Odisha HRD

Intensive Advanced Course in Odissi at the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Center: Admission ad from Dharitri

April 27th, 2009

Samaja and Tathya.in: Conspiracy to have a second campus of Central University of Orissa (Koraput) in Bhubaneswar?

The tathya.in article is at http://www.tathya.in/2009/story.asp?sno=2873. Following are some excerpts:

… 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.

6 comments April 26th, 2009

Zee Institute of Creative Arts opens its second campus (after Mumbai) in Bhubaneswar

The web page of ZEE Institute of Creative Arts is http://www.zica.org.There head office is Mumbai and as per their "Contact Us" page it currently has two campuses in Mumbai and Bhubaneswar. Following is an excerpt from a news Item in Express Buzz about the opening of their Bhubaneswar Campus.

Adding another feather to Capital’s list of institutions offering career-oriented professional courses, Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA) today opened its centre here at Niladri Vihar.

With animation industry in India poised to grow at 27 per cent to reach a 1,163 million dollar mark by 2012, the institute hopes to provide affordable animation courses to cater to the manpower demands when Bollywood alone plans to make another 12 feature films based on animation and special effects. Also the gaming industry is all set to grow rapidly with a huge demand of professionals.

Addressing mediapersons, Head, Youth Business, Zee Learn, Subhadarshi Tripathy said as traditionally Orissa has many well-known animation artists engaged at the national level, ZICA thought it appropriate to open its second centre outside Mumbai here so that students from the entire Eastern Indian states can be given an opportunity to learn the art and equip themselves to take various career opportunities in film making, visual effects, television production and advertising industry.

‘‘ZICA, which first started in Hyderabad way back in 1995, was later shifted to the Esselworld campus in Mumbai and has become the pioneer animation institute with its distinct training style and approach towards industry-oriented curriculum’’, he said adding, however, to maintain quality it never ‘‘opened branches elsewhere outside the city of dreams’’.

The local centre will impart a two-year diploma in animation film making and one-year course in digital arts, but later would also introduce short-term courses. ‘‘While the two-year course would need an investment of around Rs 3 lakh, the short-term ones may vary from Rs 40-75,000’’, he said adding, compared to Mumbai, the local centre will be more affordable with the same standard of teaching and infrastructure facilities.

‘‘For each course there would be a six-faculty team apart from industry professionals as guest faculty and the teacher-student ratio would be around 1:4’’, he pointed out. …

2 comments April 25th, 2009

Vedanta University Hospital design

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

For an architect, it is always challenging to incorporate elements of local art and culture into modern day structures. But, if the words of leading health-care planner and architect with ‘Perkins+Wills’ Nick Seierup are to be believed, the interiors of the proposed Vedanta University Hospital on Puri-Konark Marine Drive would be an example of amalgamation of ethnicity and modernity keeping in mind local needs and aesthetics.

…‘‘As an institution of inter-disciplinary studies the proposed design of the six-storeyed structure will have an ultra modern look and will equip the students and researchers of the medical facility to have enough space for interactive learning through open-air or enclosed surroundings with eco-friendly atmosphere’’, he added.

4 comments April 11th, 2009

NISER makes 31 offers for permanent faculty positions

(Ack: Thanks to Mr. Rakesh Kumar for the pointer.)

Lets hope most of them accept these offers. The list is at http://niser.ac.in/notices/2009/Faculty-selected-Apr-09.pdf. Below are images of that list.

1 comment April 9th, 2009

Committee constructed to develop the initial programs and syllabi for the Central University of Orissa: Samaja

April 7th, 2009

Faizan Mustafa appointed as the first VC of National Law University of Orissa

As per comment 3 of an earlier post of ours, The National Law University Act, 2008 (Orissa Act 4 Of 2008) was published in the Orissa Gazette (Extraordinary) Vide No.2215, dated 4th December, 2008. So the official establishment year of this university will be 2008.

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in about the appointment of the first vice chancellor of this university.

Professor Faizan Mustafa is the first Vice Chancellor of the National Law University of Orissa (NLUO). 

Justice Dr. Balbir Singh Chouhan, Chief Justice of Orissa High court and the Chancellor of NLUO has appointed him in the top post here on 6 April. 

Professor Mustafa is at present the Director KIIT Law School, Bhubaneswar. 

