In the following figure the red dots indicate where the current universities in Orissa are, including the ones that have been announced, such as the proposed central university in Koraput. As the map illustrates, all the existing and planned universities are in the periphery of the state and the interior districts lack university level higher education opportunities. This needs to be corrected by establishing state universities at the blue marked points: Bhawanipatna, Phulbani, Angul and Keonjhar. In addition, the Rourkela metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Orissa, needs a regular university. Neither BPUT nor NIT Rourkela serve the purpose. Thus a regular university needs to be established in Rourkela.
The expert committee report is at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/dpr374modelcolleges.html. The list of 374 districts contains 18 districts from Orissa. They are: Malkangiri, Baudh, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Nabrangpur, Gajapati, Koraput, Sonapur, Bargarh, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Balangir, Anugul, Rayagada, Kendujhar, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal. Of these, Malkangiri and Baudha are in Phase 1 with CPI (colleges per lakh population) below 4, Kandhamal and Nuapada in Phase 2 with CPI 4 to 8, and the rest in Phase 3 with CPI 8.1-12.4.
Following are some excerpts from that report:
The criteria for identification of location within the district may be the following:
a. The college has to be located in an area of the district having no college in the vicinity of 10 km radius.
b. Predominantly rural location where the proportion of rural population in area is higher than the State average
c. A new college as an additional one in the vicinity shall be permitted only if the existing college has more than 1000 students, or there is no separate college for women in the area of 10 km. radius.
d. Accessibility : The location of the college should be such that it is accessible, i.e. reasonably well connected by transport facilities so that the college may serve a larger catchments area.
e. Population density: The proposed college should be located subject to fulfillment of the above-mentioned criteria in locations having higher population density in comparison with other contending locations.
4.1. Non- recurring Budget requirements:
4..1.1. Land : Since the Model colleges are to be established in rural, hilly, forest, tribal and other priority areas as per the criteria already described in chapter.2., a minimum of 10 acres of land need to be provided by the State Government concerned to each of the college in the identified low GER district.
4.1.2. Non recurring infrastructure requirements per college:
4.1.2.1. Academic & administrative buildings (3000 sq.mtrs) : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.2. Campus development : 2.0 crores
4.1.2.3. Hostels for 100 students : 1.0 crores*
4.1.2.4.Teachers’/Non teaching quarters – 20 each; : 2.5 crores
4.1.2.5. Laboratories : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.6. Library : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.7. Computer Centre : 0.2 crore
4.1.2.8. Health centre : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.9. sports facilities : 0.1 crore
4.1.2.10 Miscellaneous : 0.2 crore
Total per College Non-recurring :9.0 Crores.
* the expenditure towards hostel could be sanctioned through the UGC special scheme for “ hostels”. The net Non-recurring requirements would thus be Rs.8.0. crores per college.
4.1.2. Recurring Budget requirement: It would involve the salary requirements for 25 teaching and 25 nonteaching personnel for each college and the college maintenance expenditure of Rs.50.0 lakhs per annum to be provided by the State government concerned.
4.1.4.1. Model I: Fully Government supported Colleges:
Non-Recurring : 100 % by Central Government, while the required land for the colleges has to be provided by the State Govt.
(This pattern of financial support by Central Govt. is necessary to motivate the State Governments to
establish these model colleges in the Low GER districts adhering to the criteria suggested for actual location of these Colleges within the LOW GER districts) Recurring : 100% by the State Government;
Orissa should follow this lead and have one university in each of its undivided districts. The undivided 13 districts of Orissa were: Puri, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Baleswar, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Phulbani, Dhenkanal, Kendujhar, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj. Among those the six districts Bolangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, Phulbani, Dhenkanal and Kendujhar do not have a university. The Orissa government should take advantage of the central government’s offer and set up a university in each of these districts.
(Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185 I do not have more information than that.)
Continuing with our methodology, and solely based on the student preferences in the GE (general) category, we develop a ranking below. Our methodology is we compare when the various branches of the colleges get finished. For example below when we write CET (8, 8, 12, 12, 16) it means that two of the CET branches were all finished in the GE category by the ranks 800, two by 1200 and one by 1600. We will use the first three numbers unless it becomes necessary to go beyond that.
