NKC Chairperson Pitroda lends his support for an IIT in Orissa and talks about education and 11th plan

Various articles report on this. Following are some excerpts:

From a Telegraph article:

Chairman of National Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda today lent his support to Orissa’s hope for an Indian Institute of Technology, saying the state “deserved” one.

Orissa-born Pitroda, who ushered the telecom revolution in India in the eighties, today joined chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s long-standing demand, and said: “It’s high time. But, I am not the right person to comment on this matter. The HRD ministry should take a decision.”

Pitroda had come to Orissa to discuss the recommendations of the NKC, an advisory body to the Prime Minister on matters of higher education, with chief secretary T.K. Tripathy. Pitroda’s support went down well with Naveen, who has time and again reiterated his demand , but has been “refused” by the HRD ministry.

… Last year the Union HRD ministry decided to set up IITs in Bihar and Rajasthan and IISERs in Pune and Calcutta. The decision angered Orissa, which doesn’t have a single centre of excellence.

Non-resident Oriyas have been petitioning and writing to the ministry to set up an IIT in Orissa. While organisations have launched agitation against the Congress-led UPA and staged demonstrations before the Parliament over the issue.

Naveen has written several letters to Singh protesting the Centre’s decision of ignoring Orissa’s claim. The BJD-BJP MPs from Orissa had also staged a dharna before Parliament last week to protest against the Centre’s “step-motherly attitude”.   

From a Statesman article:

The need for expansion as we do not have enough schools/colleges and varsities, providing quality education and ensuring equity as well as access are the three major challenges said Mr Sam Pitroda, chairman National Knowledge Commission. Talking to reporters he said the 11th Plan does make a substantial commitment to education and states must be ready to avail the funds that will flow.

He said Orissa was the first state he was visiting to interact with officials vis-à-vis the Knowledge Commission’s activities and recommendations. "I will visit a few other states like Rajasthan, Dellhi, Andhra Pradesh before we prepare a document on what states need to do," he remarked. He emphasised on vocational training and making students employable. He suggested setting up of a advisory committee of eminent citizens at the state level, a working group headed by the chief secretary and small groups to deal with each of the aspects involving education.

Mr Pitroda shared the view if more IITs were to come up in the country, Orissa should get one.
 
… On mushrooming private colleges which lacked trained faculty as well as infrastructure, he said it was a demand-supply problem. Suddenly the demand for education increased substantially and there was a short supply of institutions and hence people stepped in to fill up this gap. In the process institutions of low standards had come up everywhere.

Add comment January 12th, 2008

Excerpts from VC Cambridge University Allison Richard’s article on “What makes a world class University”

The following is an excerpt from an Economic Times article. (Thanks to Nanopolitan for blogging about it.)

To be a ‘good university’ is a decent and honourable thing, but no ‘good’ university these days can feel entirely comfortable, since we are not now judged solely on our local or even national contribution, but our international standing.

The competition to be ranked among the world’s top universities is increasing, with much jostling for position on international league tables. According to the latest Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking, the US dominates with 37 of its universities in the top 50. Arguably this is starting to change. China, for example, is investing heavily in its universities, but there is still a long way to go before any find themselves in the top 50.

… But what makes a university world class? As international competition for students and academics increases, this question is very much on the front burner for university leaders. Many people talk about ‘world class’ universities, but what the term means is often left hovering in the air, undefined.

In my view, four factors make a university world class. First, it must show a commitment to breadth and excellence in all fields of human inquiry, not simply in a particular niche. Uniform excellence across all fields is an ideal that no university achieves in practice, but it is a fine ambition. One senses that universal, high ambition in great universities, coupled with real excellence in most fields, most of the time.

Second, world class universities engage in cutting-edge research whilst at the same time teaching the next generation, their students. Teaching and research are intrinsically bound together, with top researchers inspiring and mentoring their students. In turn, students themselves inspire and challenge their teachers.

Much of the talk about world class universities centres around the production of exciting discoveries and universities’ contribution to the economy and to human enrichment through the development of cultural knowledge. But every bit as important as these is the role of universities as educators. World class universities produce students who will go on to be leaders in all walks of life.

