Odisha HRD

Odisha gets response from 9 private entities to set up a IIIT in partnership with the state and the central government

Following is an excerpt from an article in Telegraph.

Official sources said nine private agencies have submitted an expression of interest for the ambitious project that would be undertaken in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

According to the proposal, setting up the institute involves an expenditure of Rs 128 crore of which Rs 54 crore will be provided by the Centre. The state government will invest Rs 45 crore and the remaining amount will be contributed by the private agency that takes up the project. The institute will come up on 50 acres allocated by the state government free of cost.

Commissioner-cum-secretary of the state information technology department Pradeep Kumar Jena said the proposal would be sent to the Centre after a private partner for the venture was finalised.

“The location (of the institute) will be decided by the private concern,” said Jena. He said the aim of the institute would be to provide state-of-the-art facilities to produce professionals in the field of information technology.

Since the state is putting 45 crores and giving 50 acres free land, it should pick the private entity that agrees to the earlier announced location of Berhampur.

1 comment February 8th, 2012

Construction of AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar is 65% complete; first batch with 50 students to start in August this year; Center coming up with a scheme to fund 100-150 crores per college for upgradation of the three state medical colleges

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The fist academic session of the city centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) medical college is set to begin from August this year. The 500-bed multi-speciality hospital is expected to start functioning from December 2012.

“The session for the first batch of students for AIIMS medical college will begin from August 2012 with an intake of 50 seats. We expect the hospital to be operational from December this year. Work on the AIIMS campus is 65 per cent complete,” said P K Pradhan, Union health secretary. On the state government’s demand for funds for seat hike in three government run medical colleges, Pradhan said, “The Chief Secretary has said that the state government intends to raise intake of each of three medical colleges from 150 to 250. This requires an investment of Rs 100-150 crore per college for infrastructure upgrade. We are coming up with a scheme wherein we can provide funds to the state government for upgradation of infrastructure at medical colleges.”

Various Odia papers report that as of today 65% of the Hospital building construction and 70% of the college building construction are completed.

8 comments January 31st, 2012

Four more new AIIMS-like institutes and 30 more upgrades proposed as part of the 12th plan; this will take the total number of AIIMS-like institutes to 12 and the total number of upgrades to 56

Following is from a report in Times of India.

The report of the steering committee on health for the 12th five year plan (incorporating reports of all working groups and deliberations in Committee meetings) has suggested opening of four new prototypes of premiere All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS) in addition to the eight already approved.

… Union health ministry is in the process of constructing six AIIMS-like institutes in Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh at a cost of Rs 847 crore each, up from Rs 332 crore that was originally estimated. There are expected to be ready by July, 2012.

The Planning Commission has given approval to two more AIIMS-like institutes in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. …

With 26 medical institutions have been approved for upgrade, the panel has said an additional 30 medical colleges established at least 20 years ago be identified for support through Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.

“Other medical colleges, in private or voluntary sector may also be considered for upgrade and strengthening for starting new postgraduate disciplines and increasing post-graduate seats,” the report says.

In Odisha, as per the timeline, SCB medical college in Cuttack was established in 1944, VSS in Burla was established in 1959 and MKCG in Berhampur was established in 1962. All three of them satisfy the above mentioned criteria of being established 20 years ago. Considering that none of the 26 approved upgrades are from Odisha, and 4 states currently are approved for both new AIIMS-like institutes as well as upgrades (WB,Bihar, MP, UP) the Odisha government should push for all three of its existing government medical colleges to be upgraded during the 12th plan.

1 comment December 31st, 2011

Some statistics based on the students entering various IITs in 2010 and 2011

(Thanks to Abi for the pointer.) The following tables are from documents at http://www.iitsystem.ac.in/academics/admmission.jsp.

November 22nd, 2011

Performance of Odisha and Odia students in IIT JEE 2010 and 2011

 (Thanks to Abi for the pointer.) The following tables are from documents at http://www.iitsystem.ac.in/academics/admmission.jsp.

