Odisha HRD

IIT Bhubaneswar faculty ad in newspapers (Deadline: 31st July 2009)

June 30th, 2009

Faculty openings at IIT Bhubaneswar (Application Deadline – 31st July 2009)

Following is from http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=7. The application form is at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/notice.php?sr_no=8. These were posted in the IIT Bhubaneswar electronic Notice Board at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/index.php.

IIT Bhubaneswar invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in the following disciplines.

Disciplines : Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences (Economics, English, Psychology)

Ph.D. with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in appropriate branch and evidence of the ability to pursue independent high quality research. 

Professor : At least 10 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 5 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor or 3 years as Associate Professor.

Associate Professor : At least 8 years teaching / research / industrial experience of which 3 years should be at the level of Assistant Professor

Professor                   : Rs. 18400-500-22400/-

Associate Professor            : Rs. 16400-450-20000/-

Assistant Professor             : Rs. 12000-420-18300/-

Full funding for attending national conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Financial assistance up to Rs.1.00 lakh once in 3 years for attending International conferences either for presenting a paper or chairing a session as per Institute guidelines.

Reimbursement of 75% of membership fee of one international professional society every year.

Book grant of Rs. 4000/- per annum.

Reimbursement of telephone charges up to Rs.750 per month.

Reimbursement of relocation charges from within India to the faculty members at the time of their joining.

Honorarium of Rs. 15,000/- per month to the teachers who have obtained Bhatnagar Award OR are having fellowship of at least two National Academies. A faculty member is entitled for only one of the two honoraria.

Interested candidates may apply enclosing

•     Curriculum Vitae.

•     List of Publications (with reprints of important publications).

•    Names and Addresses (with e-mail address and fax numbers) of at least three referees.

•     Any other details relevant to the candidature.

•     Reservation for SC/ST/OBC/PH as per Government of India rules.

• Minimum requirement of experience may be relaxed in respect of outstanding candidates.

•     Mere eligibility will not vest any right on any candidate for being called for interview. The decision of the Institute in all matters will be final. No correspondence will be entertained from the candidates in connection with the process of selection / interview. Canvassing in any manner would entail disqualification of the candidature.

·         The Institute reserves the right to call only the requisite number of candidates for interview after shortlisting with reference to the candidate’s qualification, suitability, experience, etc.

·         The candidates should be preferably below 35 years of age for the post of Assistant Professor

•     The Institute reserves the right to fill or not to fill any or all the posts advertised.

·         Candidates possessing the requisite qualification & experience may submit their application on the prescribed form to the Registrar, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Samantapuri, Bhubaneswar – 751013 (email : registrar@iitbbs.ac.in).

·         NO INTERIM ENQUIRIES WILL BE ENTERTAINED.

Download Application Form

Application form can be downloaded from the Institute website (www.iitbbs.ac.in). The candidates applying from Government Organizations and Public Sector Undertaking should have their applications duly forwarded by their present employer. Applicants desiring to apply for more than one discipline should send separate application for each discipline.

Last Date for receipt of completed application forms: 31^st July 2009.

June 29th, 2009

Prof. Ganapati Panda will be the first Vice Chancellor of VSSUT, Burla: Dharitri

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.

June 27th, 2009

Issues with Yashpal Committee final report

Update2: The frontline article "University Business" explains why the Yahspal Committee is harsh on the deemed universities and on UGC.

Update: Apparently Prof. Kaushik Basu of Cornell University has issued a dissenting note to this report. Hindu reports on this. Business Standard interviews Prof. Basu.Following are some excerpts.

First, when it comes to higher education, we need to give up our licensing mentality and allow many more new colleges, deemed universities and universities to come up. We tried industrial licensing to manage our manufacturing sector and almost killed it. 

I completely agree with the above. Prof. Yashpal is unnecessarily harsh on the deemed universities. I also agree with the following:

If regulatory bodies like the UGC & AICTE are replaced by a supra body (as suggested by the National Knowledge Commission too), do you believe it will still hinder granting autonomy to colleges and universities?

In itself this means very little. Everything will depend on how we specify the functions of this supra body. At one level this can be nothing but a change of names. At another, by creating such a powerful body, we can risk hurting the autonomy of colleges and universities. This we must guard against.

