Odisha HRD

Update on the HRD initiatives; location of 10 new NITs

Update: As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41316&kwd= possible location of 9 of the 10 NITs are:

? … Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

ï‚· The NIT at Goa   may also cater to the needs of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

ï‚· Pudducherry or Andaman & Nicobar may have one common NIT, which will cater the needs of each.

Following are excerpts from the PIB release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=41190.

… The initiative to set up eight new Indian Institutes of Technology is on course with the first academic sessions starting in 2008 in six of the new IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat . The session for IIT Orissa has already been started at lIT Kharagpur in July 2008 and classes will begin for IIT Punjab at lIT Delhi in Sept 2008. And the academic session for the other 4 new IITs, will begin during August 2008.

Out of the 7 new Indian Institutes of Management proposed the IIM at Shillong has already commenced its first academic session from July 2008. The remaining six IIMs will be established in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.

The government proposal to set up five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research is on schedule. Of these two IISERs at Pune and Kolkata were inaugurated in 2006-07 and are now fully functional, and the IISER Mohali started its first academic session in 2007-08. Two more IISERs at Bhopal and Thiruvanthapuram will commence their first academic sessions in August, 2008.

Two Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) are being set up at Bhopal and Vijayawada . Classes in both the new SPAs will begin with the academic session of 2008 through temporary campuses. The SPA Bhopal will be mentored by NIT Bhopal while the SPA at Vijayawada will be mentored by SPA, Delhi .

The strengthening of Polytechnics is under way with steps being taken to set up 1000 polytechnics (300 in Government Sector, 300 through PPP mode and 400 private polytechnics); Further 500 existing polytechnics are being expanded and the Community Polytechnics scheme being revamped and their number being increased from 669 to 1000.

Steps are being taken establish 10 new National Institutes of Technology. The likely location of these NITs will be in States/UTs which at present don’t have an NIT.

Sixteen Central Universities are being set up under the initiative seeking to established a Central University in states not having a Central University . Four existing universities; Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhatisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttrakhand and Goa University, are proposed to be taken over and upgraded as Central Universities. The remaining 12 new universities are to be set up in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab , Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

14 World Class Central Universities (WCCU), are proposed with the locations being firmed up in consultation with the Planning Commission. The State Governments have been requested to identify suitable land.

A total of 373 degree colleges will be set up in the districts having GER lower than the national average as identified by the UGC. Out of these districts, about 90 districts have been shortlisted which have less than 6% GER, have less than 4 colleges per lakh of population and are also minority concentration districts. It is proposed to fast-track the starting of the degree colleges in these shortlisted districts this year.

Twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology are planned with NAASCOM having submitted a project report. The setting up of the IIITs under the PPP mode has been discussed with the States and most of the States agreed to tap not-for-profit private investment, while ensuring that PPP should not lead to any erosion of access to the poor sections of society.

Scholarships for College and University students, based on merit, to non-creamy layer students numbering about 2% of the. student population will be given to those who pass out from various intermediate boards. The scholarship will be Rs.l,000 per month for the first 2 years after which it will be of Rs.2000 per month for the balance period of the professional or other courses in Higher Education. Every year about 41,000 boys and 41,000 girls will benefit from the scheme.

The government is working on an Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme. It will be a Central Sector scheme for providing interest subsidy during the moratorium period on the educational loans taken by students belonging to "non-creamy" layer for pursuing professional education in India.

All the Central Educational Institutions are implementing OBC reservations as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 from this year onward on a staggered basis and the necessary funds have been released to all of them, after holding the meetings of the Empowered Committees. All the IITs, IIMs and the Central Universities that are covered under the Act have started giving reservations to OBCs in a staggered manner. As a result of the implementation of OBC reservations in this academic year, there is an increase of over 20500 in the intake capacity in the Central Educational Institutions.

The states and union territories that do not have NITs are:

1. Delhi
2. Uttarakhand
3. Goa
4. Dadra and nagar haveli
5. Pondicherry
6. Andaman and Nicobar islands
7. Lakshadweep
8. Meghalaya
9. Mizoram
10. Manipur
11. Nagaland
12. Arunachal Pradesh
13. Sikkim

So, I guess the majority of the 10 new NITs will be in these states. My guess would be 2, 3, 5, 8-13. (I skipped 1 because I wonder if there is any space left in proper Delhi for an NIT. The rest that I skipped, 4,6 and 7, are very remote as well as hard to reach places.)  That makes 9 NITs. It would be interesting to see where the 10th NIT will be located.