He is a gold medalist in LL.M. from Aligarh Muslim University. who had completed his Ph.D. in Intellectual Property Law. 

Professor Mustafa also has a Diploma in International and Comparative Human Rights from International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. 

Before joining KLS as Director, he was Dean of Faculty of Law, AMU and Registrar of AMU for a period of two years. …

… Finally the NLUO is taking concrete shape with Prof.Mustafa at the helm and initiative of the Higher Education department to place funds for the institution.

The State Government has already provided Rs.5 crore to the Corpus Fund.

Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister laid foundation of the institution on 5 January at Brajabiharipur near Naraj in Cuttack district.

The State Government has allocated 30 acres of land free of cost.

Similar National Law Schools opened earlier in the other states are listed here. So far there were 12 of them in Bangalore (1986), Hyderabad (1998),  Bhopal (1998), Kolkata (1999), Jodhpur (1999), Gandhinagar (2003), Raipur (2003), Kochi (2005), Lucknow (2005), Patiala (2006), Patna (2007), and Delhi (2008). Admission to all of them except the last one is through the common law admission test (CLAT).

13 comments April 7th, 2009

Update on the proposed AIIMS like institutions

Following is an excerpt from a recent (March 22, 2009) report from Economic Times.

… The proposal for setting up AIIMS-like institutions was first made in 2003 by the then BJP-led NDA government. It was, however, cleared by the CCEA on March 16, 2006, 10 months after the UPA government came to power.

It was decided that each site would be taken as a separate and independent project instead of clubbing all six together. The construction of housing and the hospital complex was also separated from that of hospital and medical college.

Speaking to TOI , Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry B K Prasad said the layout and master plans of the hospital sites at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh had already been approved. The approval of the master plans for Patna and Raipur is expected on March 25. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan State Road Development Corporation construction has started construction work on the residential complex (housing and hostel) in Jodhpur. The work relating to construction of the residential complex at Rishikesh, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Raipur has been entrusted to two different agencies.

Prasad said, "Hostel construction in the other sites will start latest by June and should be completed by December 2009. Hospital construction should start by October and will take 24 months to complete. Each hospital will have 960 beds with 29 super-speciality departments."

Following is an excerpt from a report in jaibihar.com.

Taking a serious note of the inordinate delay in completion of Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Science (JPNAIIMS) here, the Patna High Court on Tuesday asked the union government to float fresh tender on the revised estimate and commence the  actual construction  of the proposed medical college and hospital complex in 90 days.

 

While hearing a PIL urging the court’s intervention for completion of JPNAIIMS project within a time frame, a division bench, comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Sheem Ali Khan, directed the Union Government to file an action taken report (ATR) on the next date of hearing.

Complaining about the dilly-dallying attitude of the centre, M P Gupta, counsel for the petitioner, Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare, referred to earlier records which revealed that on May 15, 2006  the estimated expenditure was Rs 332 crore, which was  hiked to Rs 533.15 crore on February 25, 2009, but till date the actual construction work had not commenced.

April 6th, 2009

Vedanta University teaching and research hospital to open in 2011

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report in indopia.in.

Vedanta University today announced the launch of a world class multi-speciality teaching and research hospital near Puri-Konark Marine Drive at a cost of Rs 400 crore. "The 500-bed multi-speciality hospital will commence during the first phase of the university. Orders for construction have already been placed," Sanjeev Anand Zutshi, Director of the project, told reporters here.

Stating that construction would begin after the elections, C V Krishnan of the Vedanta group said nearly 4,000 acres had already been acquired for the university project as against the total requirement of about 6,000 acres.

Both Krishnan and Zutshi said that the hospital would commence services in 2011 providing high-quality patient care affordable to the common man by the "not-for-profit"institution, an initiative of Anil Agarwal foundation.

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Lauding the initiative, eminent Indian cardiologist, Dr. Kabi Prasad Mishra, said that the hospital will be a regional hub for critical specialties including cardiology and diabetology.

Dr.Mishra said that as a teaching and research centre, it will attract leading researcher and specialists in medical science from around the globe.

The University’s research agenda will prioritize public health solutions that address the most prevalent medical issues in the region.

This multi-specialty hospital will commence during the first phase of the university, said Sanjeev Anand Zutshi, Director of VUP.

