I noticed that the fact that NISER currently has 43 regular faculty and 18 visiting faculty is not by accident or not because the institute is new and it needs visiting faculty to help in teaching, but is because NISER is designed to have additional 40% faculty as visiting faculty.
This comes out clearly in the design specs for the academic campus. For example, in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1820 it is clearly stated that there will be offices for 250 faculty and additional 100 visiting faculty. This is in addition to having space for 150 post-doctoral fellows. (IISERs talk about 200 faculty and do not mention visiting faculty.)
This feature of having about additional 40% visiting faculty is more of a feature of DAE institutes like TIFR and is in contrast to most MHRD institutions. For example, the IISERs do not have that many visiting faculty.
Having such a high percentage of visiting faculty will enrich NISER’s environment and will be one of its signature distinguishing features. It will also help in faculty recruitment in that it can take in some highly regarded prospective faculty immediately as visiting faculty while they go through the formal approval process of a regular faculty position.
NISER has not yet advertised or highlighted about this feature of having such a high percent of visiting faculty positions. It should. Also, it should spread the word about its visiting positions widely to attract visitors from all over the world.
Another design feature of NISER vis-a-vis IISERs is its lower faculty student ratio. Its target is to have 250 regular faculty plus 100 visiting faculty and 1750 students (including 150 post-docs); making it a target ratio of 1:7 (if one just counts the regular faculty). In comparison IISERs are designed to have 200 faculty and 2055 students (including post-docs); making it a target ratio of 1:10.
While NISER’s target faculty-student ratio is 1:7, its current regular-faculty-student ratio is about 1:4.6. That means NISER is ahead in its faculty recruiting. For this all kudos go to the NISER director Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar.
August 16th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in indiaeducationdiary.in.
Sri Sri Ravishankar University would start enrolling students for MBA and BBA courses for first batch from July 2011. This was announced by chairman of the Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust of Governors Srinivasan on Thursday.
According Srinivasan, the work for the proposed university has already started and they would start to enroll students for 120 seats for common MBA programe, 30 seats each in Agro-MBA and Entrepreneurs MBA from next academic session. Similarly, there are 60 seats for the BBA programe.
The authorities of Sri Sri Ravishankar University have also informed that the courses in medical, engineering, vedic school and other courses would be launched subsequently.
The state government had signed MoU with Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust in December 2006 for the university project pegged at Rs 350 crores. The proposed campus is likely to come up in approximately 200-300 acres of land in Naraj, 10 km from Cuttack. 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.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
THE ICFAI Group, known for its chain of B-schools, is planning to set up eight universities in as many states in the next two years with an investment of Rs400 crore, says a senior official.
It has received the necessary approvals from the governments of Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, said SK Sharma, director, planning and coordination, ICFAI.
The universities are expected to be operational first in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh next year. “The construction work at these campuses is almost through. The state government has to inspect the facilities,” said Mr Sharma. The universities in Gujarat, Assam, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh will follow suit in 2012.
August 16th, 2010
Following is from http://www.dheorissa.in/DHE/PDF/OOU-Notice.pdf.
Higher Education Department, Government of Orissa
Notice eliciting PUBLIC OPINION on establishment of Orissa State Open University
It has been felt that the National target of 30% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by 2020 is difficult to be achieved with the capacity of existing colleges and institutions. To have desired expansion for bridging the gap by providing higher education to large section of the population and to help disadvantaged sections of the society in making education available near their place of work or home, the Government of Orissa in Higher Education Department have decided to establish the Orissa State Open University, which will provide education in distance mode through its study centres. It will also impart skill education in the flexi mode to thousands of youth and provide the opportunity of training to the untrained teachers in distance mode.
A Preliminary Draft Bill is hosted in the Department Website: www.dheorissa.in for eliciting opinion of general public and eminent educationists of the State. They are requested to please go through the draft bill and to send their comments/opinion through e-mail: hedsec2010@gmail.com or in writing addressed to Sri S. K. Das, Joint Secretary, Higher Education Department on or before 26.08.2010.
S. K. Das
Joint Secretary to Govt.
Higher Education Department
August 16th, 2010