boom, as the Vice- Chancellor of the nodal technical University of the state what do you think about the synergy between the industry and academics?
Omkarnath Mohanty (OM): In a mature economy, the synergy between industry and academia is spontaneous. However, in a situation such as India’s and Orissa’s, this is not so; one has to make an effort to bring about a serious interaction between the two. An attempt has already been made in the IT sector to have a serious collaboration by identifying common projects at the Post-Graduate level. Further, in many colleges, the Knowledge Center concept will become operational attracting some of the industries to participate. However, this is going to be a slow process for some time as the industry does not necessarily feel that the academia can assist its progress. In the steel sector we are about to witness a quantum jump in production in Orissa and the Post-Graduate Centre in Steel Research has been contemplated at Rourkela for awarding M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees. It is expected that a number of steel companies will participate in this exercise.
NN: The number of engineering students passing out from colleges each year from the state is far short of the present requirements. Besides, many students go out of the state for greener pastures. How would you address this issue given the projected industrialization in the state?
OM: Yes, it is true that the number of graduates coming out of the forty–plus engineering colleges (close to 15000 each year) may not be sufficient to take care of all the industries in Orissa, particularly in the near future. However it will be difficult to see the number of colleges growing overnight. Further even with the current number of colleges, the quality of faculty is far from satisfactory and is a serious issue. Therefore, we would like to see a balanced growth in the number of colleges in Orissa.
NN: After assuming charge you have brought about many changes in the University administration as well as education system in spite of protests from many quarters. Which one you would rate as the greatest success and why?
OM: We have attempted to introduce several practices both in the administration as well as in the academic system of BPUT. In the University administration system the most important step that has been taken is the e-Registration process. This has just been introduced after a considerable amount of thought and efforts. It is expected that this process will get around several instances of "wrong" registration of students. The Semester Registration must be in consonance with the permissible group of subjects that a student can opt for and at the same time scrutinize the performance of the student in earlier examinations (clearance of subject). The new system has developed an algorithm that has embedded the stipulations of academic regulations.
In the area of Academics, I guess one of the most important steps is the starting of Question Bank in each subject. The Question Bank part has just begun; it needs to be strengthened so that every question paper has a semblance of quality and is strictly within the syllabus that is prescribed. In the absence of such a practice, numerous problems with regard to the standard of a Question Paper and its coverage have arisen in the past.
NN: What’s your opinion on the present controversy over capitation fee and separate entrance examination for engineering students of the privately owned engineering colleges?
OM: I do not intend to get into the capitation fees controversy – probably there is no real controversy. For instance, there was never a "declared" capitation fee. The current rationalization of fee structure has attempted to take into consideration all parameters that go into the financial structure of an academic institution. It has also provided for a generous expenditure on developmental activities. Most importantly there is also a handsome annual rate of return for the investment that has been provided for in the fee structure. If it is sincerely and ethically practaised by the owners of colleges, there should be very little scope for any disenchantment among the public.
As regards the separate entrance examination issue, everyone must be aware that the Supreme Court has decreed that the admission to the unaided, private professional institutions be based on:factors including transparency of the method of admission, merit being the only criterion of selection and no financial exploitation of the students
When the above criteria are employed, the merit of a separate entrance examination, to my mind, does not exist. One single entrance examination, today designated as the Orissa JEE, takes care of all the three above attributes.
NN: Keeping the booming steel industry of the state in mind you have planned a steel research institute at Rourkela. What precisely is this institute about?
OM: The Steel Research Institute in Rourkela has just only been born. It is meant for awarding M.Tech. and Ph. D. degree in the area of steel research. The world of steel, over the past decade, has witnessed radical developments both in the production techniques as well as in the application of steel. For instance, the FINEX process (recently adopted by POSCO in their plant in Korea), can use fine ore and has multiple products; this process is going to be watched with a lot of interest. Another example could be the Thin Strip Casting (primarily developed by an Oriya Metallurgist from IIT-Kharagpur, at BHP Australia) is currently in commercial production at the NUCOR plant in USA, involves direct casting from liquid state to 1mm and below strip. Thereby, the cost of steel strips is appreciably, reduced. Similarly, in the application areas extremely high strength (>1000Mpa) combined with reasonable ductility and more importantly high formability steel sheets have now been developed; these are important for automobile body manufacturing. Their use can reduce weight of a car without sacrificing safety.
