Ten percent free seats in engineering colleges of Orissa: Sambada
2 comments July 15th, 2008
Archive for July, 2008
MOU signed for a Vedic University in Banki
Update: The university is to be called Jagadguru Kripalu University. The blog http://shree-kripaluji-maharaj.blogspot.com/ gives day to day information on Kripaluji Maharaj’s activities across the globe.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.
The Orissa government and the Krupaljimaharaj Trust on Monday signed an MoU to set up a Vedic University in the state. This is the fourth MoU the government has signed in the higher-education sector.
Earlier, the government had signed MoUs for Vedanta University, ICFAI University and Ravisankar University.
The Vedic University will impart education in Vedic science, Ayurveda and Naturopathy, besides the professional courses in MBA and basic degrees in science, commerce and humanities.
The Krupaljimaharaj Trust has applied for 50 acres of land in Banki tehsil area for the university. In the absence of Swami Mukundananda, who is now in the US, his nominee Ajit Kumar Kar signed the MoU on behalf of the Trust. The state higher education secretary, PK Mohapatra, signed the papers for the state government.
Meanwhile, the state government has prepared the draft bills for the other three universities for which it has signed MoUs. …
The state higher education minister, Sameer Dey, said the bills for Vedanta Unviersity, ICFAI University and Ravisankar University will be tabled in the coming session of the Orissa Assembly.
Deepikaglobal has a report with some more detailed information on this.
The Jagadguru Kripal Yoga Trust (JKYT), a New Delhi-based organisation, has planned to set up a world class Yog and Spiritual Science University in Orissa.
The proposed University would be set up in Mouza Banara under Banki Tahasil of Cuttack district over 250 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.
… As per the MoU, the trust would pay for the land and bear all the expenses of the university, while the government would only extend the facilities like power and water supply.
The proposed university, scheduled to be completed in five years from the possession of land, had planned to impart courses in 21 disciplines.
The courses included graduation in Naturopathy, Yogic Sciences, Rural economics, Rural Development on Health, Hygiene, Homes, Human Values and Harmony in Diversity, Rural Management, Social work, Arts, Business Administration, Computer Application,Oriental learning, Science, Engineering and Yoga Therapy.
The proposed university would also impart post graduate courses in Business Administration, Oriental learning,Social work and other courses which would be added from time to time based upon the needs of the students and job opportunity.
The university would have a sports complex, recreational facilities, utility centres, mediation halls and laboratories and would develop related projects like health care system, Yogashram, Hospital, Old Age Home and cultivate medicinal plants in the alloted land.
As per the agreement the government would provide 110 acres of land in the first phase and the rest 140 acres in the second phase.
… The government has a right to cancel the lease if the land was used for the purpose other than that for which it had been sanctioned.
1 comment July 15th, 2008
IISST is a deemed university now. Why is NISER behind?
Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=40292.
Whereas the Central Government is empowered under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 to declare, on the advice of the UGC, an institution of higher learning as a deemed-to-be-university;
2. And whereas, a proposal was received from Department of Space for conferment of status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, to ‘Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology’ being set up at that point of time under the aegis of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) near Thiruvananthapuram in the State of Kerala;
3. And whereas, the University Grants Commission has examined the said proposal and vide its communication bearing No.F.27-1/2007 (CPP-I) dated the 2nd January, 2008 has recommended conferment of status of ‘deemed-to-be-university’ to Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram for a period of five years;
4. Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Central Government, on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC), hereby declare that Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IISST) Thiruvanathapuram shall be deemed to be a university, under de novo category, for the purposes of the aforesaid Act, provisionally for a period of five years, with immediate effect, subject to the following conditions:
(ii) The Department of Space shall finalise the Memorandum of Association (MoA) and Rules of the IISST in accordance with the model MoA/Rules prescribed by the UGC and in concurrence with the Commission. For this purpose, the Department of Space shall also take into account the variations observed by the UGC in the said MoA & Rules and rectify and amend the relevant provisions in concurrence with the Commission. The IISST may, however, retain the text of the provisions proposed under Clause 20 of its Rules.
5. The declaration as made in para 4 above is further subject to fulfilment of the following conditions :
(i) The objectives of the Trust concerned and ‘Deemed-to-be-University’ institution should confine to educational and related social and charitable activities. The IISST should not undertake or engage in any activities that are of commercial and profit making in nature.