4 comments August 8th, 2008

Law University to start classes in 2009-2010

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

The classes for the proposed Law University will commence from the next academic year 2009-10.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday. LN Mitra from the National Law University (NLU) attended the meeting. The proposal for the university was announced by the Union Law Minister in 2005.

The classes would commence either at the Madhu Sudan Law College or in the campus of Ravenshaw Law College.

The proposed university would be set up at Naraj in an area of 50 acre. The State Government has already acquired 30 acres of land for this purpose.

The Chief Justice of India will function as chancellor of the University while the Bar Council of India will run the entire curriculum of the university.

6 comments August 7th, 2008

Some details on the proposed Jagadguru Kripalu University of Spritual Sciences: material provided by the university planners

LOCATION FOR THE PROPOSED UNIVERSITY:

The proposed university will be developed at Banki, near Cuttack, Orissa, in multiple stages. Kripaluji Maharaj has lakhs of followers in Orissa. In the first stage, 110 acres of land has been finalised, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Trust and the Govt. of Orissa.

PROPOSED COURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY:

1. B. Nat (Ayu) – Bachelors of Ayurved in Naturopathy.
2. B. Nat (Yogic Sciences) – Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences
3. Rural Economics
4. Rural development on Health, Hygiene, Homes, Human Values and harmony in diversity
5. Rural Management
6. B.A – Bachelor of Arts
7. B.B.A, M.B.A – Bachelor and Master of Business Administration
8. B.C.A – Bachelor of Computer Application
9. Bachelor and Master of Oriental Learning
10. Bachelor of Professional Studies
11. Bachelor and Master of Social Work
12. B.Sc – Bachelor of Science
13. B.E – Bachelor of Engineering
14. Yog Therapy

Continue Reading 7 comments August 6th, 2008

List of Engineering Colleges in the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri-Dhenkanal area

1. Ajay Binay Institute of Technology Cuttack (ABT) Pvt.
2. Apex Institute of Technology & Management, Pahal Bhubaneshwar (APT) Pvt.
3. Bhubaneswar Engineering College Khurda (BEC) Pvt.
4. BRM International Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (BII) Pvt.
5. C. V. Raman College of Engineering Bhubaneswar (CVR) Pvt.
6. Central Institute of Plastics Engineering And Technology Bhubaneswar (CPT) Govt.
7. Centurian Institute of Technology Khurda (CIK) Pvt.
8. College of Engineering & Technology Bhubaneswar (CET) Govt.
9. College of Engineering Bhubaneswar Bhubaneshwar (CEB) Pvt.
10. Dhaneswar Rath Institute of Engineering and Management Studies Tangi, Cuttack (DRM) Pvt.
11. Eastern Academy of Science & Technology Phulnakhara, Khurda (EAS) Pvt.
12. Gandhi Engineering College Bhubaneswar (GEC) Pvt.
13. Gandhi Institute for Technology Bhubaneswar (GIF) Pvt.
14. Gandhi Institute of Technological Advancement Badaraghunathpur, Bhubaneswar (GIB) Pvt.
15. Gandhi Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (GIK) Pvt.
16. Ghanashyama Hemalata Institute of Technology & Management Chhaitana Puri (GHT) Pvt.
17. Gurukul Institute of Technology,Janla Bhubaneswar (GKT) Pvt.
18. Hi-Tech Institute of Technology Khurda (HIT) Pvt.
19. Indic Institute of Design & Research Khurda (IID) Pvt.
20. Indus College of Engg. Bhubaneswar (IDU) Pvt.
21. Jagannath Institute of Engineering & Technology Cuttack (JIC) Pvt.
22. Konark Institute of Science & Technology Jatni,Bhubaneswar (KIS) Pvt.
23. Koustav Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (KIT) Pvt.
24. Koustuva Institute of Self Domain (for Women) Bhubaneswar (KID) Pvt.
25. Krupajala Engineering College Pubasasan, Bhubaneswar (KEC) Pvt.
26. Maharaja Institute of Technology,Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (MIK) Pvt.
27. Mahavir Institute of Engineering and Technology Paniora, Bhubaneswar (MIB) Pvt.
28. Modern Institute of Technology & Management Khurda (MIM) Pvt.
29. Nalanda Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (NIT) Pvt.
30. NM Institute of Engineering & Technology Sijua, Bhubaneswar (NMI) Pvt.
31. Orissa Engineering College Nijigarhkurki, Bhubaneswar (OEC) Pvt.
32. Rajdhani Engineering College Bhubaneswar (REC) Pvt.
33. Silicon Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (SIT) Pvt.
34. Subas Institute of Technology Gyana Vihar, Barang, Bhubaneswar 754 005 Orissa
35. Synergy Institute of Engineering and Technology Dhenkanal (SYN) Pvt.
36. TempleCity Institute of Technology & Engineering Khurda (TCT) Pvt.
37. The Techno School Bhubaneswar (TTS) Pvt.
38. Trident Academy of Technology Bhubaneswar (TAT) Pvt.
39. Agricultural Engineering at OUAT, Bhubaneswar
40. KIIT Bhubaneswar
41. ITER Bhubaneswar
42. IIIT Bhubaneswar
43. IIT Bhubaneswar