More excerpts from Prof. Basu’s dissent note is reported in another Business Standard article. Following is one of them.

First, the main report speaks about the need for greater autonomy for colleges and universities. However, one stumbling block for this objective is the huge power vested in the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). There is need for these organisations to divest themselves of some of this power. Just as India gave up on industrial licensing in the early nineties (and thereby unleashed growth), the reformed UGC and AICTE should give up on the licensing of higher education

I was able to find the final report of Yashpal Committee in the web. A local copy of it is here. There are a lot of good points in the committee report. But I do have some disagreement and discomfort with the report. Here are some of the points where I am not comfortable with what the committee writes in its report.

• I find that the committee discussions and recommendations regarding Deemed Universities to be unnecessarily harsh. The committee also does not talk much about private universities and the only place it does (page 39), it badmouths them. It criticizes private institutions a lot. Most of the criticisms are valid. But considering the need of the country the tone should have been more on how to make them better rather than making them out to be evil. The only way India can have the number of universities that it wants to have in the next 5-10 years is through private participation and that includes deemed universities and private universities. My suggestion would be to have a SEBI like regulatory agency that oversees the financial aspects of the private educational institutions (including priavte universities). The regulations should require audited financial statements made available in the web. (The private universities in the US have their financial statements available in the web. Stanford’s is here.) The regulation should stipulate that all the fees should be mentioned upfront in the institution’s webpage and there should be a hotline to complain regarding any transactions beyond that is mentioned in those pages.
• The committee’s recommendation of eliminating various regulating agencies and creating a new body from scratch is not well developed. In the US there are different accreditation agencies for different educational fields. The current problem is with how the AICTE, MCI, etc. members are selected and how they operate rather than with their existence. In the proposed model, even if there is a single body, there will be still a need for different sub-bodies for accrediting different type of institutions. 
• The committee also criticizes the speciality institutes like IIT and IIMs and recommends that they broaden their scope. Although broadening IITs and IIMs is a good idea, I think the committee misses an important point. Consider the National Law Schools. Prior to their establishment there were law schools in various universities. But the top students rarely thought of going to law school.  It was considered an add-on degree after one does his/her Bachelors or Masters. The national law schools did two things that changed the scenario. (i) They created a brand name and (ii) They created law focused bachelors programs right after +2. So the idea behind some specialized branded institutions should be aplauded rather than criticized. Similarly consider the IISERs/NISER. By their dedicated focus on science research they are already helping in reviving interest in science among students out of high school. India being a vast country with a need for large number of institutions it is a good idea to have some branded discipline focussed institutions that will help create the interest of students on those areas. This interest will indirectly benefit the universities which have comprehensive programs in various fields.  Thus I would recommend creation of Indian Institutes of Social Sciences and/or Indian Institutes of Liberal Arts with programs for students out of high school. Such a brand would attract top students out of high school to pursue liberal arts. We do need top quality students out of high school pursuing social science and liberal arts topics such as Anthropology, Economics, Psychology, Literature, etc. By having branded institutions in those fields it will suggest to interested students and their parents that these fields are worth pursuing. However, as the Yashpal committee suggested after a certain brand is established (like IITs and IIMs) they should broaden to other disciplines; but, IMHO, only after the brand is established.

10 comments June 27th, 2009

Update on J N Tata Technical Education Center in Gopalpur; one more coming up in Kalinganagar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Last year all the 121 students who passed out from the centre were absorbed in different companies. The students of the centre’s first batch had received offers from various national and international companies such as Siemens, L&T, Robert Bosch, Maruti Suzuki, Punj Lyod, AMW, Soma Enterprise, OCL, JSW, US-based Transocean Infrastructure and the Dubai-based Al-Shirwai Group.

Out of the total strength of 121 students, 66 belonged to the families affected by Tata Steel’s Gopalpur project. Tata Steel is imparting bridge course training to the members of the affected families to enable them to get admission to the JN Tata Technical Education Centre.

J N Tata Technical Education Center, run by the Bangalore-based Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), provides a three-year diploma course in Electronics, Mechatronics (mechanical and electronics engineering) and Manufacturing Technology.