1. UCE Burla (8,8,12,12,16)
1. CET Bhubaneswar (8,8,12,12,16)
2. ITER Bhubaneswar (16,16,16)
3. Silicon Bhubaneswar (16, 20, 20)
4. CV Raman Bhubaneswar (20,24,28)
5. NIST Berhampur (24, 24, 28)
6. GITA Bhubaneswar(28,28,32)
7. Orissa Eng College Bhubaneswar (28, 28, 36)
7. IGIT Sarang (20,28,45)
8. College of Eng Bhubaneswar (36,36,41)
9. Gandhi Eng College Bhubaneswar (36,41,45)
10. Krupajala Bhubaneswar (45,45,45)
10. Trident Bhuabneswar (41, 45, 50)
11. East Bhubaneswar (45,55,66)
11. Gandhi Inst for Tech Bhubaneswar (50,50,60)
11. GIET Gunupur (50,50,60)
12. Orissa school of mining eng Keonjhar (45, 55, 117)
13. NMIET Bhubaneswar (66, 72, 78)
14. DRIEMS Dhenkanala(72,72,100)
15. Konark Bhubaneswar (78, 78, 117)
15. Koustuva Bhubaneswar (78, 100, 100)
15. Mahavir Bhubaneswar (78, 84, 100)
15. Synergy Dhenkanal (78, 84, 100)
16. Nalanda Bhubaneswar (84, 84, 100)
17. Rajdhani Bhubaneswar (84, 100, 100)
18. Roland Berhampur (84,100, 108)
19. Techno Bhubaneswar (84, 100, 117)
19. Padmanav Rourkela (100,100,100)
20. Ajay Binay Cuttack (100,100,117)
21. Ghanashyam Hemalata Puri(100,108,136)
22. Jagannath Cuttack (108,117,147)
22. Bhadrakh (117,117, 136)
23. JITM Parlakhemundi (117,126,147)
24. Inst of Adv Rayagada (117,136,159)
24. Sanjay Memorial Berhampur (117,147,159)
24. Purushottam Rourkela (126,126,136)
26. Balasore (136,136,159)
27. Seemanta Mayurbhanj (159, 159, 186)
28. Padmashree Baragarh (172,172,200)
29. Majighariani Rayagada (172,200,200)
30. Satyasai Balasore (159, 172, 999)
31. Samanta Chandra Sekhar Koraput (186,999,999)
32. Gopal Krishna Jeypore (999,999,999)
The colleges that are missing from the above are NIT Rourkela, and KIIT. I consider NIT Rourkela to currently be the best in Orissa. I would slot KIIT around ITER and Silicon.
Outlook for 2008-2009:
Now that ITER’s parent organization Siksha O Anusandhan has become a deemed university, ITER may opt out of Orissa JEE and/or 2008 BPUT counseling.
In 2008 and 2009 there would be several new colleges.
… government of Orissa is planning to set up medical colleges in Angul, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Balangir, revealed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Initiative document.
… According to sources, the Chief District Medical Officers (CDMO) of these districts has been asked to identify at least 25 acres of land nearby the District Headquarters Hospitals (DHH). These DHH will be attached to the medical colleges to facilitate practical training to the students.
Chairman and Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) Shriram Upadhyay seems more concerned for educational and social development of Orissa than his counterpart in National Aluminium Company (Nalco) Chitta Ranjan Pradhan.
Upadhyay is eager to provide fund for establishment of a medical college at Talcher. Pradhan, though an Oriya, on the other hand, has till date not shown any interest in investing in human resource development of the State in a big way.
Interestingly, Nalco’s medical bill per annum is around Rs14 crore, and if this Navratna public sector undertaking (PSU) takes a bold step, it could save the huge medical expenses for its employees by investing in setting up of a medical college and hospital.
Lack of interest at the top management level of Nalco to fund in social sector of the State has irked the leading non-resident Oriyas (NROs) and educationists. While major private investors have been providing funds for development of the educational sector, PSU Nalco’s shyness to develop Orissa as an educational hub has resulted in a sorry state of affairs, lamented Professor Chitta Baral, who teaches at the Arizona State University.
Prof Baral has asked the Nalco chief to fund a medical college at Damanjodi (Koraput), an engineering college at Angul and a topnotch management institute in Bhubaneswar. He said that this is high time the Nalco authorities were forced to invest in the social sector in a big way.
Owing to political pressure, Nalco is funding few projects in Koraput and Anugul, alleged an educationist. He said that Nalco must take cue from MCL and Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in taking initiative for investment in the social sector. CCL, it may be pointed out, is funding an engineering college in Jharkhand, its area of operation. Similarly, the Bokaro Steel Plant is also funding a medical college in Jharkhand.
… As Nalco has applied for another bauxite mines in Orissa, it is high time the State Government pressurised the PSU to fund liberally in the educational sector of the State, he said.
