Archive for September, 2008
Following is a report from someone who attended the meeting.
Yesterday we (students + alumni + faculty) had a satisfying meeting with CM. salient points -
(1) Ordinance shall be moved to amend BPUT Act to delist UCE as Constituent College of BPUT
(2) CM agreed to move an Act to convert UCE as an Unitary State University subjected to condition given below
(3) CM asked his officials to examine how much acres can be given to UCE
(4) CM said he will look into our claim for Rs 300 crore infrastructure fund which includes Central Funding of 1/3rd.
CM asked what are the benefits of State University. We talked about 12(B) grant from UGC. We talked about an independent Governing Body who can augment the courses/students/faculty/research. We gave examples of BESU & CUSAT.
This was contested by VC and Industry Secretary Mr Aditya Padhy. They said that -
(a) UGC fund is very small - may be to the tune of Rs 1 to 2 crore a year.
(b) Guindy College is affiliated to Anna University, Pune Engg College is affiliated to Pune University and yet they are quality college. Why UCE wants University status, and resisting affilitaion to BPUT.
(c) Deemed University status is no inferior to State University as both get UGC grant against 12 (B) and get nearly same grant.
(d) Indian Institute of Science is Deemed University and yet the best institution.
(e) After Revensaw became University, the situation has not improved. They are still struggling for faculty & fund. VC said he is Revensaw’s Seante Member and knows the conditions better than all of us.
Though CM agreed our demand for State University, he asked us (as well Industry Secretary) to prepare a note with examples of other institutions as to how State University will help UCE to grow. Report should contain references to the growth of some Unitary State Universities (in addition to BESU & CUSAT) including Revensaw University. Report has to be submitted within a week.
September 25th, 2008
The website of the university is http://www.srisriuniversity.org. The courses that are on offer now (hope they start working on the engineering and medical school soon) are as follows:
Following is an excerpt of the news item from the Statesman about the foundation laying .
The foundation stone for the Sri Sri University was laid at Naraj in Cuttack district today. The University is going to be set up by Sri Sri Ravisankar Vidya Mandir Trust.
Speaking at the occasion, chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik said the world-class research-based University will have streams in basic science, arts, engineering, business management, law, art and culture, ayurveda and others.
… The government has provided 186 acres of land for the Sri Sri University and will bring a special law for it.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravisankar said the whole world looks to India for guidance in the present turbulence across the glove.
“The human values are the best gifts of our country to the world”, he said.
On the university he said that that this will be a common man’s university. “There is an urgent need to change the educational system and the prime necessity is the teaching of human values”, he added.
September 25th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a news report in Indiaedunews.
The Central Government will amend the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 to make the new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) eligible to award degrees to students.
The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2008 will be tabled in the coming session of the Parliament.
The new IITs are currently operating as registered societies and to be able to award degrees to its students, their names will have to be incorporated into the existing Act.
"A society does not have the power to award degrees to students. For the new IITs, currently operating as societies, their names will have to be incorporated into the Act", an official from the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry said.
The new IITs are coming up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. …
September 23rd, 2008
Following are excerpts from a report in msn.com.
… Indian IT — which contributed to 5 per cent of India’s GDP — needs 2.3 million skilled staff by 2010, up 300,000 from the 2 million it employs now.
With this need in mind, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in the 11th plan document proposed the 20 IIITs, operated through a public-private partnership.
But the HRD ministry wants control of that partnership.
The ministry’s argument: we’re providing the land, much of the money, (half of the direct) loans and other benefits like tax exemptions.
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the umbrella body for the IT sector, has proposed an independent authority to oversee the 20 IIITs to ensure autonomy, flexibility and transparency.
… “There is a question over who will run these institutes,” a source in the ministry told HT. “We want government representatives on board, as we cannot leave everything in their [industry] control. Obviously, after providing all the benefits the government cannot be pushed aside.”
Nasscom also wants deemed university status for the each institute — the IIIT set up between the Centre, state and the corporate partner.
… The Nasscom report also cautions government against “political expediency”, in fixing IIIT locations. Meaning: set them up near IT parks and companies, not in political constituencies. ran aground.
September 22nd, 2008
The following excerpt from a news item from the statesman is confusing. It talks about MHRD starting 6 central universities. It is not clear what is happening with the other 24 proposed central universities.
The Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry has decided to allot Rs 6,200 crore to six states including West Bengal, for setting up Central universities.
The funds would be disbursed to the respective states after the plots are identified. Funds will be provided under the eleventh five-year plan, HRD ministry officials said. …
Other than West Bengal, universities will be set up in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttaranchal. These states have already identified lands for the proposed institute and have accordingly informed the HRD ministry. A senior official of the ministry said the universities are supposed to come up on 700 to 1,000 acre of land, which are easily accessible.
… The proposed residential university will lay more emphasis on courses in foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Subjects like engineering, medical science, computer science, arts and management will also be taught in the university. Students from Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Tibet and Singapore are expected to seek admission to the university. The university will also offer courses in Buddhist philosophy, Chinese philosophy and Tibetan philosophy.
September 20th, 2008
The following is from http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/bhub_ad.php. (Thanks to Saumya for the tip.)
Advertisement for Faculty Positions and Registrar of IIT Bhubaneswar
The faculty ad starts as follows:
IIT Bhubaneswar (Orissa) invites applications for faculty positions at the level of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor in the following disciplines.
