Following is from their ad at http://www.niser.ac.in/notices/2011/FACULTY%20RECRUITMENT-Oct-2011.pdf.
NISER invites application for faculty positions in specific areas of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics at the level of Assistant Professor. Candidates who possess requisite qualification (Ph.D and at least 2-3 years of postdoctoral experience in the relevant area) are requested to send their detailed CV on or before 30th November 2011 to director@niser.ac.in.
Age: 35 years or less as on 30th November 2011
Physics
1. Experimental High Energy Physics (Higgs and SUSY Search beyond standard model of LHC).
2. Theoretical condensed matter physics (Many body theory, strongly correlated systems, Topological Insulators related areas).
3. Cosmology (Early Universe, Inflation, CMB related topics, Gravity waves).
* Persons with outstanding track records may be considered for Reader-F level provided they are below 40 years of age on 30th November 2011.
Chemistry
1. Spectroscopy with hands on experience with building of equipments for electronic absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy.
Biology
1. Ecology and Structural Biology
Mathematics
1. All areas of Mathematics
DIRECTOR
October 28th, 2011
Following is from the 2012 IIT JEE brochure.
As evident from the above Hyderabad and Rajasthan lead in the number of undergraduate courses offered. The main reason the other new IITs offer only 3 courses is because of the lack of facilities in the temporary premises they are operating in. All of them will ramp up their offerings when they move to their permanent campuses. However, the number of faculty sanctioned to an IIT is somewhat proportional to the number of students they have. So by virtue of having more students, IIT Hyderabad and Rajasthan will have more number of faculty sanctioned for them and thus they will have a leg up in hiring faculty.
Following are the logos of the various IITs as obtained from the front page of the IIT JEE 2012 brochure.
October 27th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.
The Government has decided to set up a centre of excellence in animation through the public-private partnership mode for providing skilled workforce for the industry.
The centre would offer graduate and post graduate level programmes in animation with specialisation in subjects such as visual effects and game design.
Mohali was selected over other identified cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore because of the proactive role of the Punjab government in providing land, I&B Ministry sources said.
The upfront infrastructure cost for the Government is estimated at Rs 51.20 crore. As per a detailed project report prepared by a consultant engaged by the I&B Ministry, the first batch is expected to start from 2013-14 academic year.
Note that the I & B ministry is headed by Mrs. Ambika Soni an MP from Punjab.
October 25th, 2011
Following is from a report in Telegraph by Priya Abarham.
The University Grant Commission (UGC) has sanctioned three new schools under the Central University of Orissa in Koraput.
These include School of Development Studies, School of Basic Sciences and Information Sciences and School of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources.
Following the sanction, three new courses have been started under each school from this academic year and admissions to these courses have begun.
The university has launched MSc in biodiversity and conservation of natural resources under School of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources in collaboration with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.
Similarly, MA in economics has been launched under School of Development Studies and a five-year integrated course in mathematics has been launched under School of Basic Sciences and Information Sciences.
…Plans are afoot to start School of Health Sciences next year. “In response to a letter from the UGC, a detailed project report for the proposed medical college and hospital has already been submitted,” she said.
Three other MoUs have been signed with Jamia Hamdard University for collaborative programmes in nursing and community health, Narayan Hrudayalaya for courses in vocational development programmes in medical industry specific areas, and Public Health Foundation of India for collaboration in teaching and research for partnership under School of Health Sciences. The varsity is in also talks with the district hospital of Koraput for collaborative programmes in health sciences and allied programmes in the state.
Prior to this year the university had the following schools and courses.
| 1. School of Languages |
a) English (30 seats)
b) Oriya (30 seats) |
| 2. School of Social Sciences |
a) Anthropology & Tribal Studies (30 seats)
b) Sociology (30 seats)
c) Journalism and Mass Communication (30 seats) |
I appreciate the innovative strategy of the VC of getting help from reputed outside organizations for the new schools and new programs. Without that a young university in a backward and hinterland district and with a small faculty would not be able to provide quality education in the initial years.
If the university gets approval for a medical college next year then that would be a great achievement for the VC. We wish her and the university the best in that effort.
October 25th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
… the debate over Pujari’s brainchild SU Institute of Information Technology (SUIIT) has divided faculty in the varsity and educationists in the region.
While a section of them term the less than two-year old institute as the biggest success story for the varsity, others dismiss it as the culprit ruining traditional departments.
…Sadhu Charan Panda, former VC of Utkal University of Culture and a former faculty member of SU said SUIIT is the best thing that has happened to the university and to Sambalpur region to be relevant with the changing time and technology. "In less than two years of its existence, it has already attracted state-wide attention," he said.
Panda cautioned that an institutional mechanism should be put in place so that SUIIT continues to excel.