Third, great universities must allow their researchers the freedom to experiment, succeed, and sometimes fail. They must be able to make grand mistakes as well as grand discoveries. It is often through making those mistakes that the grand discoveries are made.

This implies a degree of inefficiency, but it is a necessary inefficiency and a corollary of greatness. A university operating with a completely utilitarian mindset will forego the opportunities that a more open-ended system allows.

Finally, world class universities have permeable boundaries. This means encouraging interdisciplinary research and teaching; it means working with the private sector, for example, fostering and encouraging partnerships with industry; and it means encouraging international collaboration.

World class universities look outward, and think beyond conventional boundaries today, we educate students more and more of whom will go on to live and work in a range of cultures. We must equip them for this life, partly by what we teach them, partly by what other experiences we offer them, who they meet as students and the composition of the study body. …

Add comment January 11th, 2008

Orissa government’s delay in responding may cost Orissa a world class central university

Update: A report in Samaja and Pioneer are given below.

Following is tathya.in’s take on it.

Orissa is yet to send the proposal for setting up a World Class University (WCU) in the state.

Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has written to State Government to send a Detailed Proposal for a WCU in Orissa.

MHRD wrote the letter sequel to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s historic initiative on higher education includes 14 world class central universities each with an approximate initial budget of Rs. 1000 crores.

Besides traditional disciplines, these universities are supposed to have a medical school, an engineering school, a business school and a law school.

Currently India does not have any such world class university, and the central government, serious about the "world class" label wants these universities in locations that will create synergies.

Various news items have mentioned proximity to research labs such as CSIR labs as one of the qualifying locational attributes.

Orissa, at 6.1 per cent is at the bottom of the higher education enrollment among all major states, and needs to cover the biggest gap to make it to the 11th plan target of 15 per cent.

Moreover, Orissa is the 9th largest state of the country in terms of area and 11th largest in terms of population.

It also does not have any existing central universities.

Thus one would expect that Orissa would be in the front of the line making its case for one of these world class universities.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

Even after receiving communication from MHRD on this count Orissa has not yet responded, admited a senior official.

It would be a shame if Orissa loses out on this because of not making a proper and timely case, lamented an educationist.

Insiders say that the BJD-BJP Government is doing this deliberately so that when Orissa does not get one of these world class universities, than the government will again accuse the UPA Government of neglecting the state.

It is true that in recent past the UPA Government has created havoc by taking away a previously announced IIT from Orissa.

But in this particular case, the PM himself has stated categorically that there will be a competition between states in making decisions regarding the locations of the world class universities.

So if Orissa does not even send a timely proposal how can we blame the UPA government for Orissa not being given one of the WCU.

Chandrasekhar Sahu, Minister of State, Rural Development has written to MHRD about Orissa getting one of the WCU.

But one wonders if this will turn out like the NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) case.

Mr. Sahu was promised consideration for a NIFT by the Union Textiles Minister Sankar Sinh Vaghela, but the whole state was embarrassed in the Parliament when it was stated in a reply that Orissa government has never submitted a request for a NIFT.

In case of NIFT, Bihar took the lead in sending a proposal and snatched it from Orissa.

If Orissa loses out in getting one of the 14 world class university because of the current government’s laziness or because of its devious strategy to win elections at the cost of harming Orissa so that it can blame the Center, the people of Orissa will never forgive this Government, feel educationists.

2 comments December 28th, 2007

CM asks for IIT, IIM, and IIIT in Orissa

Tathya.in reports that  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has again highlighted the need of establishing IIT, IIM, and IIIT in Orissa while addressing the 54th National Development Council meeting. Following is an excerpt.

Naveen Patnaik has set the target of growth at 9 per cent during next five years.

Addressing the 54th meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) here on 19 December, Chief Minister of Orissa announced that the 11th five year plan for Orissa has an outlay of Rs.32,225 crore and targeted 9 per cent growth for the plan period.

…

Establishment of prestigious Central institutions like IIT, IIM and IIIT in Orissa to meet growing needs of skilled manpower for upcoming industries, was highlighted in his speech.

..

