Archive for June 21st, 2010

Odisha Chief Secretary proposes government medical colleges at Balasore and Bolangir

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

Chief Secretary Mr.Mishra along with Balangir has also suggested setting up another Government Medical College at Balasore.

He said at present there are 3 Government Medical Colleges at Cuttack, Berhampur and Burla in Sambalpur.

There are 3 private Medical Colleges at Bhubaneswar and Hi-Tech Medical College has been allowed to set up a Medical College at Rourkela.

Central University of Odisha has been requested to set up a Medical College at Koraput.

Sahayog Foundation has shown keen interest to set up a Medical College at Keonjhar.

Ministry of Steel has been approached for a Medical College funded by SAIL at Rourkela by upgrading Ispat General Hospital (IGH).

Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL) is setting up a Medical College at Talcher.

So a Government Medical College at Balangir seems the only option available.

With another Medical College at Balasore, there will be harmonious spread of Medical Colleges all over Odisha, felt the top most administrator of the state.

The proposal is pending with the Chief Minister and he will take the final call on the issue, said sources.

What about Kalahandi? The WODC medical college there is stuck for some time. The Odisha government should consider taking over what has already been constructed and make it a government medical college too.

If a medical college in Kalahandi is also made and all the above mentioned medical colleges come through then the following 11 undivided districts (out of 13) will have at least one medical college: Cuttack, Ganjam, Sambalpur, Puri, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Balangir, Kalahandi, Sundergarh and Balasore. The only two that will be left out are: Baudha-Kandhamal and Mayurbhanj. They can be addressed in the next round.

June 21st, 2010

Progress report of the new IITs

Following are excerpts from a report in sify.com.

  • IIT Mandi: … nestled in the lowermost climatic zone of the serene Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh.The institute plans to involve its research scholars in teaching to enhance its faculty strength. It will launch doctoral programmes this August and plans to request the ministry to fund research scholars who will be involved with teaching at the institute."… At present, recruitment of full-time faculty is underway. Nine faculty members have accepted the offers. Additional 10-12 faculty members are expected to do so shortly. …" says S P Gupta … has received 513 acres of land for its main campus …
  • IIT Hyderabad: … is banking on its faculty members to consolidate its research activities. According to U B Desai, director of IIT-H, faculty members have not only begun receiving research grants from DST, MCIT/DIT and other organisations, but have also begun publishing research papers in international journals. … 100 for M Tech programmes and 50 for PhD. Moreover, as against a full-time faculty strength of just over 40 last year, IIT-H is expecting the number to go up to 50 faculty members in its 10 departments. … "About 531 acres of land has been given by the state of Andhra Pradesh. While master planning of the new campus is done, we have called for expression of interest by architects. The new campus should be ready in about two years."
  • IIT Indore: … expects its permanent campus to be ready by the end of 2011. "At present, the need for independent infrastructure, including lab facilities, is an issue. However, it does not imply that we will compromise on quality" … The institute does not plan to start the MTech programme at least for the next three years. As for faculty, the current capacity is 26 while the required capacity is 30 per year at all IITs.
  • IIT Rajasthan: Apart from its B Tech programme getting its third batch since inception, IIT Rajasthan is also initiating PhD programmes for the first time from this year. Running from MBM Engineering College in Jodhpur, IIT Rajasthan has also been provided 300-odd PWD quarters for offering residential facilities to faculty members, staff and students alike. While IIT Rajasthan has been able to admit 120 students per batch so far, with its own campus coming up on a sprawling 900 acre land, the institute expects the numbers to rise.
  • IIT Gandhinagar: … currently functioning from a makeshift campus at Vishwakarma Engineering College near Ahmedabad, saw the latter’s students protesting to shift the temporary campus of IIT-Gn from their college premises. The Gujarat government has now zeroed in on a 385-acre plot for the purpose of building the campus for IIT Gandhinagar.
  • IIT Bhubaneswar: .. claims to be the first IIT out of the eight new IITs to be operating on its own infrastructure. "This is partially our own campus and we are the only IIT to be operating out of our own campus. Even after we move out to our permanent campus at Arugul, this building will continue to be our city centre. We have also selected project management consultants who will design our permanent campus and we expect the construction to begin by the end of this year and to be completed by 2014," says BK Rai, registrar at IIT Bhubaneswar. The institute has been allotted 936 acres of land by the Orissa government for its permanent campus designed to have a self contained campus for 10,000 students and 1100 faculty and an estimated amount of Rs 780 crore will be spent in next few years to develop this institute. A science park will be part of this institution. IIT Bhubaneswar will also the first IIT to set up a separate marine campus in 2011 for conducting interdisciplinary research in rising sea levels, ecology, disaster management, marine ecosystems, fishery development, and other areas.
  • IIT Ropar: … has 10 PhD candidates at present and will add another 15 by January next year. IIT Ropar currently runs BTech and PhD courses. As it faces hostel accommodation constraints, the institute is "not ready" to start MTech courses in the immediate future. This year, 25 faculty members will be joining the institute by July adding strength to the institute which has 27 faculty members at present.  …At present, the IIT is functioning from its Ropar-based transit campus, which was earlier The Polytechnic College for Women. The Government of Punjab has provided 500 acres of land near the banks of Sutlej river which is expected to be ready by the end of 2010 or beginning of 2013.
  • IIT Patna: The institute has recruited 47 faculty so far and has 240 students including 11 PhD students till date. As it readies to welcome its third batch of students, IIT-P has new building ready on the premises of the New Government Polytechnic, from where the institute is currently functioning. As for the labs, IIT-P has hired the building of Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Patna.