The centre was set up by Tata Steel at Gopalpur in 2005 to promote quality technical education in Orissa for improving employability of the youth of the state.

Tata Steel has invested more than Rs 28 crore for setting up the infrastructure of the institute.

The institute is spread over an area of 20 acres with a built space of more than 50,000 sq ft. Tata Steel is now building a hostel for the students at an investment of about Rs 7 crore.

The NTTF site http://www.nttftrg.com/contactus.html shows that one more is coming up in Kalinganagar. The address is:

NTTF Centre, Kalinganagar.

      NTTF Technical Training Centre ,
      At Seyanmarsal Vocational Training Centre
      Model School Complex, Ddabalgiri
      P.O F.C Project Jaipur- 755019 Orissa.
      TELEPHONE : 0 9238715682 

June 27th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar should start PhD programmes soon

The newly set-up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in this Bihar city will start its doctoral programmes from next month, an official said on Friday.

"IIT-Patna will become the first among the eight new IITs set up last year to start PhD programmes," institute official Subhash Pandey said.

The IIT will have PhD programmes in computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, mathematics, physics, humanities and social sciences.

Pandey said that interviews of the applicants are underway and there are 30 vacancies.

NOTE: IIT Hyderabad has already admitted eleven students for PhD Program in the January-May 2009 semester.

5 comments June 26th, 2009

IIT Bhubaneswar student and faculty housing

The following pictures are from the blog of a couple of IIT Bhubaneswar first batch students. (Thanks to Pradosh, who took the pictures.)

2 comments June 25th, 2009

HRD minister plans to scrap class 10 board exams; will it be good for students of Orissa?

Update: UP to have grading system in class 10 boards; Govt. for single board at all-India level for school education; Govt. plans independent panel to rate schools

Different media sources report on  the idea of central govt. to reform school education system in India. Following is an excerpt from CNN-IBN: 

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has come up with a innovative idea to reform school education system and is planning to scrap the Class 10 board examination. Sibal not only wants to do away with Class 10 board examination but also set up an evaluation system based on percentiles.

 

"We need to de-traumatise it and reduce the burden on parents and children. We could, for instance, think of abolishing the Class 10 board exam. Why does a child need to appear for a board exam in Class 10 if he or she is continuing in the same school?" asked Sibal.

"I think we should not let the students and their parents go through this immense trauma at a such young age. I will be taking forward this proposal and will be discussing it with the state broads too. We already have NCERT recommendations on it and this not new. Many countries don’t have exams but have a different form of assessment. For Class 12, it is different. We need to have exams because the students will be going into graduate colleges, but for Class 10, why should we have percentages when we can have percentile," he added.

 

Sibal also said it this ministry will do its best to implement the Yash Pal Committee report within 100 days. The Committee headed by Professor Yash Pal had been set up to advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education and has recommended the establishment of a National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).

1 comment June 25th, 2009

Latest information on Sri Sri University and AOLHET

Update: I talked to one of persons associated with AOLHET. He said that AOLHET is the US arm of Sri Sri University and its main goal is to raise $250 million (about Rs 1200 crores) for the Sri Sri University. He said many of the trustee members listed below have significant experience in fund raising for a university. With a budget like that, the freedom from government by virtue of being a private university,  the world wide admiration and visibility of Sri Sri Ravishankar, and the world-wide network of Art of Living, this university could challenge the proposed National University in Bhubaneswar.

I stumbled across a new site for this at http://aolhet.com. AOLHET is Art of Living Health and Education Trust. It has more up-to-date information. From the pages there we have the following information. 