1 comment December 19th, 2007

Education to remain the most favored sector in the 11th Plan: PM

The Sahara Samaya reports on the Prime Minister’s address at the National Development Council meeting. Following is an excerpt.

Observing that education is the "most favoured sector", the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today said the outlay on education will be up from 7.68 per cent of the Central Gross Budgetary Support in the 10th Plan to over 19 per cent in the 11th Plan.

In fact, education is the most favoured sector and the three fold increase in its share and a five fold increase in the actual outlays demonstrate the criticality of this sector in ensuring sustained inclusive growth in the future," he told the National Development Council (NDC) meeting to approve the XIth Five Year plan.

Singh said the country needed a greatly expanded supply of educated and skilled labour to support ambitious growth targets.

…

During the Plan period 6,000 model schools in all blocks, 30 new Central Universities, 370 new colleges in educationally backward districts, a Skill Development Mission to cater to one crore students per year and a huge expansion in the number of IIT, IIM, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research are proposed, Singh said. "This is a decisive start to bridging the knowledge gap in our country,"he said.

 

Add comment December 19th, 2007

Orissa in slumber and may miss taking advantage of the 11th plan opportunities in higher education: Tathya.in

Action Item: Readers concerned about this may write to the CM at cmo@ori.nic.in to take immediate action and copy to one of the journalists in Orissa (perhaps Braja babu of Tathya.in at brajakmishra@gmail.com)

Following is from http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1455.

Orissa this time also is all set to miss the bus for Higher Education.

While the Higher Education Program for the Eleventh Five Year Plan is being final touches, Orissa is in deep slumber. 

And who will be able to wake up a sleeping state, which is at the lowest ebb of the investment plan of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), asks educationists.

The Eleventh Plan is historical because investment in HRD sector will receive a big jump.

Just follow these numbers:

Currently there are 7 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s that was made over 60 years; there will 8 more during the 11th Plan.

There are 23 central universities made over 60 years; 30 more will be added during the Plan.

There are no world class universities in India and planners have decided to go for 14.

There are 6 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) s that was made over 60 years; there is a plan to establish 7 more.

There is a plan to set up Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH).

Currently there is a single National Institute of Design that was made in 60 years since Independence; there is a plan to make 4 more during the Plan.

The 11th Plan’s stated goal is to take the higher education enrolment to 15 per cent.

Orissa’s higher education enrolment is at the bottom 6.1 per cent.

So Orissa must be working very hard to take advantage of the 11th plan.

Lo behold ! No home work in sight and this time also the state is going to loose heavily, feel the educationists.

Chitta Baral, Professor in Arizona State University is a worried person.

And Prof. Baral has every reason to worry.

We need a world class university and not a single soul has raised his voice for the same in the Government, lamented Prof.Baral.

This type of institution will have a budget of Rs.1000 crore. 

It  would be again a pity, if the state is going to lose the same as there is  opportunity to make a strong case.

It has the Ravenshaw University which without any affiliate colleges, matches the expected model of a world class university.

But will the State Government make such a case, asks Prof.Baral.

While Orissa is haunted by deaths due to cholera, it will be an appropriate place for setting up an Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH)

Till date the State has made no efforts to get one of the proposed 5-7 IIPHs in Orissa.

So far Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) s are concerned Orissa has not done much beyond the Chief Minister sending a couple of half-baked and impolite letters to the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, many other states have sent more detailed proposals.

Take the case of KBK Central University, in the past Orissa has made a case regarding a Central University in KBK.

However, it has not followed up on it recently.

Is not it time the State Government to follow up on this and makes a case, by pointing to the central universities in the North East, asks he.

It is not too late for many of the above; otherwise Orissa will get the pea nuts and predictably complain about Central apathy against the state.

3 comments December 18th, 2007

More tidbits on Education and HRD in the 11th plan

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

The 11th five year Plan document proposes an almost 10-fold increase in outlay for higher and technical education. The planners have set ambitious targets — to attract 15% students passing out of class XII (from the current 10%) into higher education by 2012 and 22% by 2017. The way to do this, they say, is to expand and upgrade on an unprecedented scale.