The current faculty strength of IIT Bhubaneswar is 40. (It was 16 as per its webpage in October 24, 2009 and 37 on April 26, 2010.) I am not sure how many new ones are expected to join in Fall 2010. While browsing the websites of the various websites some things jumped out. (i) IIT Ropar has a large number of faculty with foreign Ph.Ds. (ii) IIT Hyderabad is recruiting faculty in departments other than basic sciences, Humanities and the three disciplines in which it offers B.Tech. It is offering M.Tech programs in these additional departments. (iii) IIT Patna has hired the maximum number of faculty (47) closely followed by IIT Hyderabad (45) and IIT Bhubaneswar (40).

1 comment June 21st, 2010

IIMC to become a university and offer degree courses and have 4 more branches; Odisha should pursue upgrading of the branch in Dhenkanal

Following is an excerpt from a report in India Today.

… The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is all set to become a full-fledged university and will offer degree courses from next year.

Diploma students seeking admission in the current session are likely to have the option to continue the two-year post-graduate courses from next year. Interviews for the one-year courses will begin on Monday.

… The IIMC will offer two new two-year post-graduate diploma courses in development journalism, and corporate communication and media management.

The course material for turning the existing one-year diploma courses such as English journalism, advertising and electronic journalism into a two- year course has also been prepared.

To make the two-year advanced post-graduate diploma courses equivalent to an MA degree, the information and broadcasting ministry wrote to the HRD ministry.

… This will enable students to go into research while filling the gap of getting trained manpower in academics, teaching and the media industry.

Four new regional centres are also coming up in J&K, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Kerala. IIMC also has a centre at Dhenkanal in Orissa.

This would mean that the current combined student strength of 372 at Delhi and Dhenkanal would go up to 935 in the next few years with the addition of 200 students at the four new centres.

Soni asked the officials to not repeat the same courses in all IIMC branches. "For example, proposed IIMC Mizoram can have a course on animation, instead of repeating courses offered in Delhi," she said.

Adding graduate courses would cost the IIMC over Rs 45 crore. The minister asked officials to go liberal with funding to bring the institutions on a par with world class universities.

The Odisha government should pursue upgradation of IIMC Dehenkanal and make sure that it is not inferior to the new ones that are being made. In particular it should offer additional land and together with IIMC Dhenkanal officials make a plan of expansion and pursue it with the central minister of I & B Ms. Ambika Soni.

June 21st, 2010

Bhubaneswar Odisha a favorite for second campuses of Business Schools

Businessworld has an article on various management schools that are opening second campuses across the country. Among the seven institutes that are mentioned regarding second campuses, Bhubaneswar figures with respect to 4 of them. The article also updates on the status of these campuses. Following are some excerpts:

International Management Institute (IMI) is also setting up a second campus in Bhubaneswar. The ostensible reason for a second campus is the shortage of infrastructure at the Delhi campus. “But the choice of location was based on the encouragement from the state government and our desire to bring high quality management education to this region,” says P.K. Bhaumik, director, IMI-Delhi.

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), has already been given land by the Orissa government for its second campus in Khurda (15 km from the main campus). “The government of Orissa had said they would build a compound wall to the Khurda campus and hand it over to us,” says P.T. Joseph, director, XIMB. The institute also plans to open two new campuses in Bolangir and Sambalpur in Orissa. However, the state government is yet to sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the other two plots.

Similarly, Birla Institute of Management Technology (Bimtech), has been granted 30 acres of land by the Orissa government to set up a new campus in Bhubaneswar. “So far, we have registered the new campus and are finalising the design. With two specialised programmes, Faculty of Management and Faculty of Design, the first session is expected to start in June 2012,” says Harivansh Chaturvedi, director of Bimtech.

Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI University), which has eight campuses all over the country, is now adding new campuses in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Guwahati, Indore and Bhubaneswar.  “This is not a new trend. For so long, the IIMs were at seven different locations and Xavier’s was at four different locations. Now, others are following,” says Koshy Verghese, secretary general, Federation of Universities, Hyderabad.

Does the above mean that BIMTech Bhubaneswar will have a program in Design.

3 comments June 21st, 2010


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