Trustees: 

Dr. Alfred Balitzer, former United States Special Ambassador to Brunei and Professor of American government, political philosophy and U.S.-Asia relations at Claremont McKenna College, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Raj Shah, Chairman and CEO of Capital Surini Group International, Inc. and Capital Technology Information Services, Inc., is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Salim Aziz, a Cardiothoracic and Thoracic Surgeon and CEO and Medical Director of Capitol Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates and Millennium Scan International, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Jeffrey Houk, Board Member of the Art of Living Foundations, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Dean Harmison, a Specialist in General Dentistry, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Dr. Raman Poola, a physician specializing in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Mr. Arif Diwan, President and Founder of WILLIGENT Corporation and Managing Director and General Partner at Chrimatos Investments, is on the Board of Directors of the AOLHET

Faculty/Staff

Dr. TN Seshan, former Chief Election Commissioner of India (1990 – 1996) is the President Designate of Sri Sri University

Dr. S Ramaratnam is Vice Chancellor Designate of Sri Sri University

Dr. NV Vasani, Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Nirma University is on the Advisory Board of Sri Sri University

Mr. S.B. Ganguly, Chairman of Exide Industries, is on the Advisory Board of Sri Sri University

Colleges, Academic Departments and Programs

• College of Management
Bachelor’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Marketing
   Business Management
   Human Resources
   Banking and Finance

• College of Arts and Humanities
Bachelor’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Cultural Studies and Anthropology
   Performing Arts

• College of Government
Bachelor’s degree (2 years) and Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Mass Communication
Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years)

• College of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
  Sustainable Development
  Pharmacology
  Agriculture
  Biotechnology

• College of Material and Transportation Sciences
Master’s degree (2 years); students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Textile Sciences
   Transportation Sciences

• College of Engineering
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Electronics and Telecommunications
   Computer Sciences
   Information Technology
   Mechanical Engineering
   Electrical Engineering
   Instrumentation
   Electronics and Electrical Engineering
   Civil Engineering

• College of Ayurveda
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Vedic Sciences
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Master’s/Doctoral degree (4 years); Students will focus in one or more of the following areas of study:
   Physical Sciences
   Chemistry
   Mathematics

• College of Medicine
Medical Doctoral degree (4 years)

• College of Law
Bachelor’s in Civil Law degree (5 years).

Sri Sri University

Sri Sri University will provide a unique educational experience that blends academic and personal development, which will nurture, educate, and empower students to become leaders in public service. A world-class academic institution, the University will feature multidisciplinary curricula to promote the pursuit of truth through educational and spiritual empowerment. Unparalleled didactics coupled with self-reflection will prepare students of all cultures and creeds for personal and professional excellence globally. A key objective of Sri Sri University is to foster scholarship and collegiality among its students, to inspire them to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve humanity.

The Art of Living Foundation and the Government of Orissa signed a Memorandum of Understanding on December 18, 2006 to establish a full-fledged multidisciplinary university near the state capital, Bhubaneswar within two to three years. The goal of the university would be to provide holistic education that is firmly embedded in Indian culture and ethos to the global leaders of tomorrow. Admission into the university will be based on merit alone, which will be assessed based on an entrance examination. Admission into the proposed varsity will be open to Indian as well as foreign nationals.

The proposed campus is being constructed in approximately 186 acres of land along the banks of the Mahanadi River in Naraj, about 20 miles from Bhubaneswar. The campus will include academic buildings, recreational facilities, meditation halls, and a sports complex. It will be designed to cater to the needs of 1,500 faculty members, an equal number of non-academic staff members, and 15,000 students. In 2007, the international consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was appointed to chart the strategic plans for Sri Sri University. Under the execution plan developed by Deloitte, Sri Sri University will establish the following colleges between 2009 and 2014:

Year 1: Management, Law, Government
Year 2: Mass Communication, Cultural Studies
Year 3: Engineering, Medicine
Year 4: Ayurveda, Vedic Sciences, Biotechnology
Year 5: Research Sciences

A Sri Sri University education will seek to inspire students to explore, create, serve and lead. 

Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital

The goal of the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital is to provide primary, preventive and educational healthcare. The Teaching Hospital will offer state-of-the-art, affordable medical care to communities in underserved areas by using an integrated approach that combines traditional health care and modern technology.