Orders for construction have already been places with Larsen & Toubro Limited, added Mr.Zutshi.

The conceptual planning and design of the hospital has been prepared by the leading US based hospital design firm Perkins + Will.

The design was well appreciated by stalwarts of Medical Science like Professor M S Valiathan and Professor N K Ganguly.

Padma Vibhusan Dr. Valiathan presented the key note address in the national seminar “Optimum Medical Education and Ethics in clinical Practice”.

Padma Bhusan Dr.Ganguly dwelt upon issues like immunology, biotechnology and public health.

The VUP has already initiated research program on interventions needed for prevalence of anemia in infants and children of the state led by Dr.Dipika Mohanty.

Telegraph also reports on this.

April 6th, 2009

Vedanta University expects to start in 2011

Following are excerpts from a recent (March 19, 2009) report in Business Standard.

The Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta University will begin operations by mid-2011 in Puri, Orissa. Agarwal plans to make Vedanta University into a world-class, multi-disciplinary varsity with students from across India and around the world.

The university, being built with an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, will come up in three phases. Phase one will be operational by mid-2011 with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore. The first academic session at the university was to begin in 2009 but the project has been delayed by two years due to a land acquisition tussle with the local residents of Puri.

… To begin with, the university will start operations with around 1,000 students in the arts and science streams. The student intake, however, will grow steadily to reach an ultimate goal of 100,000 students. The university board on the other hand is still working on the modalities involving admission and fee structure.

“We have all the necessary approvals in place from various academic authorities in the country. However, certain details regarding the admission process need to be worked on. We plan to produce professionals far superior to what any other institute can produce in the country,” said C V Krishnan, CEO, Vedanta University.

The university has awarded construction contracts of the academic buildings as well as the hospital at the project site to companies like Larsen & Toubro, Shapoorji Pallonji, Ahluwalia, B E Billimoria and Simplex. Architects Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore, USA, have prepared the master plan of the University.

The campus will have a super specialty hospital, which will answer a long standing need for providing comprehensive and specialised patient care for the people of Orissa and eastern India. Both the University and the hospital are ‘not-for-profit’ institutions.

World-renowned hospital architects are developing the design for the hospital, Perkins and Will from USA. The university will also establish research parks to promote science and technology-based entrepreneurship and support an innovation-driven incubator. E-learning programmes will also be launched in future.

“We will be recruiting young professors with inclination towards research. We have already hired a US-based recruitment agency to appoint faculty for the university,” added Krishnan.

7 comments April 5th, 2009

The 12 new central universities will start with only research programs

Following is excerpted from a report in Telegraph.

Twelve new central universities that India is launching will start by offering only research programmes — MPhil and PhD — unlike existing varsities that are controlled by the Centre.

The new universities will focus exclusively on research, at least initially, though they can later expand and offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses not involving research as well, top government officials have said.

… But the 12 new universities will initially offer only research programmes, human resource development (HRD) ministry sources said.

“We will leave it open to each university to decide what research programmes they want to start with. At least one university wants to start with only MPhil courses. That is fine,” a source said.

The 12 new universities are to come up in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Bihar.

At least three of the 12 are expected to start offering courses from the 2009 academic session itself, though more may begin.

The strategy to focus only on research initially at the new universities is based on three major considerations, sources said.

One, it will allow the universities to initially “find their feet” without the pressure of a large number of students, officials argue.

April 5th, 2009

How not to do rankings?

Recently Educationtimes.com, a part of of Times of India, together with Gfk Mode, has done a ranking of universities across India in various disciplines. There methodology, in their own words, was as follows:

This survey was open to prominent universities across India and invitations were sent to 225 universities.

Among the 225 prominent universities invited, 136 participated. This constitutes around 61% participation.

Some universities refused to participate. Whereas many universities could not provide the required information within our time frame.

The contact persons at the universities were: the registrars, deputy registrars, principal, dean or the administrative heads.

That is it. They sent the surveys. Regardless of whether people participated or not; regardless of the veracity of what was given back; they made a ranking.

The parameters they used may seem reasonable to many, but to me there is a very simple way to rank Universities and Colleges in India. Just use faculty quality as the first parameter and if their is a tie then use the student quality as the second parameter. That’s it!

2 comments April 1st, 2009