In the new Plan, there’s more of everything — 30 new central universities are to be set up, seven IITs and IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five research institutes to be called Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs, two schools of architecture and 330 colleges in educationally backward districts. All this is in line with the PM’s announcement in his August 15 speech this year.

Infrastructure in existing universities and institutions is also in for major upgradation. Among the big beneficiaries of these special grants will be 17 yet-to-identified central universities which will get Rs 3,298 crore. Besides, 39 engineering institutes will receive a whopping Rs 6,749 crore, again for ramping up infrastructure. A good dose of funds has also been set aside for upgrading agriculture, management and medical institutions.

But this money comes with a plan. …

For instance, the document seeks to raise fees for higher education to up to 20% of operational costs, which is 5% at present. “Higher education is highly subsidized. The document seeks to reduce this subsidy to improve quality of education,” said Bhalchandra Mungekar, member Planning Commission.

Another proposal is to break up large affiliating varsities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune into more manageable units. The document says large universities are unsustainable. Osmania University has more than 900 affiliated colleges while Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore varsities have around 500. Some of these institutions conduct over 1,000 examinations annually. “These universities have ceased to be centres of higher education. They are becoming agencies for conducting examinations,” said Mungekar.

Not all experts share this view. Deepak Pental, V-C of Delhi University (which has 83 affiliated colleges), said, “I am not convinced that smaller universities are better managed. Most of the varsities in the country are smaller than DU, are they better managed? Yes, we definitely won’t like to have any more colleges, but proper way of reforms would be to invest in the existing universities and upgrade their infrastructure.”

V N R Pillai, V-C of IGNOU, central open university, endorses this view. “A sizeable amount of new allocations should be earmarked for improving existing facilities of 18,000 colleges and 400 universities. This should be the first priority of reforms,” he said.

Another target of reforms is the examination system. … The paper says annual examinations have become irrelevant for testing knowledge. It suggests replacing this with continuous assessment and evaluation. The document calls for implementing the semester system and continuous evaluation in all central universities from the coming academic year (2008). It also suggests introducing a credit system where students will also be allowed to appear for papers in other streams. UGC chairman, Sukhadeo Thorat said, UGC has set up a committee to devise an action plan for exam reform within one month.

The paper also expands on the growing trend of private universities coming up in the country. It says the government isn’t in a position to ensure growth levels of 15-20% in higher education. Private investment will therefore be encouraged through tax breaks and other incentives. It has also sought private participation in providing services in existing institutions.

Add comment November 27th, 2007

Orissa has asked for two central universities: Assembly answer by Higher Education minister (in Samaja)

Add comment November 23rd, 2007

Higher education crisis in India: Samaja op-ed

Add comment November 21st, 2007

14 World class universities in India: Guidelines being formulated, States to compete

Following is an excerpt from a report on this in Economic Times.

NEW DELHI: With a thrust on improving the standard of higher education, government is working on a proposal to set up 14 ‘World Class Universities’ across the country at an early date.

A blueprint is being prepared by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and Planning Commission to set out the criteria for such universities, which will have a business management school, an engineering college, a medical college, a law college in a single campus.

The proposal is being pursued by the Prime Minister’s office which has asked the HRD Ministry and Planning Commission to expedite formulation of guidelines for such universities and give the final picture by the third week of this month.

… The HRD Ministry and Planning Commission have started working on these guidelines acting on the proposal of full Planning Commission meeting on education sector that held on September 13.

"We are working at a very fast pace on the guidelines because we have already been told once by the PMO that we are behind the schedule. So soon we will have the guidelines in place," said Mungekar, former Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University.

… Proposals for setting up the ‘World Class Universities’ will be invited from all the states and those meeting the criteria will benefit. This will, in effect, do away with allegations of discrimination by states.

"The rules are going to be very stringent. The states have to compete to get the world class university," Mungekar said while giving an outline of the regulations.

Besides reasonable rules like a big plot of a land for free in prime location, there would be other demanding criteria that the states will have to meet while competing for having such universities.

In the allotment of such centrally-funded universities, priority will be given to states which do not have central varsities at present.

Orissa must get ready to prepare and send a good proposal on this. After the criteria is announced there may not be much time to do this. So preparing for this beforehand is important.