Disciplines : Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences (Economics, English, Psychology)
This suggests that next year they will admit students in Computer Science, in addition to Civil, Electrical and Mechanical to which they admitted students this year.
September 18th, 2008
Following is from a report in myiris.
Hi-Tech Group of Institutions has drawn up a plan to develop a 150-acre knowledge city on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar at an estimated investment of Rs 20 billion, reports Business Standard.
The proposed knowledge city, a dream project of the Hi-Tech Group, will be developed in three phases with the entire project scheduled to be commissioned by 2012.
In the first phase, the city-based Hi-Tech Group will pump in Rs 5 billion and the first phase is set to be completed by 2010.
The company said it has identified three to four plots close to Bhubaneswar for their proposed knowledge city. The Hi-Tech Group expects to take possession of land and resume construction work within eighteen months.
There have been several recent news about the Hi-Tech groups plans. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1496 and http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1203. I hope they are all real.
September 18th, 2008
Update: Financial Express has a report on this.
The following is from http://vedanta.edu.in/news/?p=11.
As a part of vendor selection process for the Vedanta University Project, the Foundation invites reputed contractors I suppliers I service providers with proven track record and sound credentials in the following areas:
- PKGA 01 Construction of Institutional buildings and townships (Firms with an annual turnover of about 250 cr. need only apply)
- PKGA 03 Primary (132 KV) Electric sub-station, outgoing switch rooms, ring-mains, 33KV secondary sub-station with incoming HT switchgears and outgoing LT switchgears,
- PKGA 04 HVAC Systems
- PKGA 05 Interior works and Low end MEP
- PKGA 06 Site Grading and preparation work
- PKGA 07 Roads, drainage systems, pavements, culverts, bridges.
- PKGA 10 Afforestation , Horticulture - roughly 250 acres.
- PKGA 11 External electrification works such as street lighting, pathway lighting, traffic lighting.
- PKGA 15 Site facilities including offices, boundary wall, fencing etc.
- PKGA 16 Temporary power, water supply sanitation, lighting communication etc.
- PKGA 17 132 KV High tension line diversion ( approx 8 Kms.).
- PKGA 18 Landscape design roughly 250 acres.
Interested parties are required to submit their EOI mentioning the Package they are interested in along with their qualification details mentioning the package code, along with List of similar jobs and turnover during last three years. latest by 30 Sept, 2008.
To submit online please click here.
Please submit the above to:
Head Commercial
Anil Agarwal Foundation
Vedanta University Project
CT Road, Puri, Orissa 5752002.
Phone: +91 9238100367
Email: commercial@vedanta.edu.in
September 18th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Jayjit Dash.
Hi-Tech Group of Institutions has planned to set up two management institutes, one at Khurda and the other at Jatni, both located within 25 km radius of the city, at a combined investment of about Rs 12 crore.
These management institutes are set to be built on surplus land available at the two technological institutes run by the organisation – Konark Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) located at Jatni and the Hi-Tech Institute of Technology (HIT) in Khurda.
While the B-school in Khurda will come up on 15 acres of surplus land on HIT campus, the other B-school will be developed on 10 acres of surplus land within the KIST campus at Jatni.
“Construction work for our two proposed management institutes has already begun and we expect these two institutes to be functional next year. …
Each of these management institutes will have an intake of 60 seats and will offer two-year, full-time MBA programmes from the 2009-10 academic session.
The Hi-Tech Group will also invest Rs 30 crore for introducing new super-specialities, namely, cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, neurology, nephrology and trauma care in the Hi-Tech hospital. Hi-Tech Group of Institutions has also got the approval of AICTE to introduce post-graduate courses in engineering at the KIST campus.
The KIST campus will offer MTech in computer science and engineering as well as electronics and telecommunications engineering from the next academic session.
At present, KIST is offering BTech in five streams of engineering with the institute’s total intake being 420 seats. Meanwhile, the group expects to take possession of land for its proposed medical college and hospital in Rourkela within a month.
“We expect to get 25 acres of land for our proposed medical college cum hospital in Rourkela within a month and then inaugurate the hospital six months after acquiring land. Our medical college in Rourkela is expected to be operational a year after the inauguration of the hospital”, Panigrahi claimed.
September 13th, 2008
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.
The State Government Thursday decided to facilitate setting up of three more Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Kandhamal district which is limping back to normalcy from communal cauldron. The State-run Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) will be asked to set up two ITIs while the Government is contemplating to request Vedanta to set up the third one as part of its social responsibility for the State.
A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the Kandhamal situation and the progress achieved on the rehabilitation front.The Chief Minister reportedly directed the Industries Department to take up the issue with OMC and OHPC for the proposed ITIs which should come up as early as possible. The Government will provide land free of cost. It has been decided to set up the proposed ITIs at the block headquarters of Tumudibandha, Baliguda and G Udaygiri.
At present, the only Government ITI is located at Phulbani while a privately managed Industrial Training Centre (ITC) is also functioning in the district. The Chief Minister also directed the Industries Department to convert the Phulbani ITI into a centre of excellence by pooling assistance from industrial and corporate houses.
September 12th, 2008
Thanks to Jitu Mishra for the pointer in TOI.
September 12th, 2008
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