       In the period between 2009 and 2014 the Art of Living Health and Education Trust aims to:      

 • Design and construct the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital with specialized facilities on campus;

 • Build 25 primary care satellite clinics in locations determined by a feasibility study, to be conducted in 2008-2009;

 • Offer telemedicine services in primary care clinics with the capability to transfer patients with specialized medical needs to appropriately staffed and equipped clinics;

• Emphasize community-driven development through the International Association for Human Values’ 5H program [Health,Hygiene, Homes, Harmony in Diversity, Human Values]; and

• Develop a replication strategy using the design, construction, and operations of the Sri Sri University Teaching Hospital
as a prototype, in collaboration with other NGOs and charitable organizations, to extend the His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s vision of affordable primary, preventive and educational healthcare to other parts of the world.

Campus

”Home to more than 15,000 students and 1,500 academic faculty from around the world, Sri Sri University campus will be located less than 15 miles from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa.

1 comment June 24th, 2009

Orissa government colleges have a faculty crisis

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

Currently, Orissa has 29 lead or Grade-I colleges where a professor-grade person will be the principal and for the degree colleges a reader-grade person has to become a principal, but despite assurances, the State Government is yet to come out with a complete list of eligible candidates. On the other hand, since 1998 no selection was made for lecturer posts of UGC-grade for the degree and lead colleges making the situation worse.

Currently, Orissa has 29 lead or Grade-I colleges where a professor-grade person will be the principal and for the degree colleges

a reader-grade person has to become a principal, but despite assurances, the State Government is yet to come out with a complete list of eligible candidates. On the other hand, since 1998 no selection was made for lecturer posts of UGC-grade for the degree and lead colleges making the situation worse.

… Contacted, Higher Education Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said as the `functional structure is based on a pyramidal concept’, there are many `issues’ to be addressed at grass-root level and the Department had already given a requisition to the Orissa Public Service Commission to recruit 2,800 junior lecturers at the earliest.

1 comment June 23rd, 2009

OUAT also Offers MCA, MBA (Agri-Business Management), M.Sc (Bioinformatics) and M.Sc (Microbiology): Ad in Samaja

1 comment June 23rd, 2009

IIT Kanpur to open extension centre in Noida; in future IIT Bhubaneswar should open an extension centre in Sambalpur/Rourkela region

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business standard:

The HRD Ministry has granted permission to IIT Kanpur to open an extension centre in Noida, work on which will start within a week. IIT Kanpur Registrar Sanjiv Kashalkar told PTI that the work will be completed by 2012. He said that a ‘distance learning centre’ will also be opened there.     

Kashalkar said the centre will function on the lines of India International Centre with technocrats imparting technical education through conferences. It will also provide several short-term management courses and refresher courses meant for distance learning, he said.     

The premier institute has been granted five acres of land in sector 62 of Noida.

6 comments June 23rd, 2009

Tradewings Bhubaneswar: Offers Diploma in Airlines and Toursim Management (Ad. in Dharitri)

June 22nd, 2009

List of B.Ed and CT institutions approved by the Orissa government: Dharitri

132 comments June 22nd, 2009

XIM Bhubaneswar unveils a new 7 story academic block next to Fortune Tower

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indiaeducationdiary.

The Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri. Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the new academic block of the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) this morning. XIMB which has been consistently ranked as one of the finest business schools in India has achieved yet another milestone with this new infrastructural development keeping in mind the future demands of management education. …

Speaking to a gathering of more than 800 people, Shri.Patnaik felt that XIMB as an Institute has a lot to offer and congratulated the leadership at XIMB for ensuring continued success and development for the society through the social developmental activities carried out by XIMB.

This new academic block is a seven storied beautiful building and is adjacent to the Fortune Towers which houses major companies operating in Orissa. Standing tall along side the Fortune Towers, the XIMB’s new academic block also provides a glimpse of the changing industrial scenario of Orissa and points to the development that the state is making with regard to business education, commerce and industry. The new academic block has a built up area of 45,875 square feet and has been constructed at an estimated cost of 6.5 crores. It has 23 Faculty rooms, 6 lecture halls with a seating capacity for 60 students each, 4 lecture halls with a seating capacity for 70 students each and two lecture halls with a seating capacity for 120 students each. Besides these facilities, the new academic block also has a board room, a conference room and an examination hall with a seating capacity for 250 students. …

2 comments June 22nd, 2009

Institute of Mathematics & Applications (Bhubaneswar) advertises for 5 faculty positions

June 21st, 2009