Search Results for ‘uce’
Ravenshaw University now has UGC approval. It was only in November 2006 that it got approval from the Orissa assembly. Today’s Pioneer reports that it received UGC approval on Febriary 6th. It is now listed in the UGC website of universities in Orissa. Now it awaits the more important status of “Funded by UGC”.
UCE Burla, about which we discussed earlier in December, must be put on a similar path. It must ape BESU (Bengal Engineering and Science University) and CUSAT (Cochin University of Science and Technology) both of which are state universities and have the “Funded by UGC” status. See the UGC West Bengal and Kerala pages here and here respectively. In their attempt to improve UCE Burla, efforts are being made for it to get deemed university status. I think they should just go for a state university status and then go all out to get the “Funded by UGC” status. They should send a delegation to BESU and CUSAT to learn some of the secrets of their success.
February 26th, 2007
University College of Engineering, Burla(UCE Burla) in Sambalpur district of Orissa is the oldest Engineering College of Orissa. The Orissa government and many people of Orissa (including UCE Burla alumni) would like UCE Burla to be upgraded to one of the proposed IIESTs (Indian institute of Engineeing Science and Technology).
Continue Reading December 9th, 2006
Following are excerpts from the IIT Bhubaneswar convocation brochure.
Temporary Campuses
The Institute is currently operating from a number of campuses which include IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre at Samantapuri, Toshali Campus at Satyanagar and Workshop cum laboratory complex at Samantapuri. The Government of Odisha has provided us about one (1) acre of land on which we have constructed the Workshop cum Laboratory complex (3,010 sq. meters). The Government of Odisha has also made available two towers at Toshali Bhawan (10,000 sq. meters) which we have renovated. We are also getting generous support, in more ways than one, from Institute of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) and Central Tool Room and Training Centre (CTTC). I sincerely thank all the members of these institutions for their continued support.
IIT Bhubaneswar is well equipped with modern class rooms and undergraduate/research laboratories. All the class rooms are fitted with multimedia projectors, internet facilities and wireless connectivity. The Institute has designed and developed three virtual class rooms (VCR) sponsored by National Knowledge Network (NKN). These virtual class-rooms are equipped with high end AV and teaching equipment and are connected to the NKN by means of a dedicated 1Gbps leased line. The VCR facilities provide real time interaction among the students and faculty members of our Institute and those from other institutions.
IITs are known for the de rigueur to have a residential campus in order to facilitate one-to-one human interaction. The Government of Odisha has provided us 14 flats at Government Colony, Gajapati Nagar. We have found cooperation from the housing society in SBI Colony Kesura (10 km from city centre) wherein we have hired 65 HIG/ MIG flats for the accommodation of our students, few of our staff and faculty members. Another hostel at Madanpur (15 km from the city centre) has been provided for M. Tech. students and Ph. D. scholars. In addition, IIT Kharagpur has constructed a new 200 capacity Dr. A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence at Samantapuri for the students of this Institute. I take this opportunity to thank IIT Kharagpur for constructing the hostel which is of great convenience to us. I would also like to put on record my deep appreciation to the students, the staff and faculty members who have to commute regularly between their residence and the various academic campuses. I am aware that this is strenuous. But I am hopeful that our students, faculty and staff members would bear it and be a part of the history in the making.
Permanent Campus
The Foundation Stone of the permanent campus at Arugul (near Jatni) was laid on 12th February 2009. The Government of Odisha allotted 936 acres of land at Arugul for developing this IIT of which the Institute has already taken possession of 598 acres. The Government of Odisha has started construction of a 4-lane access road to the campus from the National Highway No. 5. The work on water and electric supplies to the campus is also in progress. The Government of Odisha has also agreed to provide 75 acres of land on the Puri–Konark coast line to set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change for the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences.
Out of 19 km, construction of 13 km of boundary wall has been completed. More than 10 bore wells have been sunk to facilitate construction work. The Institute has also taken up tree plantation programme for its new campus.