Following are some that are in the pipeline and most likely to start in 2009.

1. School of Engineering at the proposed World Class Central University
2. HI – Tech College of Engineering, Rasulgarh, Pandara, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
3. International Institute of Engineering & Technology (IIET) 290 Bhatkhuri, Gangapada, Bhubaneswar 752 054 Orissa
4. SRM College of Engineering At Giringaput, P.O. Mendhasala, Orissa
5. PJ College of Management & Technology At Kesora, P.O. Bankual, Bhubaneswar 751 002 Orissa
6. KMBB College of Engineering & Technology At Mahatpalla, Tahasil Khurda Orissa
7. Pan Institute of Technology, Knowledge City Unit – 7, Bhubaneswar 751 003 Orissa
8. Vivekananda Institute of Technology At Chhatabar, P.O. Dandi, Chhatabar P.S. Chandaka, Bhubaneswar Orissa
9. Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology (BIT) At Harapur, P. O. Janla District : Khurda, Pin 752 054 Orissa
10. Pioneer Institute of Technology Village : Ambilijhari Mouza : Machhapangi, PS Choudwar, District : Cuttack Orissa
11. MITS College of Engineering Mouza: Alkar At P.O. Janla, Bhubaneswar 751016 Orissa

52 comments August 3rd, 2008

Update on the proposed world class central universities

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The Centre is set to approve a proposal soon to start 14 world-class central universities across the country, … , in an ambitious bid to catch up with the West’s higher education standards.

The proposal for the universities, enunciated in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, will be placed before the cabinet on Thursday and is expected to be cleared soon, top government officials said.

Cabinet recognition is required to formally begin work on the proposal.

The universities will, like other central universities, be funded by New Delhi, but will have the additional mandate of competing in standards with globally renowned varsities like Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge, sources said.

“We expect the cabinet to clear the proposal soon, ideally in one sitting itself. We do not anticipate any opposition,” a senior official at the human resource development ministry said.

Pune, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Greater Noida have been selected as places where the universities will come up.

“Each of the state governments concerned have identified 700 acres of land. But they cannot begin land acquisition till the cabinet clears the plan,” a source said.

The HRD ministry expects each university to cost over Rs 720 crore, putting the total price tag for the venture at a minimum of Rs 10,080 crore.

Once the cabinet clears the proposal, the HRD ministry plans to hurry through the construction of infrastructure in a bid to try and start academic sessions for “most” of the institutes by 2009, sources said.

“We have been given a clear political indication to get things ready for the launch of the universities by the next academic session,” a source said.

Each campus will have four schools — of engineering, medicine, humanities and sciences — sources said.

Each of the four schools will be built along the lines of India’s best institutions in their field. Unlike existing central varsities, the new centres will focus more on cutting-edge research across streams than on teaching, sources said.