November 22nd, 2011

Excerpts from the April-September 2011 IIT Bhubaneswar Newsletter

The newsletter is at http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/pdf/Newsletter_Rhythm_4-9-2011.pdf.Following are some excerpts from it.

Ground Breaking Ceremony

The foundation stone of the permanent campus of the Institute was laid on 12th February, 2009. On the eve of the 65th Independence Day, on 14th August 2011, Sri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Odisha formally launched the construction of the Phase-1 of the permanent campus of the Institute near Aragul (Jatni) in the presence of Director Professor M. Chakraborty, Deputy Director, Deans, Registrar, Faculty Members, Officers, members of the Staff and students of the Institute and other dignitaries including Hon’ble Member of Parliament Dr P. K. Patsani, and Hon’ble MLAs of Jatni and Khurda. This was preceded by a Bhumi Pujan Ceremony at the site by the Registrar. The Government of Odisha has allotted 936 acres of land for the purpose and 16 acres of private land is being acquired by the Government for making the land contiguous. The Master Plan of the Campus has been designed for 10,000 students, 1000 teachers, and 1100 non-teaching employees besides 1000 plus outsourced support staff including security personnel. The Institute has also a plan for a Research Park. However, the initial construction in the first phase (Phase-1) would cater to 2500 students, 250 faculty members and about 300 other employees. The total investment for the phase-1 has been estimated to be about 800 crores. The construction would cover 2, 21,000 m2 (63000 m2 for academic complex and 1, 58,000 m2 for residential complex) which would include Main Administrative Building, Lecture Hall and Class Room Complexes, Laboratory Complex, Four Academic Schools, Central Workshop and Students’ Activity Centre in the Academic Complex whereas the Residential Complex shall consist of 800 capacity single seater boys’ hostel, 200 capacity girls’ hostel, 80 numbers of Grade A quarters for faculty members and officers and 40 numbers of Grade C quarters for supporting staff, Shopping and Community Centre, Guest House, service centre etc. The Main Building shall be a structure of 6 storeys and that of the other Academic Schools shall be of 4-storey construction. The hostels as well as the residential quarters shall be of G + 7 storey constructions. The Institute plans to start operating from its permanent campus by 2013-14.

Prof. P C Pandey Joins IITBBS

A doctorate in Physics (Microwaves) from Allahabad University, he is credited with the initiation of the satellite borne microwave remote sensing of Ocean Atmosphere and Cryosphere research in India. Professor Pandey was the Founder Director of National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa from 1997 to 2005. He has spent a major part of his career at Space Application Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, and has worked for about five years at the NASA’s world famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA. Professor Pandey has carried out extensive research in the areas of satellite oceanography, atmospheric science, climate change and polar science. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed national and international peer reviewed journals and also written and edited many books. He has guided eleven Ph.D. students. Professor Pandey is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore) The National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Indian Geophysical Union, Geological Society of India and a host other societies. Besides, Professor Pandey has been Member/Chairman of various Committees of Govt. of India from ISRO, DSTM CSIR and has led or participated as member of delegation to various international Forums, notably the International Polar Year (2007- 09). He was also a member of the delegation led by Hon’ble Kapil Sibal to Antarctic, the first ever ministerial delegation to visit Antarctica. Professor Pandey has represented India in various International symposia related to Polar Science and Logistics such as Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) etc. Professor Pandey is the recipient of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1989), Professor Vikram Sarabhai Award and Gold Medal, Om Prakash Bhasin Award and Vigyan Ratna Samman Award of U.P. Council of Science and Technology as well as the NASA award.

New Faculty Members joined

Dr. Arun Ghosh joined the School of Electrical Sciences in the month of April 2011. His research areas include Robust Control, Periodic feedback Control.

Dr. Subhransu Ranjan Samantaray joined the School of Electrical Sciences in the month of April, 2011. His research areas include Intelligent protection to transmission systems including FACTs, Microgrids with Distributed Generation and Dynamic security assessment in large power network.

Dr. Neti V. L. N. Murty joined the School of Electrical Sciences in the month of May 2011. His research areas include Semiconductor material & Device characterization, Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices, MMICs.