The master plan of the new campus at Arugul has been approved for 10,000 students, 1000 faculty and 1100 supporting staff and the total construction should be completed in 3-phases in next 12-15 years. The Ground Breaking Ceremony was organized on 14th August 2011. The work for land grading, road and other related construction have started. The Government of India has approved construction of 221,000 sq. meters of covered area in the 1st phase. Our consultant has completed the designing of 130,000 sq. meters of covered areas for various Schools, residential quarters, hostels and other service/administrative buildings for construction based on the availability of fund in the initial phase. Clearances for construction from various statutory bodies have been obtained. The tendering process for part of the construction is over and I am very happy to announce that CPWD has just started the construction of the hostel complex. Our consultant and CPWD are also ready for tendering for the remaining part of construction. The Institute plans to move to its permanent campus by the beginning of 2014.
Academics
Academic Schools We began our journey with a mission to promote a borderless academic environment with the concept of Schools, rather than Departments to enable and encourage the academic staff and students to work in an interdisciplinary environment. Initially the following five (5) schools were set up:
â— School of Basic Sciences (Bioscience, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics)
â— School of Electrical Sciences (Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Energy, Instrumentation, Learning Sciences)
â— School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management (Economics, English, Management, Psychology)
â— School of Infrastructure (Architecture, Civil Engineering, Town Planning, Traffic & Transportation Engineering Urban Design)
â— School of Mechanical Sciences (Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Naval Architecture)
The state of Odisha and neighborhood including the vast coastline is rich in mineral resources and biodiversity. The region is also adversely affected by flood, cyclone and other natural calamities. In view of this, the Institute has set up the following two (2) Schools:
â— School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences
â— School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
The Institute is also setting up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change on the Puri-Konark coast line. The following Schools are proposed to be set up in the second phase of expansion:
â— School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (Biochemical, Biomedical and Chemical)
â— School of Design and Creative Arts
Academic Activities
The Institute started its journey in 2008 with a total of 94 students in three (3) undergraduate programmes viz. Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, with an intake of 40 students in each programme. The Institute has introduced Ph. D. programme from 2009. From July 2012 we have started postgraduate (Joint M. Tech. – Ph. D.) programmes in Electronics & Communication Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Climate Science & Technology, Applied Geoscience and Materials Science & Engineering. The Institute is going to start Joint M. Sc. – Ph. D. program in Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics and Mathematics from the next academic session.
Currently the Institute has 571 students (B. Tech. 456; Preparatory 2; M. Tech. 41; Ph. D. 72), 70 full-time faculty members, 1 Chair Professor, 6 officers and 40 supporting staff.
It is heartening to note that the pioneer batch of undergraduate students who are receiving their degree today are all placed. Many of the students have received offer of admission/scholarships from prestigious universities abroad: Stanford University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Cornel University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Texas, Imperial College of London to name a few.
Research & Development
Activities: In-house, Sponsored, Consultancy Our faculty members, research scholars and undergraduate students have been actively pursuing research in varying areas. The Institute has received a number of sponsored projects from various funding agencies like DST, CSIR, DBT and DRDO and consultancy from industries worth more than Rupees 480 lakhs. The faculty members are also engaged in various consultancy activities. Project proposals worth more than Rupees 700 lakhs have been submitted.
IIT Bhubaneswar has been successful in its bid for the following UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) projects:
Joint Masters and Split-Site Ph. D. Programme: An Integrated Doctoral and Masters Programme with the University of Warwick – To develop an integrated suite of postgraduate joint degree programmes.
Thematic Partnerships Programme 1: UKIERI Thematic Partnership in Low Carbon Materials Technologies, Innovation and Application jointly with the University of Warwick – To enable the rapid and effective introduction of new steel and multi-material combinations, for new applications addressing the global imperative of carbon reduction.
Thematic Partnerships Programme 2: UKIERI Thematic Partnership jointly with the University of Southampton and National Oceanography Centre and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth – To establish the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar and Marine Campus on the Bay of Bengal.
I would like to highlight in brief the ongoing R&D activities in various Schools:
The School of Basic Sciences is a cluster of disciplines namely Bioscience, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. The School is carrying out research in the areas of multimetallic catalysis, organometallic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, coordination chemistry, synthesis of natural products and intermediates. The research work in biosciences is focused on understanding the structure and function of various proteins of eye lenses, leprosy, and tuberculosis. The research in high energy physics is focused on understanding fundamental particles and their interaction using theoretical tools such as string theory, and experimental setup in collaboration with CERN, Geneva. Specific areas include conformed field theory, pure spinor formalism of superstrings, super symmetry and black holes. A number of projects have been undertaken in the area of the plasmonics, photonics, ion-surface interactions, design and development of sensors, magnetic grids, energy storage devices and optoelectronic devices. Multidisciplinary work is underway in the area of nanomaterial-based device design, assembling and clustering. On-going research in mathematics includes complex dynamics and fractals, variational inequalities and complementary problems, queuing theory, mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, algebraic graph theory, neural network and artificial intelligence.