July 30th, 2008

MOU signed for a Vedic University in Banki

Update: The university is to be called Jagadguru Kripalu University. The blog http://shree-kripaluji-maharaj.blogspot.com/ gives day to day information on Kripaluji Maharaj’s activities across the globe.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The Orissa government and the Krupaljimaharaj Trust on Monday signed an MoU to set up a Vedic University in the state. This is the fourth MoU the government has signed in the higher-education sector.

Earlier, the government had signed MoUs for Vedanta University, ICFAI University and Ravisankar University.

The Vedic University will impart education in Vedic science, Ayurveda and Naturopathy, besides the professional courses in MBA and basic degrees in science, commerce and humanities.

The Krupaljimaharaj Trust has applied for 50 acres of land in Banki tehsil area for the university. In the absence of Swami Mukundananda, who is now in the US, his nominee Ajit Kumar Kar signed the MoU on behalf of the Trust. The state higher education secretary, PK Mohapatra, signed the papers for the state government.

Meanwhile, the state government has prepared the draft bills for the other three universities for which it has signed MoUs. …

The state higher education minister, Sameer Dey, said the bills for Vedanta Unviersity, ICFAI University and Ravisankar University will be tabled in the coming session of the Orissa Assembly.

Deepikaglobal has a report with some more detailed information on this.

The Jagadguru Kripal Yoga Trust (JKYT), a New Delhi-based organisation, has planned to set up a world class Yog and Spiritual Science University in Orissa.

The proposed University would be set up in Mouza Banara under Banki Tahasil of Cuttack district over 250 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.

… As per the MoU, the trust would pay for the land and bear all the expenses of the university, while the government would only extend the facilities like power and water supply.

The proposed university, scheduled to be completed in five years from the possession of land, had planned to impart courses in 21 disciplines.

The courses included graduation in Naturopathy, Yogic Sciences, Rural economics, Rural Development on Health, Hygiene, Homes, Human Values and Harmony in Diversity, Rural Management, Social work, Arts, Business Administration, Computer Application,Oriental learning, Science, Engineering and Yoga Therapy.

The proposed university would also impart post graduate courses in Business Administration, Oriental learning,Social work and other courses which would be added from time to time based upon the needs of the students and job opportunity.

The university would have a sports complex, recreational facilities, utility centres, mediation halls and laboratories and would develop related projects like health care system, Yogashram, Hospital, Old Age Home and cultivate medicinal plants in the alloted land.

As per the agreement the government would provide 110 acres of land in the first phase and the rest 140 acres in the second phase.

… The government has a right to cancel the lease if the land was used for the purpose other than that for which it had been sanctioned.

1 comment July 15th, 2008

Course announcements of Utkal University of Culture

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The university announced postgraduate programmes in Culture Studies, South and South-East Asian Studies, Cultural Heritage and Conservation, Sociolinguistics (through correspondence course) and Tourism and Hospitality Services (self financing course). It also re-launched the one-year postgraduate diploma courses in Jain and Buddhist Studies, besides the six-month certificate course in Tamil language. Each of the programmes would have 30 seats.

The university has also introduced Masters degree programmes in performing arts and visual art last year has departments of drama (direction, acting and stage craft), dance (Odissi and Chhau), vocal music (Odissi and Hindustani), instrumental music (flute, violin, tabla, mardal and sitar), painting, applied art and design, art history and aesthetics and sculpture. Except the 10-seat strength department of sculpture, all other departments would have 20 seats each.

An admission test would be conducted for the aspiring students of the visual art programmes, the university sources said.

2 comments June 28th, 2008

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and its Puri campus

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan is a deemed university fully centrally funded. It has ten campuses; one of them being in Puri. Following is the information about the Puri Campus. 

• Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (Deemed University), Shri Sadashiva Campus, Puri (Orissa)

 This campus was established on 15.08.1971 and is situated under the feet of Lord Jagannath at Puri in Orissa, which is one of four main Dhams. The institution is more than 100 years old.  This Campus has its own building. The Campus is pursuing research work leading to the degree of Vidyavaridhi (Ph.D) and imparting education in Sahitya, Dharma Shastra, Navya Vyakarana, Puranetihas, Jyotish, Advaita Vedanta, Navya Nyaya, Sarvadarshana and Sankhya Yoga at postgraduate and graduate level and Shiksha Shastri at graduate level.  There is computer education facility in the Campus.

