This means KIIT, SOA and other institutions deemed to be universities should no longer be using the word ‘University’ in their name. Also, it validates our earlier effort to convince the people pushing to make UCE Burla a deemed university to go for a state university status instead. Not only it was easier to get the state university status (the new deemed to be universities applications are frozen for now), but now VSSUT is a university and unlike KIIT and SOA, VSSUT can use the word ‘university’.
.. 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
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.
Central University, Koraput has requested the Centre to set up a medical college there in a bid to provide better medical facilities and educate local tribals.
"I have suggested the human resources ministry to build a medical college here because I feel the area needs it. But the final nod is yet to come from the ministry," CU vice chancellor Surabhi Banerjee said.
"Locals have to travel either to Vizag or to Berhampur to avail medical facilities and both these places are over 200 km away from here. The medical college will not only improve the quality of life of locals, but also provide scope for research in several diseases common here," Banerjee said. CU has also identified about 100 acre of land for the proposed medical college.
Banerjee said there are also plans to set up a nursing college. Several other need-based, region specific innovative courses will also be introduced. From the 2009-10 academic session, CU is initially beginning with five subjects. The school of language will offer English and Oriya while the school of social science will offer sociology, anthropology and tribal Studies and journalism and mass communication.
"We will take 30 students in each department. The faculty is being recruitment and we will begin classes from August. we will also appoint guest lecturers to take classes," the vice-chancellor said.
… CU also plans to introduce courses like maritime studies, disaster management, disaster management, environmental studies, rural development, and forestry under the choice based credit system. The university will initially function in the buildings of Silk Board and the local Jagannath temple until its own buildings are constructed.
Prof. Ganapati Panda’s NIT Rourkela web page is at http://www.nitrkl.ac.in/faculty/~gpanda. It mentions that he is a fellow of National academy of Engineers (FNAE), and fellow of National academy of sciences (FNASc). Here is a picture of him copied from that page.
UGC sanctioned posts of one professor, two associate professors and three assistant professors for each course in these universities. These universities will offer undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and PhD courses. The admission process will begin from this academic year itself. They were already given a small budget to start their camp offices.
On Wednesday, UGC chairperson Sukhdeo Thorat had said these universities might try to get faculty from among Indians settled abroad as well as foreigners.
Meanwhile, search for the site of six universities — in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala — continues. In Haryana, the new university will be in Mahendragarh, while the one in Punjab will be in Bhatinda. The one on Karnataka will be in Dharwad and the one in Tamil in Tiruvarur. In the case of Orissa, the likely site will be in Koraput and for Jharkhand it is likely to be Khunti. Three existing universities — Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya in Chhattisgarh, Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya at Sagar (MP) and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna University in Uttarakhand — were upgraded as central universities.
Update: Hindu also reports on it. In regards to the location of the permanent campus, Hindu says the following:
While speaking very high about the proposed location for establishing the university which is situated between the railway station at Koraput and Danagadeola village over an area of 565 acres of government land she said that over the next five years the university could become one of the major attractions even for the tourists for its unique green campus resembling that of many world class university campuses in the other parts of the globe.
Vice-Chancellor of the Central University, Orissa, Dr Surabhi Banerjee informed that the classes in the university at Koraput would start from August this year. The university would function temporarily at the COATS (Council of Analytical Tribal Studies) and the courses would start from under-graduation to higher studies, she said.
…, the VC visited Deola village where the proposed university will be set up over 575 acres of land. … She thanked the district administration to locate such a suitable land and … After visit of the representatives from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the construction work would be carried out on their approval, she said.
There will be an entrance test for taking admission into the university and the entrance test would be conducted in around 15-16 centres all over India and for Orissa in Koraput, Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur. Subjects like English, Oriya, Social Sciences, Anthropology, Tribal Studies and Journalism and Mass Communication would be taught in the university, besides other higher and professional courses. Different kinds of schools will be opened on the campus like the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the head office of the university would function at Koraput and the transit office to recruit lecturers, readers, professors, management and other staff will function at Bhubaneswar, the VC informed.
The Central Government has approved the university for five years for the time being and the classes would start in the COATS which is being managed by Sabara Srikshetra Jagannath Mandir Management Committee and the existing Gyan Mandir, library and tribal museum are an added advantage for the students of the university, she said.
Among others, Registrar BK Mishra, Financial Advisor P Pati and Liaisoning Officer and Coordinator Ganesh Chandra Roul attended the Press conference.
Professor Banerjee met the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here to apprise him the developments on the new varsity front.
She is clearly defensive and said that the campus will be at Koraput and classes will start in August next. …
During the meeting with Chief Minister, she made it clear that the Campus will be at Koraput.
She said that there seems to be some misgivings about the Second Campus at Bhubaneswar.
Prof. Baneerjee seems defensive and said that all out efforts are being made to start the Campus at Koraput.
Mr.Dasverma was outraged over the decision and demanded action against the people concerned.
Young NROs led by Digamabara Patra created huge stir in both the state and at national level.
Professor Patra wrote it to the Prime Minister, Minister HRD and Chief Minister.
More than 100 students, teachers, educationists and members of the civil society demanded immediate action by sending e-mails.
All of them demanded that if et al the second campus will be opened it should start at Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi.
The Chief Minister’s Office(CMO), was flooded with e-mails from all parts of the world and the mandarins were worried over the matter.
Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Principal Secretary to CM took up the matter seriously.
And Prof.Banerjee was summoned to clarify the factual position.
Madhu Sudan Padhi, Secretary Higher Education department, who did not buy the idea of Second Campus of CUO here, before starting the original campus at Koraput.
Mr.Padhi asked her to make arrangements in Koraput.
Prof. Banerjee is now under pressure to start classes at Koraput.
… now its officials were not in a mood to go to the tribal dominated district.
The reason: lack of facilities like airport and modern health care units.
Surabhi Banerjee had been appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the central university at Koraput.
But, Prof. Banerjee, is in no mood to move to Koraput.
Sources said, the VC had been persuading the state government officials to open temporary campus of the varsity in the state capital instead of going to Koraput.
The newly formed central university authorities claimed that the academic activities could begin from temporary campus here till the building was constructed at Koraput.
By the time, the building would be over; Prof Banerjee’s term could end.
The Samaja article is as follows:
Considering the lack of higher education opportunities in KBK and Koraput, the Central University should be started, even in the short term, from Koraput. I am sure some rented accommodation and quarters can be obtained in the nearby Damanjodi and Sunabeda townships. In the worst case, if something is done in Bhubaneswar, under absolutely no circumstances, it should go beyond one year. The Vice Chancellor should plan to move to Koraput as soon as possible, and under no circumstances, should stay outside of Koraput, beyond a year. Otherwise, perhaps she can move to another university and CUO Koraput is assigned a new VC who is not averse of staying in Koraput.
Finally, even if the goal is to have multiple campuses of the central university across the state, there is no need to have one in Bhubaneswar. The second and other campuses should be established in KBK and other areas of Orissa which lack universities. The Bhubaneswar area has many universities and a National University is about to be established there too. So there is absolutely no need to have a campus of the Central University of Orissa (Koraput) in Bhubaneswar.
