Archive for August 24th, 2008

UCE Burla Students’ dharna reported in various newspapers

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

Students of University College of Engineering (UCE), Burla, launched their three day hunger strike from today staging silent sit-on dharna in front of the administrative building of the college.

The students are demanding Unitary University Status for the oldest engineering college of the State, on the lines of Ravenshaw University, transfer of 400 acres of government land adjacent to UCE campus, hike in annual grant to UCE to Rs 15 crore and special infrastructure development grant of Rs 100 crore spread over three years. The students had launched a stir in October demanding upgradation of UCE to IIT with support from the Alumni Association of the college and locals.

But with the State Government deciding to house the IIT at Jatni, they are now demanding declaring the college as an Unitary University.

The students had apprised the Chief Minister of their demand vide a petition on August 2 and set August 21 as deadline to fulfill the demand.

But with no communication from the office of the Chief Minister for a dialogue over the issue, they resorted to hunger strike. … A delegation of students will be leaving for Bhubaneswar and will try to get an audience with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Governor MC Bhandare.

7 comments August 24th, 2008

UP Marches on with its own version of top notch institutes

Following is an excerpt from a report in indiaedunews.net.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati yesterday inaugurated the new administrative block of the Gautam Buddha University here.

Inaugurating the first session of the varsity’s flagship MBA programme, Mayawati, who is its Chancellor, said the new institute would provide world-class education.

An institute modelled on the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore, would be developed in Noida, she declared, adding that a proposal for an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Lucknow was also under consideration.

The University will, initially, have a School of Management which will offer courses in Human Resources, Strategic Management and Marketing & Retail Management.

"The courses have been developed in line with those being offered by leading universities of Europe, US and Canada," said Mayawati.

Schools in Information and Communication Technology, Humanities and Buddhist Studies, Bio-Technology and Law will also be setup in the coming sessions.

"The Gautam Buddha University will be the only institute in the country to offer PhD in vocational studies," added Mayawati.

Vocational courses at the varsity would have subjects on Hospitality and Tourism, Business Administration, Retail & Commercial Services and Media & Designing.

… The varsity, setup at an estimated cost of Rs.300 crores, is dedicated to Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

August 24th, 2008

Assam plans to set up 3 medical colleges, 10 engineering colleges and much more

Following is an excerpt from a report in Assam Tribune.

Moreover, the State Government has decided to set up three new medical colleges in Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Jorhat. It may be noted that the Chief Minister has also announced to set up more engineering colleges in the State.

The State Government will set up a Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology at Guwahati, Technical University at Nagaon, a Central University at Guwahati, Law University at Guwahati, a private university at Tepesia, Sonapur, 15 polytechnic institutes, 10 engineering colleges (location) and a medical university.

August 24th, 2008

WCCUs to be called National Universities?

Update: See http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/Letter_World_Class_Universities.pdf for National Knowledge Commission’s take on this.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express.

An all-India common entrance examination, a student-count not exceeding 12,000, the best of faculty with incentives over and above regular pay, a curriculum revised every three years, a semester system, private sector funding, vice-chancellors with at least decade-long teaching experience, collaboration with universities and institutes in India and abroad, academic creativity free from red tapism — all this and more will go into the making of 14 World Class Universities (WCUs) very shortly.

And these sweeping changes are also likely to be applied to all existing universities and 16 Central universities that have recently been approved by the Cabinet. What will change, however, is the nomenclature for the 14 WCUs. Officials say these are now likely to be christened National Universities and the related legislation will be called the National Universities Act.

The basic blueprint for the WCUs has been formulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the first round of discussions, held in New Delhi today, involved academicians, experts, officials from the Human Resource Development Ministry, UGC and Planning Commission.

“There was a very interactive discussion on the WCUs and a major viewpoint emerged. Participants felt there should be a similar legislation for all Central universities, including the 16 which just got Cabinet approval, and all existing universities. The view was that there should be no hierarchy or disparity in standards amongst universities and the reforms and changes suggested for WCUs should be applied to all universities,” an official who attended the meeting told The Indian Express.

“There were strong reservations against the term ‘world class’ and it was decided they will be called National Universities instead,” the official said.

While more discussions will follow, sources said that the UGC and HRD Ministry hope to be ready with a legislation in time for the Parliament session. …

The WCUs are envisaged as unitary universities, like JNU, without any affiliation and multi-facility based, offering subjects ranging from natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to engineering, technology and medicine among others.

Promised autonomy in matters of admission of students and standards for selection, introduction and revision of contextual and innovative curricula, opening of new campuses and new programmes, intake of students, examinations and evaluation systems, faculty recruitment and national and international collaborations, the WCUs are planned as model institutes that will stand apart from existing universities.

That getting the best of faculty is high on the agenda for these new universities is apparent as the concept paper suggest that individuals with high quality research/training experience could be invited to join the faculty even if they have not applied for the job — as is also done in JNU. The universities, the paper says, should also be allowed to develop own hiring policies and pay higher emoluments and non-salary incentives over and above regular pay scales. The blueprint also recommends that private sector funding be permitted as long as it does not compromise academic integrity and autonomy of the university.

While the UGC’s earlier draft on WCUs did not quite impress the Prime Minister’s Office — it is keenly following the ambitious project — the new concept paper is said to have been found to be more “forward looking”. The legislation will also be so worded that it does not lead to rigid bureaucratic controls that stifle quality and creativity and spell out only “what to do” instead of “how to do”.

August 24th, 2008


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