The Puri campus is different from the Sri Jagannath Sanskrit University in Puri. Some more information on the Puri campus taken from http://www.sanskrit.nic.in/puri.htm is as follows:

Shri Sadashiva Sanskrit College established in the year 1865 was taken over by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan as one of its constituent units on 15.8.71. The Campus is situated on eastern side of Jagannath Temple nearer to Governor House at Puri. The Campus is situated on a plot of 4.7 acre in its old building.

     The Campus is pursuing research work leading to the degree of Vidyavaridhi(Ph.D.) and imparting education in Sahitya, Dharma Shastra, Navya Vyakarana, Puranetihas, jyotidh, advaita Vedanta, Navya Nyaya, Sarvadarshana and Sankhya Yoga at post-graduate and graduate level. There is computer education facility in the Campus. Ths Campus has 8 publications to its credit.there are 34 individual publications of teachers besides 105 Reaearch Papers and 277 articles. The campus has a library consisting of 34,586 books and 232 manuscripts costing about Rs. 8 lakhs.

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan’s two other Vidyapeethas have been converted to deemed universities. They are:

• Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha at New Delhi and
• Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha at Tirupati

As  per tathya.in Shri J. B. Patnaik, ex CM of Orissa, and a scholar in his own right, has just been appointed as the Chancellor of the later.

Besides the above mentioned four Sanskrit Universities there are currently seven other sanskrit universities in India, taking the total to eleven.

2 comments June 21st, 2008

After NIT Rourkela it’s now KIIT’s turn at number 18

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

… the Synovate survey of the Outlook magazine has put KIIT School of Technology, a constituent of KIIT University in the 18 the position among the top 100 private technical colleges of the country in the same league as prestigious institutes such as BITS of Pilani, PSG College of Technology of Coimbator, BIT of Mesra, Thapar University of Patiala and VIT University of Vellore. It is the only institute from Orissa to feature in this elite list of private engineering colleges.

The survey, which conducted every year to reveal the names of 100 topmost colleges of the country, focuses on five basic parameters such as intellectual capital, pedagogic system, industry interface, infrastructure and facilities and placements. However, while most of the colleges figuring in the list have a history of 50 to 100 years, KIIT is only ten- years-old. KIIT has substantially improved its rank this year compared to the previous years. It was ranked 37th in 2007 and 100th in the year before.

1 comment June 21st, 2008

Universities and university like institutes in and around Bhubaneswar: a map

Update: The IIT site has been changed. So the new map is as follows:

Old map:

1 comment June 20th, 2008

M.Tech and M. Pharm programs at ITER

2 comments June 15th, 2008

IIT Bhubaneswar – Why pick it over IIT Patna, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Punjab : Part II

The following is from our page http://iitbbsr.orissalinks.com/future.htm, where we look at factors that will shape the future of IIT Bhubaneswar.

IIT Bhubaneswar will be mentored by IIT Kharagpur for three years. Initial information suggests that the first year of classes will be held in IIT Kharagpur and the students will stay with the IIT Kharagpur students in one of the hostels. Most likely they will stay in the MMM Hall.

After one year, when they move to Bhubaneswar they will be able to bring with them some of the culture and traditions of IIT Kharagpur and the student  life there. Some highlights of those are : (i) Illumination and Rangoli (ii)  Spring Fest  (iii)  Techno-management festival (iv)  Hall day (v) Hostel libraries  (vi) Wing culture (vii) General championship (viii) Hall and Gymkhanna elections (ix) Hall GBMs and budgets and their spending (x) Scholars Avenue fortnightly newspaper (xi) Equal relationship between juniors and seniors – no calling seniors as Sir, bhai, bhaiyya, dada, etc.

The most important of these culture and traditions is the equal relationship between students at IIT Kharagpur. There every student is equal and no student fears another student. There are no big bosses or connected students in the campus who are feared by other students. Juniors call seniors by the same name that others call them; with no addition of a "bhaiyya" or "Sir." There are no physical fights in the campus. There are rivalries though; often centered around sports and cultural competitions; but NO physical fights.

This is in contrast to most other college campuses in India where students defer to their seniors and there are some students in campus to whom every body is afraid of. Thus it is great that the first batch of IIT Bhubaneswar students will spend a year in IIT Kharagpur and bring back with them the fear-free non-violent culture of the IIT Kharagpur campus.