(ii) As and when necessary, IISST shall update or revise or modify its MoA/Rules with the approval of the UGC. Further, specific changes/amendments, if any, suggested by the Ministry of Human Resource Development or/and the UGC shall also be carried out by the deemed-to-be-university institution in its MoA/Rules with the approval of the UGC.
(iv) The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram shall continue to support the IISST with its infrastructure facilities till the time the IISST has a fully developed and permanent infrastructure of its own at the location near Thiruvananthapuram where such facilities are being developed by the Institute concerned.
Deptt. Of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development
PIB,
HB/
July 14th, 2008
Some details on the proposed South Asian University in Delhi
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
The common university of the regional grouping, to be set up on the lines of American Ivy League universities, will also induct students and recruit faculty from across the globe so that it is not confined to "narrow distinctive barriers".
The proposal for SAU was made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the SAARC Summit in Dhaka in December 2005 and later ratified by the eight member nations.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee laid its foundation at a 100-acre plot in Maidan Garhi, Mehrauli in south Delhi on May 26. The campus construction is due to start early next year.
… A course likely on offer is "conflict resolution given that terrorism is a major problem confronting the world", he said but the final decision on academic activities will be taken in February next year when the curricula and by-laws would be drafted.
SAU will have a cafeteria approach where a student pursuing science can also take up a course in humanities.
"In a cafeteria you can pick and choose any item you like. In this university too, you can have more liberty and wider choice and there will be no narrow distinctive barriers," Chadha said.
The initial investment for SAU will be made by the Indian government after which the member countries could contribute and the university would also raise money from international financial institutions and donors, the CEO said.
The university could take up special studies on economy, culture, religion and societies in the SAARC nations, Chadha, who is on the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, said.
… The governance structure of SAU, with link campuses in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan, will be laid down by February, Chadha said.
Gowhar Rizvi of Harvard University, who was entrusted with the task of preparing the university’s concept note, has advised a middle path between government-funded and private education.
The role of the SAARC nation governments will be confined to providing annual subsidies and grants, the concept note has recommended.
July 14th, 2008
Emergency measures for new IITs and new Central Universities
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
A draft Ordinance for 12 new universities and upgrading four Bilaspur University (Chattisgarh), Garhwal University (Uttarakhand), Goa University and Sagar University (Madhya Pradesh) is expected to be put up for Union Cabinet approval. This will take the number of central universities to 37.
An Ordinance for the new IITs is also being considered to implement the initiatives that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had formally announced in his Independence Day address in 2007.
The department of higher education had earlier sought Cabinet approval to amend the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, to include the eight new IITs and to form a society under the Societies Act, 1861, to set them up. The plan to form a society is being shelved to hasten the process. With the Banaras Hindu University’s Institute of Technology also slated to be upgraded to an IIT, the number of IITs will increase to 16.
For the new IITs, the government has provided for Rs 2,000 crore in the 11th Plan and, to start with, Rs 50 crore has been allocated in Budget 2008. For the 16 central universities, Rs 2,725 crore has been provided for in the Planm, with Rs 50 crore allocated in the Budget.
1 comment July 14th, 2008
NTTF graduates from Gopalpur have job offers
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
The Gopalpur centre of the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) is set to post its mark in technical education scenario of Orissa. The Gopalpur centre of NTTF that is promoted by Tata Steel, has received a huge number of offers from various corporate houses across the country.
Adding to that, the students have also got offers with huge pay packages from the corporate houses in the campus placement drive. In the first phase of campus interview, about 100 out of 120 students were roped in by various corporate houses. The list includes domestic corporate houses like Maruti-Suzuki, Orissa Cements Ltd, Seimens Medical, L&T, Bosch Automotive Electronics, Calr Zeiss India, Punj Lloyd, Enercon, Robert Bosch, Tribi Embedded Technologies, Hical Technologies, Vasundhara Automation and Engineering Solutions, Soma Enterprises, Asia Motor Works, Makino Machine Tools and Venus Automations and international companies like Al Shirawi Enterprise of Dubai. While Maruti-Suzuki recruited 16 students from this campus in the preliminary test, Ak Shirawi Enterprise of Dubai selected 21 students.
Most of the organisations who hired the students will provide accommodation, transport and subsidised food. Some of the companies have already taken students for advanced training with the provision of food, accommodation and stipend, and they will get handsome pay packages after completion of the training.
Out of the total strength of NTTF, as many as 52 students are from the project affected families of TATA. The students have been trained in the institute in personality development and updated industry oriented high quality machines and there is no need to get training again in the industry, which they will join after the completion of the course, according to Rashmi Ranjan Gouda, a project affected diploma student of the institute, who is selected for the Maruti Suzuki in the campus.