The major R & D activities of the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences includes monitoring, prediction and providing mitigation solutions for natural disasters with sound and precise observational network of meteorological, oceanographic, geological and geophysical instruments combined with data-assimilative modeling in a multi-institutional framework and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), thereby becoming a hub of such activities on the east coast of India with an international presence. The thrust areas are: Climate Modeling, Modeling of extreme events, Cloud Physics, Numerical Weather Prediction, Natural Resources-exploration and utilization, Climate Change and its Effects, Biological Oceanography, Application of the Space Technology for the Study of the Earth System Science, Soil Water Interactions, Waste Utilization, and Pollutant Pathways.
The research activities in the School of Electrical Sciences includes the following: Antenna Design, Smart Antenna Techniques for MIMO Systems, Radio Frequency Identification System Design & Application, Non-Destructive Testing Methods, Digital Signal Processing, Speech & Real Time Interactive-Audio Processing, Active Noise Control, Cognitive Radio, Sensor Networks, Intelligent Instrumentation, OptoElectronic Devices, Long-haul Optical Communication System Design, Optical Sensor, Communication & Wireless Communication System Modeling & Design, Semiconductor Material & Device Characterization, Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Devices, MMICS, Decoupling & Robust Control, Periodic Feedback Control, Power Quality Analysis, Custom Power Devices, Renewable Energy Sources, Application of SoftComputing Techniques to Power Systems, Intelligent Protection to Transmission Systems-Facts, Micro & Smart Grids, Distributed Generation & Dynamic Security Assessment in Large Power Network, Structural Health, Integrity Analysis & Monitoring (SHIM).
The School of Humanities, Social Science & Management is pursuing research in the areas of Environmental Economics, Natural Resources Economics, Macroeconomics, Development, Economics & Rural Development, Indian Writing in English, Post-Colonial Literature, Travel Writing, Business Communication, American Literature, Canadian Literature, ELT, Cross Cultural Communication, Autobiography, Consumer Behaviour, Cyber Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Psycholinguistics, Psychology of Personality, Marketing.
The present research in the School of Infrastructure are in the thrust areas of Concrete Technology, Earthquake Engineering, Traffic Flow Modeling, Travel Demand Modeling, Travel Behaviour Analysis, Transportation System Planning & Policy Address, Energy Geotechnology, Soil-Structure Interaction, Fluvial Hydraulics, Waste Water Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Study of Unsaturated Soils Behavior.
The School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering is actively pursuing research in the areas of Solidification Processing, Metal Matrix Composites, Ti-Based Alloy, Automotive Applications, In-situ Metal Matrix Composites, Semi-solid Processing, StructureProperty-Processing Correlations in Metals, High Cycle Fatigue and Fracture in Metals, Friction Stir Welding/Processing, Modeling & Simulation, Structural & Magnetic Frustration of Materials, Synchrotron and Neutron diffraction, 3-D Atom probe (LEAP), Metallic Glasses, Process Modeling & Study of Diffusion in Solids.
The School of Mechanical Sciences conducts R&D activities in the following areas: Computer-Aided Design & Manufacturing, Robotics & Controls, IC Engines, Multi-Phase Flow, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Conjugate Heat Transfer, High Reynolds Number Turbulence, Optical Flow Diagnostics, Turbulence Modeling & Simulation and Acoustics, Composite Materials, Sandwich Structures, Fracture Mechanics, Material Science, Green Supply Chain Management.
Publications
Within 3 years of existence in the city of Bhubaneswar, the faculty members and students have contributed to creating new knowledge by publishing 230 original research papers in National and International Journals of repute, and 20 books/book-chapters. Besides, 128 papers have been presented in various National and International Conferences in India and abroad. Our undergraduate students have also made technical presentations in conferences, nationally and internationally.