With Professor Damodar Acharya at the helm of IIT Kharagpur, the mentoring of IIT Bhubaneswar is in good hands. Prior to being the director of IIT Kharagpur, Professor Acharya was the AICTE Chairman in Delhi and prior to that the vice-Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology, then operating from Bhubaneswar. Thus one can infer that he is well known and well connected in both Bhubaneswar and Delhi circles and this is a big advantage. For example, his suggestion that the Orissa government allocate more than the 500 acres, which the central government required, was received warmly and the Orissa government is indeed looking for a land of at least 1000 acres for IIT Bhubaneswar. So far, none of the other new IITs are thinking along those lines. Having extra land is very important as it will allow further growth of the IITs, which are being built for decades if not centuries to come. Decades later, IIT Bhubaneswar will have Prof. Acharya to thank for this foresight.

IIT Kharagpur, only 321 kms and 4.5-5hrs away from Bhubaneswar, and with 30+ trains, has many other ties with Bhubaneswar and Orissa. It has an extension center in Bhubaneswar from where it offers a PG Diploma in Information Technology and a 1.5-year part-time Diploma in intellectual property law. IIT Kharagpur professors have signed an MOU to develop a perspective plan of the Bhubaneswar metroplex and are involved in many other projects in Orissa. More than 50 faculty at IIT Kharagpur, including the Director and at least two Deans, are natives of Orissa. Thus faculty and leadership of IIT Kharagpur are familiar with Bhubaneswar and Orissa and their aspirations and are in a good position to mentor IIT Bhubaneswar. (There are many Orissa origin faculty at the various IITs and IISc who may also help IIT Bhubaneswar.)

Looking forward to the future IIT Bhubaneswar’s progress will be partly shaped by its competition and collaboration with three other marquee universities and institutions that are being established in the Bhubaneswar area.

• National Institute of Science Education Research (NISER)
• Proposed world class central university in Bhubaneswar
• Vedanta University

NISER is a DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) funded institute that is admitting its second batch of students this year in 2008. The Prime Minister Dr. Mammohan Singh, while announcing the setting up of NISER said: "NISER will be at par with the IISER being established in other places but will operate under the umbrella of DAE. … When completed, I am confident that the National Institute of Science Education and Research will become a Mecca for science just as TIFR and IISc are today." Incidentally, NISER has a higher initial budget of 823.19 crores than the 500 crore budget of each of the IISERs, the 760 crore budget of each of the new IITs and the 720 crore budget of each of the WCCUs. With interdisciplinary research becoming key to solve complex grand challenges, like IISc, NISER will soon branch out to interdisciplinary centers and technological departments. With IITs also having scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary centers, down the road, IIT Bhubaneswar and NISER Bhubaneswar are expected to collaborate and compete with each other. This will drive both to excellence.

Recently, establishment of 14 world class central universities were announced. One of those will be in Bhubaneswar. These world class universities will have a school of medicine, and are expected to have a school of science, a school of engineering, a school of management as well as a school of liberal arts. It is said that these world class universities will be nurtured to compete with Harvard and Cambridge Universities. If that happens, the WCCU in Bhubaneswar will definitely collaborate and compete with IIT Bhubaneswar and NISER Bhubaneswar and this will drive all of them to excellence.

As of now Bhubaneswar is the only metropolitan area of the country which will have a science institute (NISER), an IIT and a WCCU. The metro areas that will have two of them are: Kolkata (an IISER and a WCCU), Pune (an IISER and a WCCU), Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar (an IIT and a WCCU), Chandigarh (an IISER and an IIT), Delhi-NOIDA (an IIT and a WCCU), Patna (an IIT and a WCCU), Guwahati (an IIT and a WCCU) and Bhopal (an IISER and a WCCU). Along with some of these metro areas Bhubaneswar will also have an AIIMS (like institute) with a budget of 332 crores as well as a IIIT.

The above is a projection to the future. But the ground reality is that it will take time for a new IIT in Bhubaneswar to catch up with the existing IITs in many respects. The existing IITs not only have an existing infrastructure and history, but also an alumni base that contributes to their growth and development. Same with respect to NISER and the well established IISc Bangalore. However, Bhubaneswar has one more trump card: the Vedanta University, that is coming up in Puri, about 40 kms and less than an hour from the outer edges of Bhubaneswar.