11 comments July 14th, 2008
IISERs to come under NIT act?
Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Under pressure from the IISERs at Calcutta, Pune and Mohali, the Centre is rushing to amend the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Act of 2007 to recognise the degrees, top government officials have said.
Over 250 students are studying for unrecognised degrees at the institutes set up in 2006 at the behest of the Prime Minister as the Centre’s answer to the lack of top-quality undergraduate science schools.
In a month, the three existing IISERs — billed as potential Indian Institutes of Technology — are expected to increase their intake by 300 with a record number of students joining their courses this year.
Two new IISERs — at Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram — are also starting classes this academic session, admitting an additional 42 students each in their debut year.
The human resource development ministry was earlier planning to introduce an IISER act recognising the five-year integrated MS degrees offered by the institutes.
But the new law, modelled on the IIT act that guides India’s premier engineering schools, was taking time and testing the patience of the IISERs, sources at the ministry and the institutes said. Now, the ministry has decided to recognise the IISER degrees through an amended NIT act.
“Minor amendments to an existing law are easier to pass through the cabinet and then Parliament. A completely new law is scrutinised more at both stages and takes longer. The IISERs are under pressure and can’t wait any longer,” a senior ministry official said.
The NIT (Amendment) Bill, 2008, has been drafted and is currently awaiting the approval of HRD minister Arjun Singh, sources said.
Ministry officials said they were hoping to introduce the amendment bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, expected in August.
… But the pressure from the existing IISERs is not the only reason behind the move now, ministry sources said. “We are starting two new IISERs this year, and the concern that five premier institutions would be offering courses without recognition proved too much,” an official said.
1 comment July 13th, 2008
Haryana IIM to be in Rohtak, 70 kms from Delhi
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) would be set up at Garnawathi in Rohtak district.
… The chief minister said a Central University would be set up in Mahendergarh district with the help of Central Government and it would be named after Lord Krishna.
The Centre has also sanctioned the setting up of a Defence University in the state.
4 comments July 12th, 2008
Orissa to push for the centrally funded IIIT to be in Berhampur: Dharitri
This is a very good and sensible decision by the state; hopefully the central govt. will not create issues with it.
July 12th, 2008
IIIT in Berhampur and NID in Orissa back in the radar
Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.
The chances of a National Institute of Design (NID) in Orissa seems bright, thanks to the initiative of Subas Pani.
… During his recent visit to the state he advised the officials of the Government of Orissa to allot land free of cost for a NID at Bhubaneswar.
And accordingly intimate the Government of India to set up the NID in Orissa, advised he.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission is favoring the idea of another NID in the country.
Dr.Ahluwalia has also responded positively, when Naveen Patnaik raised the matter with him on the event of proposed NID being shifted to Bhopal. …
While Orissa Government along with leading IT companies has set up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Bhubaneswar, another IIIT offered by the Government of India may be set up at Berhampur, Dr.Pani suggested.
Accordingly a piece of land may be acquired there and intimated to the Centre as soon as possible, said Dr.Pani.
9 comments July 9th, 2008
IIT Bhubaneswar classes to start at the same time as IIT Kharagpur classes
Following is an edited version of a mail sent by Prof. D K Tripathy, Dean Student Affairs, IIT Kharagpur
From: dkt
Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Subject: Re: admission to iit bhubaneswar
To: Chitta BaralDear Prof.Baral
Thanks. Nothing to worry. Classes are starting with IIT Kgp Students same time at IIT Kgp. Yesterday I have signed the welcome letter to IIT Bhubaneswar Students.All letters are despatched yesterday. Thanks for your concern. We too want to do our best.
With regardsProf Deba Kumar Tripathy,
Dean Student Affairs and
Professor Production Engineering
Rubber Technology Centre,
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur 721302 WB
In light of of the way the other mentor IITs are treating their mentee IITs it is great that IIT Bhubaneswar is mentored by IIT Kharagpur.
2 comments July 9th, 2008
Vedanta University: preferring Orissa over other states
The following 2006 report in Andhra Cafe mentions how several states were competing for Vedanta University.
‘Vedanta University’ on the lines of Stanford, Harvard and Oxford, being promoted by UK-based NRI industrialist Anil Agarwal might take its root in the State. Experts views Hyderabad as a definite high-potential candidate for the location of the world-class university.
Talks with the AP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan governments had already been done and officials from Vedanta is in the process of talking to Karnataka and Goa. A final decision on the location is to be taken by April this year.