Following is Sambada’s tongue-in-cheek take in its Sunday magazine article on City Politics.
Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.
Coming under a sustained pressure from the State Government, the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL) has reportedly agreed to set up a Medical College at Talcher. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level joint meeting between the Coal India Limited (CIL) Chairman Partha S Bhattacharjee and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat on Thursday.
During the meeting, Patnaik placed a proposal before the Coal India Chairman to convert the existing 100 bedded hospital at Talcher to a 400-bedded hospital and to make it a full-fledged Medical College. Bhattacharjee promptly agreed to Patnaik’s proposal, sources said.
… Mahanadi Coalfields Limited CMD SR Upadhayay, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Bijay Kumar Patnaik and Secretary, Energy, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra were present at the meeting.
The recent announcements of the locations of the 30 central universities, new IITs and IIMs and earlier announcements of IISERs shows how the Government of India has corrected the earlier imbalance in terms of marquee HRD institution locations and has now spread its HRD institutions all across India. The Orissa government should do the same. In particular, for Orissa to get to the targeted 15% enrollment in higher education from its current 6.1% it must provide opportunities of higher education across Orissa. With this in mind we propose that while announcing its IIT and central university locations it must do the following:
Not be complacent and pursue other undecided issues at MHRD (this includes pursuing one of the proposed 10 NITs, one of the four new National Institutes of Design, an NIFT, one of the 20 IIITs etc.)
Establish new universities and institutions across Orissa to fill existing holes in Orissa higher education landscape. In particular it should:
Establish the IIT at a location a bit far from Bhubaneswar (as far as acceptable to center, and as far as it can still maintain its proximity to Bhubaneswar to be able to be competitive in recruiting good faculty)
Establish the second central university in KBK with branch campuses across KBK+ districts. The first choice for a HQ could be Bhawanipatna, which is well connected to other places in KBK. Alternatives are Koraput-Jeypore area or Rayagada. If the center does not allow this and requires that the central university be near a city then Rourkela (which is without a regular university) would be a good location.
The new IIIT should be in location other than Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, and in a place where there is an STPI. Berhampur would be a first choice. Other choices could be Bhadrakh (between Kalinganagar industrial area and Balasore) and Sambalpur.
New NIT: If it will be an upgradation, then UCE Burla is the first choice. If it will be a greenfield one then possible choices include industry hubs such as Angul, Kalinganagar, Rayagada.
A regular university in Rourkela: Rourkela, the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa needs a regular university where students can pursue masters and Ph.Ds in science, liberal arts, etc.
A medical college in Rourkela.
A medical college in North Orissa: Balasore has been demanding a medical college for a long time.
Upgrade UCE Burla to a state university and position it better to make it an IIEST similar to what West Bengal and Kerala did with respect to BESU and CUSAT respectively.
State universities in KBK region: The government should aim for three universities for the three undivided KBK districts. If a central university is established in one of the three districts then the other two should have state universities.
The state government should make a few more state engineering colleges in industrial and emerging areas such as Rayagada, Kalinganagar, Jharsuguda and Paradeep. Perhaps the premiere engineering schools in Berhampur and Jharsuguda can be upgraded to engineering colleges.
A medical college, perhaps in partnership with NALCO and/or MCL and a regular university in Angul-Talcher area may also be considered.
To do the above the state might consider going the PPP route and creating a corpus of 1000-2000 crores.
… If sources are to be believed, the varsity is seriously planning to raise the intake capacity of the government institutions.
The technical university’s four constituent colleges - University College of Engineering (UCE), Burla, College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology (IGIT), Saranga, and Orissa School of Mining Engineering (OSME), Keonjhar - impart different courses in engineering streams.
While UCE has seven disciplines with an intake capacity of about 270, annual approved strength of CET is 340 in as many as nine streams. Similarly, IGIT admits 150 students in five programmes, while OSME’s degree streams intake is about 90.
However, the BPUT management appears to believe that the government colleges are in need of increasing their intake capacity which will strengthen them financially.
While UCE, Burla and CET, Bhubaneswar, are primarily dependent on government, it is OSME (degree stream) which is self-sufficient.
In the last board of management meeting of the varsity, it was strongly felt that the private colleges have a much larger student strength compared to their government counterparts that contribute significantly to their solvency.
It has agreed that an increased intake in government constituent colleges is the need of the hour where the number of qualified teachers and overall infrastructure is better compared to those available in the private colleges.
A way out is to introduce self-financing models for the programmes. In fact, two engineering streams in UCE, Burla and four subjects in CET here are self-financing but the funds are not sufficient to support the increasing needs.