Our centre at Rourkela is expected to get into some of above areas. This would require a multi-disciplinary approach, quite different from the conventional metallurgy of the earlier period. We have made a modest beginning with advertisement for 5 faculty that have been granted by the government of Orissa. Our plan is to involve the major steel companies operating in India both for support in the faculty and in procuring the sophisticated research equipment. This will however take time.
NN: Safeguarding intellectual property rights has become an important issue in academic world. Do you think research institutes and researchers of the state are giving due regard to the matter?
OM: Yes, the IPR items relating to the University are very important. For one thing, awareness about IPR motivates people to be engaged in innovative and creative research. On the other, the knowledge of IPR can also be utilized for commercial gain through introducing new products or processes. This can engage the attention of creative faculty as well as students.
NN: Better pay package in IT industry has attracted most of the engineering students from core subjects like civil and mechanical trades to IT resulting in non-availability of sufficient number of quality manpower in the core sector. How do you think this trend could be arrested?
OM: It is true that better pay package in the IT industry has been attracting brighter people into the IT sector, apparently making the core sector impoverished in terms of quality manpower. However, it must also be borne in mind that all engineering subjects require an IT-enabled approach. For instance, the Civil / Mechanical / Electrical Engineers of today have to be very well acquainted with many soft computing techniques and optimization techniques. Therefore, there is no real unhealthy competition between these streams. We are attempting to make the core sector more IT-savvy. The new upward trend in the market place for core engineering sector during the past two years has confirmed that IT-assisted core sector will also find excellent employment opportunities in the near future.
NN: Similarly the exodus of good students to IT industry in last few years has also resulted in shortage of good faculties. Do you have any plan to create a faculty pool or any special measures to upgrade their skills?
OM: There are several measures that we have contemplated in order to build a pool of good faculty. These include: Collaborating with IITs in order to get their course-content that are web-based or DVD-based which in turn will also involve training of BPUT faculty by IIT teachers at regular intervals. Besides we are in the process of creating an Academic Staff College under the aegis of BPUT using our own experienced faculty spread over several colleges. Moreover there are training programmes for engineering faculty undertaken at advanced centres, both at IITs and other central universities such as Jadavpur University. We would be taking advantages of each of the above channels open to us.
NN: As private engineering colleges keep mushrooming in the state are you happy with the quality of students coming out under the BPUT banner? Do you think measures like abolition of year-back system you had initiated have yielded desired results?
OM: The first batch of the students under the BPUT banner has come out this year. Some of these students, I am sure, are bright judging by their quality of placement and their grade points. As far as "abolition" of year-back system is concerned there seems to be a misinformation. BPUT has never abolished the system of promoting students to next higher year based on their performance; indeed, many students were not promoted last year. There has, however, been only some modification in the criteria / stipulation.
Incidentally it must be understood that the University does not have a "year-back" system as such; what has been stipulated is the fact that weaker students will take longer than 4 years to complete a B.Tech. programme, that is ideally of 4-year duration.
NN: What else is in store for BPUT in the coming days?
OM: The coming years would witness a greater emphasis on Ph D. and M.Tech. programmes of the University. It is now realized across the globe that in order to run a quality B.Tech. programme, M.Tech. and Ph.D programmes are necessary supports. Research publications by faculty is another area which is going to be stressed upon in the coming years. Another item of importance would be the quality text books, primarily written by BPUT faculty for its own syllabus. This is going to be financially supported by the University in order to provide the necessary incentive to our faculty for engaging themselves in this area; that of text-book creation.
9 comments October 6th, 2007