Vedanta University is a brainchild of industrialist Anil Agarwal, who has pledged a $1 Billion (i.e., Rs. 4,000 crores) towards it and envisions a budget of $3 Billion (i.e., Rs 12,000 crores) in making that university. The budget of this university is illuminating in its scale in that just the pledged 4,000 crores is close to the sum of the budget of two new IITs (760*2 = 1520 crores), a new IISER (500 crores), two new WCCUs (720*2=1440 crores), a new AIIMS (332 crores), and a new IIM (210.25 crores). However, the aim of the Vedanta University is to be like Stanford University and have a similar impact. In 2007, Stanford had an operating expense of $2.9 billion, an operating revenue of $3.2 billion, endowment of $17.2 billion and total asset of $29.3 billion. Hence, the 4,000 crores pledge by Anil Agarwal is only the cost of the initial phases of the Vedanta University and despite the cost differential between the US and India, to be comparable with Stanford, Vedanta University needs the 12,000 crores and perhaps more. However, the Anil Agarwal foundation has the foresight to acquire 6000+ acres of land (comparable to Stanford University’s 8180 acres) and build a city of 500,000 around the University with research parks similar to Stanford Research Park. The real estate holdings of the planned city will be able to provide Vedanta University with a sizeable endowment to realistically aim to become the Stanford of India. In the following interview of Anil Agarwal by a New York area PBS station, one can hear from the horse’s mouth about his vision for Vedanta University (starting at 3:20).

There is a high possibility that Vedanta University will not only play a significant role in Bhubaneswar and Orissa, but in all of India. Its private financing, sound financial model, lofty goals and an unprecedented donation of $1 billion, makes it likely to actually be able to hire top professors and nobel laureates, have graduate programs that rank high at the international level and produce graduates that will populate the premiere institutions and universities of India. This is relevant to the development of IIT Bhubaneswar in particular and all the IITs in general because there is a severe shortage of good academics to fill all the available positions in the IITs (and the WCCUs). In this the proximity of IIT Bhubaneswar to Vedanta University would put it at an advantage as many graduates of the later may prefer to remain in the area and maintain collaboration with their mentors and many may join IIT Bhubaneswar just to be close to Vedanta University.

Thus, with competition from, collaboration with, and synergies associated with NISER, WCCU and Vedanta University, IIT Bhubaneswar has a chance to excel and become one of the top IITs in the country. And if (a big if, but not impossible) all these institutes achieve their stated goals, then the Bhubaneswar-Puri area will have equivalents of a Stanford (Vedanta University), MIT (IIT Bhubaneswar), Berkeley (WCCU Bhubaneswar) and CalTech (NISER Bhubaneswar).

11 comments June 8th, 2008

Talabasta near Banki a likely site for the world class central university: Samaja

Update June 11, 2009:Tathya.in reports that the Education Minister Debi Mishra mentioned this in the OLA. Following is an excerpt.

The Orissa Government has identified a patch of 700 acre plus land at Talabasta in Banki Sub-division of Cuttack district for the proposed World Class University. 

Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education has revealed in the Orissa House on 11 June here. 

Replaying to a question Mr.Mishra said that the State Government has informed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in this regard. 

The land is free from litigations and it was also near to the Capital. 

The River Mahanadi at the backdrop, makes the place a picturesque one, said he. 

“We have asked MHRD to send their site selection team to finalize the site”, said Mr.Mishra.

1 comment May 28th, 2008

NASSCOM list of locations and recommendations for the 20 IIITs

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu. (NASSCOM’s press release is here.)

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) on Thursday suggested the 20 cities for setting up new Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).

Delhi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Jammu are among the cities suggested.

… In its model detailed project report (DPR) presented to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Nasscom, the trade body representing the Indian information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, has also included the names of Chandigarh, Dehradun, Lucknow, Patna, Shillong, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Visakhapatanam, Mysore, Mangalore and Coimbatore for establishing new IIITs. PPP model

In its model DPR that will serve as a template for the preparation of the DPR for each individual IIIT, Nasscom has proposed that the new IIITs be set up as a fully autonomous institutions, through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The partners in setting up the IIITs should be the Ministry, the respective State governments and industry members.