Established in 2010 as an autonomous constituent of SU, the institute imparting MCA, BTech, MTech and MSc in computer science, MSc (electronics) and MSc (bioinformatics) has proved to be a sought after institute in the region. Students from the institutes have got lucrative paid summer internships while several software companies have shown interest to come for campus recruitments, sources said. "Such a thing was an unheard of possibility for the varsity a year ago," pointed out a varsity teacher.
While the state government had given an initial budget of Rs 10 crore in 2009-10 for the institute, Rs 5 crore from Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education (DDCE) was given to it for construction of its buildings inside the varsity.
Not all are convinced with the "rare success story" eulogy for SUIIT. "Most of the courses being offered by the SUIIT were pulled out from different existing departments. It was not a new thing," said Prof B K Tripathy, senior-most professor in the university.
Electronics was taken out of physics department, computer science from mathematics while bioinformatics was pulled out from life sciences department.
These courses were already offered by the varsity, Prof Tripathy said, adding whether the consolidation has done wonders will be known after the first batch comes out of SUIIT next year.
With the varsity administration concentrating solely on SUIIT, other departments were suffering, said a teacher, adding "the varsity is getting reduced to an engineering college." Some teachers and the students’ union have questioned the logic of starting B Tech in SU.
"Most engineering colleges are not getting students for B Tech and are on the verge of closure. The VSS University of Technology, three km away from SU, is offering such a course. There was no need to start it here," reasoned Karunakar Supkar, chancellor’s nominee in the Syndicate.
The students’ union has objected to undergraduate courses being offered in the varsity where all other courses are at the post-graduate level. "The varsity was exclusively for PG students. Starting an undergraduate course was diluting its character, which is unacceptable," said student union general secretary Asis Chand.
The people with the view in blue should checkout the top universities in the world and whether they have undergraduate programs or not.
In regards to the view in yellow, Prof. Karunakar Supkar should check the statistics of what percentage of students in VSSUT are from the Sambalpur area and what percentage of students in SUIIT are from the Sambalpur area. My guess is that there are very few Sambalpur area students in VSSUT while a much larger percentage of the students in SUIIT will be from the Sambalpur area.
In previous articles we have highlighted many of the achievements of Prof. Arun Pujari. If he is not allowed a second 3 year tenure at Sambalpur University, that would be a big loss for Sambalpur University and Sambalpur.
October 19th, 2011
The following quotes are from an article in pagalguy.com.
… a push from the state government, cheap land prices, a pool of students from the neighbouring states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and the North East as well as investments by large corporate houses are slowly changing the eastern state’s identity. After Hyderabad, it is Odisha which is steadily becoming the focal point for educational institutes to set up their campuses.
… Ratnakar Rout, Joint Secretary, Department of Technical Education, Odisha. “We want to make Bhubaneshwar an educational hub,” he said. “The government wants institutes of international repute to start up so that students from the entire eastern belt can come here for education.” Rout added that many industrial houses, investors and institutes (including foreign universities) are also interested to start operating from Odisha. …
… Dr Somayajulu Garimella, director of IMI Bhubaneshwar, says that it is primarily the Odisha government’s proactive stance towards investment in the state that is paving the way for this migration. “The government is acting like a catalyst and there is fantastic support from them in terms of clearances,” said Garimella.
… According to Dr Harivansh Chaturvedi, director BIMTECH, the saturation of b-schools in other states, low living costs and burgeoning middle class population of urban Odisha are some other reasons for b-schools to choose to come to the state.
The Odisha government has been cooperative in terms of allotting land at cheaper prices, say educational administrators. “The government is friendly and we were alloted 30 acres of land at the cost of Rs 8 lakhs per acre,” said Chaturvedi. This was in stark contrast to the price of land in neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where, according to Chaturvedi, land prices can go upto Rs 2 crores for an acre. “We should not invest too much on physical infrastructure like land, as it is expensive,” added Chaturvedi.
… Harivansh Chaturvedi has answers for some of these doubts. “Our target is not just the local students, but the aim is to tap the pan-India market,” he said. “Also, in terms of competition we are looking at the future and within five years there is a possibility that the government might allow foreign universities to set foot in this part of the country.” BIMTECH and IMI are also not very worried about the initial years in terms of placements as their Delhi campuses will mentor the ones in Bhubaneshwar until they can stand on their own feet.
… Sri Sri University, which does not enjoy the reputation that IMI or BIMTECH have as far as business education is concerned, has other ways of getting their graduates jobs. “The ‘Art of Living’ community boasts of one of the largest corporate following,” informed Malaya Malla, marketing manager of the university. “The university has received strong commitments from corporates for offering summer projects and final placements.”
October 3rd, 2011