Endowment
Industries have come forward to join us in developing this new IIT. The MGM Minerals Group has established a perpetual “MGM Chair Professorship” in the School of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with an endowment of Rs 300 lakhs. In addition the MGM Minerals Group has instituted two awards for best B. Tech. theses (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) in memory of Tejaswi and Dinesh, two budding students of our Institute, whom we lost in a tragic train accident in March 2011.
October 10th, 2012
Following is from a PTI report in zeenews.
The proposed innovation universities in the country would be supported by research councils, which would not only identify potential areas of research but also extend advisory services in other areas.
Every university for research and innovation will have such a council headed by a director. These varsities shall present its report annually highlighting its achievements on their website.
The proposed innovation universities, a Bill of which was introduced in Parliament last week, are to be set up during the 12th Plan Period.
The hallmark of the legislation is that each university would focus on one area or problem of significance to India and build an eco-system of research and training around different related disciplines.
In keeping with this objective, each of the council of the university concerned shall interface with research funding organisations, industry and civil society to identify potential areas for research in areas of enterprise.
Besides, the council will assist the teachers in obtaining funding from external sources for research projects prepared by them, according to the provisions of the Universities for Research and Innovation Bill, 2012.
The Bill seeks to set up the universities both in the public as well as the private sectors.
As per the provisions, each of these universities would offer exposure to an international classroom environment, with a minimum of 50 per cent of the students from India.
Each of the research council will be headed by a director and members, the strength of which would be specified by the board of governors of the university concerned.
The council will also provide for incubation of applications emerging from research undertaken in such university.
Importantly, it shall make provisions for research and advisory service for which it would enter into agreement with other institutes, industry, civil society and other organisations and enable the results and benefits of research to be disseminated to the public.
According to the Bill, the research council shall present its annual output on its website three years after the establishment of the university and each year thereafter.
Each of the university would have autonomy in matters of academics, faculty, personnel and finances administration.
May 28th, 2012
Following is an excerpt from an article in Telegraph.
Official sources said nine private agencies have submitted an expression of interest for the ambitious project that would be undertaken in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
According to the proposal, setting up the institute involves an expenditure of Rs 128 crore of which Rs 54 crore will be provided by the Centre. The state government will invest Rs 45 crore and the remaining amount will be contributed by the private agency that takes up the project. The institute will come up on 50 acres allocated by the state government free of cost.
Commissioner-cum-secretary of the state information technology department Pradeep Kumar Jena said the proposal would be sent to the Centre after a private partner for the venture was finalised.
“The location (of the institute) will be decided by the private concern,” said Jena. He said the aim of the institute would be to provide state-of-the-art facilities to produce professionals in the field of information technology.
Since the state is putting 45 crores and giving 50 acres free land, it should pick the private entity that agrees to the earlier announced location of Berhampur.
February 8th, 2012
The column is at http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120123/jsp/odisha/story_15040583.jsp. Thank you Telegraph publishing this and Priya and Bibhuti for making it happen and encouraging me.
Some indentations are missing in the column. So my original submission is given below. I appeal to the readers to write to the CM and Chief Secretary at cmo@ori.nic.in and csori@ori.nic.in respectively and urge them to at least take teh actions mentioned in the article below. In this regard, note that the way Nalanda International University happened is that the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar pushed it with the PM as well as stalwarts like Amartya Sen. The Odisha government (namely the CM and CS) need to take similar steps.
While most people in Odisha have read in their history text books about Nalanda as an ancient center of higher learning and know about Bodhgaya as a Buddhist site where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment , very few of us know about the Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udayagiri in the Jajpur district of Odisha and even fewer have visited them; many confuse the Buddhist site of Udayagiri in Jajpur district with the Khandagiri-Udayagiri in Bhubaneswar.
This is somewhat unfortunate as top researchers in Archaeology and art history have compared Ratnagiri with Nalanda and Bodhgaya and such comparisons have been reported in books and articles written in India and abroad.
The three sites of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri are identified as the sites of the ancient Ratnagiri Mahavihara, Madhavpur Mahavihara and Chandraditya Vihara and the proceedings of the 1998 Indian Art History Congress makes a mention of this.
Debala Mitra, the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India during 1975-1983, who explored and excavated several Buddhist sites in India, and wrote many books on various archaeological sites in India, wrote a two volume book on Ratnagiri and another book titled“Buddhist monuments of India” . In the latter book she compares Ratnagiri with Nalanda and says the following.
