Quotes from various stakeholders on the attractions and advantages of setting up higher education institutions in Bhubaneswar and Odisha: From a pagalguy.com article
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.”
3 comments October 3rd, 2011