Sources suggest that the Xavier University Bill is getting finalized and may be introduced in the Odisha assembly in the upcoming assembly session. There is plan that the proposed Xavier University (which will be established by the XIMB people) will have undergraduate programs including in Arts and Commerce.
This would be a Godsend. While Odisha now has top notch programs in Engineering (at IIT, NIT, VSSUT, CIPET), Science (NISER), Law (NLUO), Business (XIMB), Social Work (NISWASS), Public Health (AIPH, and soon IIPH) and Education (RIE), and soon will have a top notch program in fashion design (NIFT) and medicine (AIIMS-like Institute), it does not have top programs in Commerce and Arts. Thus the proposed Xavier University offering these programs will fill a huge lacuna. There are several reasons I believe that the Arts and Commerce programs at the proposed Xavier University will be top notch.
- They have track record in Odisha and India. Their XIMB is among the top ranked business schools in the country.
- The top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in the country include many other sister Jesuit institutions such as Loyola Colleges, St. Xavier’s colleges and St. Joseph’s colleges.
- Xavier University being a university will be able to modernize and revise its programs at will and thus will have advantage over other colleges that need to work with their universities. (Some of the top ranked colleges are now autonomous though.)
- Many of the other top ranked colleges are uni-disciplinary. Xavier University will be able to share faculty among multiple programs and thus able to create more multi-dimensional programs.
The proposed Xavier University offering top notch arts and commerce programs would help the other institutions to improve their arts and commerce programs and may even encourage other groups (such as KIIT and ITER) to establish good programs in Arts and commerce.
Thus the Odisha government should not delay and speed up the creation of Xavier University.
Following is from India Today’s 2009 list of top ranked Arts and Commerce programs in India.
May 2nd, 2010
In 2008 Andhra created 3 new IIITs in rural areas of the state. These three IIITs at Basar, Nuzvid and RK Valley are the components of the newly established Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies. Following are excerpts from a report in Times of India that talks about hiring of faculty for these IIITs.
The institutes are going through a crisis at present due to inadequate faculty and lack of infrastructure because of which the state government has decided to reduce the intake of students by half — from 6,000 per year to 3,000 — from the coming academic year.
… “About 140 post-graduates from the five Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have come forward to teach the rural students even though they have lucrative offers on hand from the corporate sector and international institutes,” said R V Raja Kumar, vice chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University for Knowledge Technologies under which the three institutes function.
At least half of the selected post-graduates and PhDs are Andhrites and have expressed their willingness to stay among the students and impart engineering education in the country, the VC said. Raja Kumar himself is an IITian from Kharagpur. “The hunt for talent will continue. We want to recruit post-graduates from the institutes of national and international repute in the country,” the VC said.
.. “This is for the first time in India that campus recruitment is being done by a university for the recruitment of the faculty. The response has been very encouraging and several post-graduates have volunteered to join the institutes located in remote areas,” said Raja Kumar.
In Odisha KIIT has been recruiting heavily from IITs. We reported on it in https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2492. I hope the Odisha government engineering colleges, IIIT Bhubaneswar, SUIIT and VSSUT follow a similar approach and go for campus recruitment in the IITs.
The program at these IIITs in Andhra are different from programs anywhere else. See http://www.rgukt.in/program.html. They offer 6 year dual degree programs after the 10th class and take students mainly from the rural areas.
May 2nd, 2010
Thanks to tathya.in for the pointer.
OMS Power training and research institute in Bhubaneswar offers programs for people with B.engg, Diploma or ITI certificates to prepare them for jobs in the power industry. Considering the number of power plants coming uo in Odisha as well as India in general, this may be a career direction students may consider. The web page of the institute is http://omstraining.net/.Following is from its "About Us" page.
… was established in 2009 with an aim to align the talented young minds with the industrial world by equipping them with advanced technologies, enhancing their skills and in the process contribute to the qualitative growth of the power sector.
The Institute is recognized by Central Electricity Authority (CEA, www.cea.nic.in), Ministry of Power, Govt. of India as Category-I Institute for imparting Power Plant Training to Degree Engineers, Diploma Engineers and ITI students as well as working Power Sector professionals in Thermal, Hydro and Power Management.
The Institute provides training for everyone working in the power sector including customized training program for government and corporate clients. The Institute is committed to provide the highest quality of services to our clients and satisfy their needs.
Following information regarding the courses it provides is from its page http://omstraining.net/courses_offered.php.
| Code |
Course |
Duration |
| OMSPTI-01 |
Thermal Power Plant Training – for Engineering Graduate/Diploma Holders (Self Sponsored/ Corporate Sponsored) (Classroom, In-plant and Simulator training) |
26 Weeks |
| OMSPTI-02 |
Thermal Power Plant Refresher Course – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored) |
2 Weeks / Customized as per the need |
| OMSPTI-03 |
Refresher Course on Indian Power Sector & Regulatory Affairs – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored) |
3 Days / Customized as per the need |
| OMSPTI-04 |
Refresher Course on Power Plant Chemistry – for Power Plant Professionals (Corporate Sponsored) |
1 week |
| OMSPTI-05 |
Vocational Training |
4 Weeks |
| OMSPTI-06 |
Need based Power Plant training like construction management, Acts & Rules (Factory Act, Boiler Rules, and Electricity Act ) , including Training at customer’s Plant location etc. |
As per the need. |
ELIGIBILITY:
| Course Code |
Eligibility |
| OMSPTI-01 |
B.E. / B.Tech, Diploma in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering. |
| OMSPTI-02 |
Working Professionals with at least 2 years experience in Power Sector. |
| OMSPTI-03 |
| OMSPTI-04 |
| OMSPTI-05 |
Graduate Engineering and Diploma students. |
| OMSPTI-06 |
Degree & Diploma Holders in Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, civil and Instrumentation Engineering. |
May 2nd, 2010
