If things move in the right direction, the Institute of Management and Information Technology (IMIT) here, could have a new look replete with infrastructural adequacies.
Biju Patnaik University of Technology Vice- Chancellor Omkarnath Mohanty announced here on Thursday that the ailing institution would have a new campus, land for which is being scouted at Naraj, in the vicinity of the proposed second campus of the Ravenshaw University and the Law University.
However, before that the existing building of the Institute would be renovated and the classrooms spruced up for the comfort of the students. The move to renovate and modernise the institution came as students went on a strike on Thursday over the issue.
The VC also said the college, which offered three-year MCA course and MBA would be provided with 55 computers within a month, 17 of which would be available within 10 days. It presently has 25 computers, all of them outdated.
Further, only 18 of them are functional. Internet facilities would be provided at the earliest The college would also have its library refurbished and computerised. For the first time, the Government-run institution would also have a functional placement cell.
The document at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/xiplanthrust_priorities.pdf discusses UGC’s thrusts and priorities for the 11th plan. I hope Orissa Universities are taking appropriate steps in this direction. I urge anyone with expertise and ideas on how universities in Orissa can take advantage of the UGC thrust areas to make suggestions in the comments section. Furthermore, if they have contacts in Orissa Universities (such as, they know the VC, the registrar or infleuntial faculty), then they can directly suggest ideas to them.
The Government has decided to support the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in setting up world class Institutes of Public health in India through contribution of upto Rs. 65 crore as one-time grant to the initial Rs. 200 crore PHFI corpus. The representatives of the Government are also there in the Governing Board of PHFI. PHFI is an autonomous Public-Private partnership and besides Government of India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Deshpande Foundation, Amar Foundation and other high net worth corporates/individuals, both from within India and abroad, are contributing to the PHFI corpus fund.
PHFI is an initiative to bridge the gap between the requirement and availability of trained personnel in public health and to effectively promote public health management. It will not only train health professionals, but will also assist in strengthening the existing institutions in the public health sector, create a pool of excellent faculty, act as a think tank for the Government providing inputs for policy initiatives and set standards for public health education. The research programmes of PHFI would be geared to facilitate policy and programme development in public health through inter-disciplinary studies.
PHFI has decided to establish Institutes of Public health in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The institutes will be fully operation by 2009, although short and medium term education and training programmes are expected to start from year 2008 itself.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Subject to the Plan being finalized, it is proposed to establish 30 new Central Universities during the XIth Plan and the first two years of the XIIth Plan period, and to provide assistance for establishing one college in each district with low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education.
Action for establishment, in the first phase, of one Central University, in each of the 16 States which do not have a Central University, so far, namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujrat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kasmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, has already been initiated.
The targeted GER, as against the present level of approximately 10%, is at least 15% by the end of the XIth Plan and 21% by the end of the XIIth Plan.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri M.A.A.Fatmi in a reply to a question raised by Smt. N.P.Durga in Rajya Sabha today.
In a Writ Petition (C) No. 10836 of 2005, the Government has submitted before the High Court of Orissa that the Government is taking follow up action for implementation of the announcement made by the Prime Minister on 28.8.2006 regarding setting up of a National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) at Bhubaneswar under the Department of Atomic Energy and that it is proposed to start the academic session from August, 2007. Taking cognizance of this, the Orissa High Court has disposed of the Writ Petition with a direction to the Government to ensure that the NISER is established at Bhubaneswar pursuant to the decision of the Government of India.
The Department of Atomic Energy has informed that 300 acres of land has been allotted by the government of Orissa for setting up of NISER. NISER has been registered under the Societies Registration Act and infrastructural facilities are being put in place. In addition, for admission to NISER, an NISER Entrance Screening Test (NEST) followed by interview has been conducted and admission will commence on 10th September, 2007.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri M.A.A.Fatmi in a written reply to a question raised by Ms. Pramila Bohidar and Shri B.J. Panda in Rajya Sabha today.