National importance

According to Nasscom president Som Mittal, each IIIT has been envisioned to become a world-class academic institute and evolve into technology and functional ‘Centres of Excellence’ through a strong focus on research in frontier technology areas.

To achieve this, it is imperative to attract best-in-class faculty, and students; develop sustainable linkages with industry; and provide an environment conducive for research excellence.

To justify the large investments being made in the IIITs, it is important that they provide a sufficient scale at undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research levels, he added. …

Autonomy

“The model for the new IIITs proposed in the DPR focuses on both academic and research excellence through innovative governance and operational approaches and a strong and sustained participation from the IT industry.

“However, achieving this will not be easy and it is important that each institute is supported, especially in the initial years, and is also allowed complete autonomy to define its roadmap and implement it,” Mr. Mittal added.

Following are some excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

While required investment into the IIITs could vary depending on the city, close to Rs 100 crore has been estimated for each IIIT. …

The locations of IIITs have been arrived at on the basis of how well connected they are in terms of transport and facilities and their prominence to industrial hubs. Considering the dire faculty crunch in the country, Nasscom has made it clear that faculty members must be be given salaries prevalent in the market.

It has been suggested that each IIIT must have the autonomy to decide its own salary structure to compete with private educational institutes. Collaborating private organisations would be requested to send their experienced employees as visiting faculty members. A higher number of visiting faculty and faculty-exchange programmes with universities in India and abroad have been suggested.

…

The report says all programmes in an IIIT should be given equal importance, having noted that generally it is the undergraduate programme in institutes that receives most of the attention. It has been suggested that other post-graduate programmes, especially the PhD programmes, should not be compromised with.

The development of the PhD programme, according to one of the suggestions, is vital to the growth of IIITs as these doctoral students could be groomed for teaching positions in IIITs, creating a strong pool of candidates for top academic positions.

It has been recommended that the undergraduate programme of IIITs could be scaled up to 600 students, the post-graduate programme could take about 400 students and the PhD programme could have an intake of 100 students.

A faculty-student ratio of 1:14 has been suggested. The report has suggested an integrated campus model and a hub-and-spoke campus model, depending on the IIIT.

The Orissa government has to figure out a way to have this IIIT in Berhampur and if not then convince the central govt. to establish one of the proposed 10 NITs in Berhampur.

1 comment May 23rd, 2008

Orissa government needs to help out Utkal University

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.

For the first time, the State Government created 30 posts of Commissioner-cum-Secretary.

A single-page proposal got through and no body raised any question over the justification of creating so many posts of Commissioners. With these new posts, the State will have 54 Commissioners-cum-Secretaries.

But then see the contrast. The other day, the new Vice-Chancellor of the Utkal University, Binayak Rath, approached the Government for filling up of the vacancies in the State’s leading educational institution. He was, however, asked to explain the justification of filling up the vacancies.

Presently, there are 166 teachers in the university against 340 in the 1990s. The number will further come down to 142 by 2010 when many more teachers will retire. As many as 73 posts have been abolished over the years.

The Vice-Chancellor sought filling up of all vacancies within three to four months for the benefit of the students. He also lobbied for permanent appointment of teaching staff along with adequate support staff rather than contractual recruitment. But, on the contrary, he was asked to justify the need for filling up all posts and why those posts should not be abolished.

The question asked in several quarters is why a double standard for creating posts is being followed. There should be clear-cut guidelines to create posts in the Government departments, but there is no policy direction for creating posts. It is whims and fancies that rule the State," lament educationists. Everybody in the Higher Education Department knows that the State’s universities are in a sorry state. Vacancies are galore in all these institutions and the educational standard is falling very fast, they point out.

1 comment May 20th, 2008

Eleventh Plan HRD distribution across states

Following is excerpted and corrected from http://darpg.nic.in/arpg-website/ChiefSectConf/PPT/HRD.ppt. (See also https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=1043.)

 * Not funded by MHRD.

 So Orissa could get 18 colleges (in 18 districts) and 11 polytechnics. Each of these colleges would be supported by GOI by upto Rs. 2.5 Crore or one-third cost with the balance being met by the State Government or Private participation.

May 15th, 2008