1 comment November 18th, 2007

Samaja letter to the editor on two central universities for Orissa

Add comment November 15th, 2007

Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar on the 11th Plan education budget

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

Education is set to receive a Rs 2.85 lakh crore boost, with the Planning Commission increasing the allocation for the sector by a massive 19.9% in the 11th Five Year Plan.

The education budget has been classified into elementary, adult and secondary, and higher education. For elementary education, Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being earmarked, which is a major hike from the Rs 30,000 crore allocated in the last Plan.

Likewise, the share of adult and secondary education is being increased to Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 53,000 crore, respectively. As per the plan document, Rs 84,000 crore are being set aside for higher and technical education.

Planning Commission member, Bhalchandra Mungekar, said the increase in the budget for health and education is an attempt to achieve inclusive growth.

…  "The most important issue is our agenda for reforms in higher education system, where we have asked for major structural changes," he said. "Major reforms are a must like introducing credit and semesters systems and exam reforms."

The Plan has set aside resources for a massive expansion of higher education. It seeks to establish 30 new central universities of which 16 are to be set up in areas which don’t have a central university. The rest 14 are to be model universities of world class infrastructure.

According to HRD ministry, each of these 14 universities would cost around Rs 1,000 crores. There are plans for seven more IITs, seven IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs and two schools of architecture. There will also be 330 new colleges in educationally backward districts.

Add comment November 14th, 2007

Business Standard on allocation for education in the 11th plan

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.

The Planning Commission, according to highly-placed sources, says GDP allocation to education will increase from its from current 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan. Around 19.7 per cent of the total plan resources would be set aside for education, according to the sources in the Commission.

The Plan outlay for the education sector as a whole will thus be over Rs 2,20,000 crore,  five times more than what it was during the 10th Five-Year plan.

… The plan outlay on education has increased from Rs 151.20 crore in the 1st Five Year plan to Rs 43,825 crore in the 10th Five Year plan (2002-2007). The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP also rose from 0.64 per cent in 1951-52 to 3.74 per cent in 2003-2004.

In fact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his independence day speech, had announced the setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 30 central universities. The government is already working on which states will house these institutes of excellence.

"With increased funds, establishing these IITs and IIMs will not be an issue with the government. Besides, the government is also looking at public-private partnership to involve private parties in education," said a professor.

With less than 50 per cent of secondary school students in India continuing college education in any form, and almost two-thirds of Indian universities and 90 per cent of the colleges being rated as "below average" on quality parameters, the funds would be utilised to put in place a better system of education.

The Planning Commission is also targeting a gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 15 per cent by 2015. In the 10th Five-Year Plan, the GER was 10 per cent.

Add comment November 7th, 2007

Orissa’s share of central universities in the 11th plan: Samaja op-ed by Sahadeva Sahu

Add comment November 2nd, 2007

GOI expects states to compete for the 14 (=30-16) world class central universities.

Of the 30 new central universities proposed 16 will be in states that do not have any. It seems the rest 14 will be chosen from proposals sent by the state governments. Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on this issue.

The State Governments have to compete among themselves in providing land in prime locations free of cost if they wanted to have prestigious Central University with world class facilities.

The Central Government is making mandatory for the States to provide land and other infrastructure facilities free of cost in the prime locations for setting up world class Universities.

After getting a nod from the Planning Commission for establishment of 14 Central Universities with world class standards in the 11th five-year plan, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development made it clear that a prime location is the key for deciding the place for setting up such prestigious Central University.

Giving an example of what is prime location, the Union Ministry is asking the states to come out with proposals to provide land free of cost in attractive locations such as proximity to Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs.

Sources said that prime location is very important keeping in view of the magnetism of the location for attracting top class faculty. The location of the new Central Universities would be decided on the basis of careful consideration of alternative possibilities proposed by the State Governments.

The 14 universities would be planned with careful planning to have various schools including medical and engineering. The Union Ministry would soon set up autonomous project teams comprising of eminent people for each proposed world class university to design and implement the project creatively. Sources said that initially the beginning would be made with five such teams. …

Add comment September 20th, 2007