November 19th, 2011

Sambada article on NISER Bhubaneswar campus

November 18th, 2011

IIT Bhubanesar main campus construction: status update

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

… Bottlenecks continue to hamper the progress of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar (IITBBS).

The IIT authorities in a meeting with Khurda collector Roopa Mishra earlier this week (on November 8 ) raised concern over several issues stalling the work. Mishra, when contacted, said "There are certain issues, which the government has been resolving. It is a continuous process. All matters are being addressed. We hope all problems will be solved."

… the institute is far from its December 2013 deadline to complete first phase work to create facility for 2,500 students, 250 faculty members and 275 support staff.

The institute is yet to get approval from Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for its building. Sources said the IIT had applied for the approval over one month ago. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is in the process of floating tenders for construction of hostels. "The tender would be advertised by this month- end," said a CPWD official.

The master plan of the campus has been designed to accommodate 10,000 students, 1,000 faculty, 1,100 non-teaching employees besides 1,000 out sourced support staff. Odisha had allotted 936 acres of land for IIT for the purpose. The Union government has approved construction of 221,000 sq m of covered area (63,000 sq m for academic complex and 158,000 sq m for residential complex) in the first phase for which an outlay of Rs 388 crores has already been provided.

 

November 14th, 2011

NISER Bhubaneswar resumes hiring faculty in all disciplines but in specific thrust areas (Deadline 30th November 2011)

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

Graduate courses offered at various new IITs; Hyderabad leads again

1 comment October 27th, 2011

Hyderabad and Rajasthan lead among the new IITs in terms of number of undergraduate courses offered; logos of the various IITs

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

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

After Chandigarh, Gwalior, Mumbai and Mysore the fifth Zonal Institute of Education and Training (ZIET) to come up in Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

… Kendriya Vidyalay Sangathan (KVS) has decided to set up a Zonal Institute of Education and Training (ZIET) in Bhubaneswar. This will be the fifth such institute in the country and will cater to over 350 schools of eastern region as a resource centre for states like Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and the northeast states.

"Earlier we had to depend on other ZIETs for the purpose of conducting in-service training, refresher courses, workshop and induction courses and research activities. The ZIET in Bhubaneswar will cater to the need of not only teaching but also non-teaching staff of schools. Besides, it will also help in preparation of model lessons and study material, to plan and propose the new areas and strategies required to be incorporated during the training programme to improve the quality of education," said principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya-1, S K Behura.

The ZIET will temporarily function from KV-I till its own building will be constructed in its permanent KVS building at Bankuala, on the outskirts of the city, Behura said.

ZIET, an autonomous body under the ministry of HRD, would also ensure that the participants are provided training in the areas of subject expertise, communication skills, classroom transaction skills, evaluation skills and student-development skills. It also aims at promoting a positive work culture and attitude among teachers through training and develop a healthy attitude in teachers towards research in school education. …

"Initially ZIET will provide training to KVS staff but later will also help in capacity building of employees of all CBSE schools in the region," Behura added.

The web sites of the existing ZIET are as follows:

• Chandigarh: www.zietchandigarh.org. (From 2009)
  
• Gwalior: www.zietgwalior.org. (From 2002)
  
• Mumbai: www.zietmumbai.in. (From 2003)
  
• Mysore: www.zietmysore.org. (From 2004)
  

September 28th, 2011

Dr. Subrat K. Acharya, HOD and professor of Gastroenterology at AIIMS New Delhi has been offered the Directorship of the AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

Four top doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been chosen as directors for the four upcoming AIIMS prototypes. The Union health ministry has sent a letter to professor of neurology Dr Kameshwar Prasad, professors of medicine Dr S K Sharma and Dr Rita Sood and professor of gastroenterology Dr S K Acharya offering them the coveted posts.

While Dr Prasad has been asked to take over the institute in Raipur, Dr Sharma has been offered the Jodhpur branch, Dr Sood the Rishikesh branch and Dr Acharya the Bhubaneswar branch. All of them have been asked to join on November 1.

… Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha recently that the medical colleges of these six institutions will be functional by next year. Ministry officials said the colleges would be functional from July, 2012, while the hospitals would be in place by early 2013.

"For the first year of medical education, students don’t require hospital visits. That’s why the colleges will start from next year," an official said.

Each of the six medical colleges – a Rs 10,000-crore project – will have 100 MBBS seats. Each of the hospitals will have 960 beds, including 500 beds for the medical college hospital, 300 beds for speciality/super speciality and 100 beds for ICU/accident trauma.

The Union health ministry has also put three of the best known existing medical institutes – AIIMS, Delhi; JIPMER, Puducherry; and PHI, Chandigarh, in charge of helping the six new institutes stand on their feet. AIIMS, Delhi, has been mentoring the two new institutions in Patna and Bhubaneswar, PGI has been mentoring those coming up in Rishikesh and Jodhpur, while JIPMER has been overseeing the prototypes in Bhopal and Raipur.

"The existing institutes will help the new ones select their faculty, establish their laboratory network, conduct entrance exams and plan their curriculum," an official added.

The web page of the AIIMS New Delhi Department of Gastroenterology is at http://www.aiims.edu/aiims/departments/Gastro/gastrofaculty.htm and lists Prof. Subrat K Acharya as its HOD.

A doctor friend tells me that Prof. Subrat K Acharya did his MBBS from SCB Medical College, Cuttack.

Update: Prof. Acharya did his MBBS from MKCG Medical college; but he was a faculty at SCB medical college before he went to AIIMS New Delhi.

8 comments September 20th, 2011

IIT council decides to charge 2 lakhs/year for students who do not go onto academics via M.Tech/Ph.D

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The IIT Council today decided that subsidy on tuition fees for BTech courses should be given only to those students who pursue research and take up teaching jobs.

The council, chaired by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, considered the report of the Anil Kakodkar committee which had suggested that operational costs for running the four-year courses should be covered by raising fees.

Students now pay Rs 50,000 as annual tuition fee. The operational cost per student comes to about Rs 2 lakh a year.

The council today decided that from 2013, students would have to pay the balance Rs 6 lakh if they take up a non-teaching job after graduation.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students, who do not have to pay any fees now, and students from poor families, who are on scholarship or have been granted interest subsidy loans, will, however, be exempt.

Students who study for MTech and PhD and take up teaching after that would not have to pay the Rs 6 lakh.

September 15th, 2011

XIM Bhubaneswar plans courses in MPH; 19 foreign students paying 39,750 Euros to study in a 3C (3 continent) MGM (Master in Global Management) program; 1/3rd of that course will be at XIMB

Following is  an excerpt from Shilpi Sampad’s report in Telegraph.

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), is planning to introduce a master’s programme in public health with a specialisation in mental health from next year.

The course will be conducted in association with the Union ministry of health and family welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) in Mumbai and the London School of Medicine.

… we hope that things will be finalised soon,” said Father P.T. Joseph, director of XIMB.

He added it would be a residential programme and around 25 to 30 students would be enrolled in the first batch. Tiss, Mumbai will confer the degrees. Speaking about the importance of the course, Joseph said: “Public health and mental health are areas of great concern worldwide.

… Earlier, XIMB had entered into a partnership with two foreign B-schools — Antwerp Management School in Antwerp and Fordham Graduate School of Business in New York — to launch a “3-Continent Master of Global Management” (3C MGM) programme. The duration of the course is 12 months and it is scheduled to begin on September 1.

For this, 20 candidates each have been chosen from the continents of Asia (India and China), Europe and America. The students will spend four months at Antwerp B-school, XIMB and Fordham.

Of the 40 applicants who had applied for the course, which will cost around 39,750 Euros or Rs 30 lakhs, only one has been selected to be part of the group from India.

“The applicants found it difficult to secure bank loans since XIMB is neither a university nor recognised under the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). We are trying our best to attain the status of a university so that these problems do not recur,” said Joseph, who is also one of the deans for the 3C MGM programme.

6 comments August 30th, 2011