The ‘not-for-profit’ Vedanta University will strive to impart world-class education and drive a cutting-edge research agenda, with an envisaged student population of more than 100,000.
The university would also aim to nurture all-round excellence, beyond the academic dimension, to produce tomorrow’s Nobel laureates, Olympic champions and community leaders.
The vision implies spawning of an education and research township, around the university in a manner similar to Stanford University. …
The reason we are mentioning this 2006 article here is that some people from neighboring states are … People from Orissa should not fall for such attempts.
July 8th, 2008
Corporate Houses To Set Up Technical Institutions in West Bengal
Leading Corporate Houses like Mitsubishi, TATA, Jindal and Videocon are helping the State Govt. in West Bengal to set up polytechnic colleges and Industrial Training Industrial Training Institutes in districts where their industries are to come up/ are present already.
This is being done with a view to meet the demand for technically trained workforce for the industries of the state.
Source: Times of India, Kolkata edition, 08.07.08
1 comment July 8th, 2008
Shitalapalli shortlisted as the location of the govt. engineering college in Berhampur: Samaja
July 7th, 2008
New IITs at the mercy of their mentors. Will IIT Kharagpur do the right thing for IIT Bhubaneswar?
Following is an excerpt from a report in the Telegraph.
The existing IITs that are handholding the new ones as “mentors” asked the Centre to postpone the launch of these institutes at a meeting yesterday. The government has agreed.
The three new institutes in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat — to be mentored by the IITs in Chennai, Guwahati and Mumbai respectively — will now open in August, or even later, instead of this month. They had earlier been scheduled to start classes at the same time as their mentor institutes in July.
Even when they open, these three will start classes on temporary campuses near their state capitals, using rented infrastructure, the sources said. “It’s impossible to start our own academic session and the classes at the new institutes at the same time,” an IIT director said.
“Since no faculty has been hired for them, our teachers would then have to go and teach at the new venues. The new IITs can only start once we have hired their faculty.”
The decision came at a meeting between the directors of the seven existing IITs and the human resource development (HRD) ministry in Delhi yesterday, the sources said. The directors asked the ministry to speed up the paperwork for the establishment of the new institutes.
“They don’t have even their own insignia or letter pad, and we are expected to start classes! Till they are registered, we can’t even hire teachers or issue call letters to the students,” another director said.
The ministry may approach the registrar of societies next week, sources said.
“We will try and register the institutes as soon as possible,” a senior ministry official said, admitting that bureaucratic lethargy was at fault.
Although registration will allow the new IITs to hold classes, the Centre needs to amend the IIT Act to formally recognise the degrees they would offer. A cabinet note seeking the amendment has been circulated among the ministries.
Classes for the students admitted to the three other new IITs — in Punjab, Orissa and Rajasthan — may also be delayed. Their classes are to be held at their mentor institutes in Delhi, Kharagpur and Kanpur this year.
“Our faculty members’ workload will increase,” a senior IIT Kharagpur official said, adding that no formal decision had yet been taken to delay the classes for the Orissa institute’s students.
Plans to launch an IIT in Himachal Pradesh this year were aborted after IIT Roorkee, its mentor, threw up its hands.
1 comment July 7th, 2008
Vigyan Bharati trust signs MOU with WODC for a medical college in Rourkela
Following is from a report in Pioneer.
The Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) on Friday signed a MoU with the city based Vigyan Bharati Charitable Trust to set up a sophisticated hospital and medical college at Rourkela with the active support of the State Government.
Chairman of WODC Niranjan Panda said that the hospital would have 500 beds and the medical college with 100 seats. It would be functional by 2010-11.
The WODC has provided a grant of Rs 10 crore for creation of the requisite infrastructure and the State Government would provide 25 acres of land free of cost. The BPL category patients would be provided with free healthcare and no fee for consultancy and routine investigation would be charged.
The trust has agreed to reserve 10 per cent of the seats for the eligible candidates of the WODC area and provide concession in food, accommodation and purchase of books, said Panda. He hoped that the hospital would be a boon for the poor people of the region who are deprived from advanced healthcare facilities and have to travel to far off places to avail qualitative healthcare. The trust has agreed to take care of any sort of emergency health problem during natural calamities.
Chairman of Vigyan Bharati Charitable Trust Tirupati Panigrahi said he is hopeful that the hospital will be completed before schedule.
On behalf of the WODC CEO Ashwini Kumar Mishra signed the MoU. …
July 5th, 2008