… Recent excavations of the top of the hillock brought to light imposing remains of one of the most important Buddhist establishments, reclaimed as Ratnagiri-mahavihara (and not Pushpagiri-viahara as presumed by some) on the basis of a number of sealings bearing the legend S’ri-Ratnagiri-mahavihariy-aryabikshu-sanghasya. With its nucleus dating atleast from about the fifth century A.D., the establishment witnessed a phenomenal growth in religion, art and architecture till the twelfth century A.D. It played a significant role in disseminating Buddhist culture and religion forming itself, like Nalanda, an important religious and philosophical academy, to which flocked the entrants and scholars to take lessons from the intellectual stalwarts of Buddhism.
She backs up her claims with multitude of evidence including references to Tibetan literature such as:
Taranatha in his History of Buddhism in India (completed in A.D. 1608) says that a vihara, called Ratnagiri, was built on the crest of a mountain in the kingdom of Odivisa (Orissa) in the reign of Buddhapaksha (identified with the Gupta Emperor Narasinghagupta Baladitya of the Gupta dynasty by N. Dutt), an in this vihara were kept three sets of Mahayana and Hinayana sastras, etc., and there were eight great groups of dharma (religious schools?) and five hundred monks. According to the Pag Sam Jon Zang (completed in A.D. 1747), Acharya Bitoba went through magic to Sambhala where he obtained the Kalachakra-tantra, brought it to Ratnagiri and explained the doctrine to Abodhutipa, Bodhisri, and Naropa. This and other Tibetan references indicate that Ratnagiri was a renowned center, noted for the spiritual inspiration and lively pursuit of the Kalachakra-tantra in the latter part of the tenth century A.D.
Addressing some concerns by researchers she says:
The veracity of these late Tibetan works, which is often questioned, is amply borne out by the excavated remains which are spectacular even in their ruins. The excavation laid bare the remains of an imposing stupa (Main Stupa), rebuilt at least once, two magnificent qudrangular monasteries (Monasteries 1 and 2), also rebuilt at least once, a single-winger monastery, eight temples, a large number of stupas, sculptures and architectural pieces, objects of daily use and hundreds of other evidences of what life was like in these sumptuous monasteries. Indeed, excavations have revealed that here was an establishment that can be compared with that of Nalanda. In the overwhelming number of portable monolithic stupas Ratnagiri can compete even with Bodh-Gaya. … The number of these antiquities is an adequate index of the profound popularity and sanctity of this center in the Buddhist world.
All of the above are elaborated in her book on Ratnagiri where she says the following regarding Monastery 1 being the finest such structure unearthed in India.
Notwithstanding its normal monastic plan, it is a singular structural monument not only for its impressive size and symmetrical planning but for the rich but balanced surface-treatment of the front porch and the façade of the shrine. Not a single monastery of Nalanda, which has yielded so far the largest number of spectacular structural monasteries , can compete with this one in respect of embellishment. … Indeed, the monastery is the finest structural one so far unearthed in India.
Although Debala Mitra’s books have the most detailed references and arguments regarding the important of Ratnagiri vis-à-vis Nalanda and Bodhgaya, a search (of Ratnagiri and Nalanda) in http://books.google.com shows that her views are agreed upon and propagated in books and articles published around the globe.
I corresponded and personally met Prof. Thomas Donaldson of Cleveland who has written many books on art history of Odisha and India. In one of his emails to me he wrote:
As you know Ratnagiri was a rival to Nalanda as a site of Buddhist learning and some later Tibetan texts even ascribe the origin of Mahayana and Tantrayana to Ratnagiri. Collectively the three closely situated sites certainly compare artistically to the site of Nalanda.
From the above it is quite evident that Ratnagiri in Odisha, by itself is a site that is comparable to Nalanda and Bodh Gaya in many aspects and together with the nearby Lalitgiri and Udayagiri they form a triangle of an unparalleled Buddhist complex in India. Unfortunately, this is not much known to people in Odisha, let alone outside Odisha. Although the Odisha government has been trying to create a tourist circuit around these sites, it is yet to bear fruit.
In that regard we suggest the following:
(i) The Odisha government create a major tourist campaign using some of the above mentioned quotes in huge hoardings in places such as Bhuaneswar airport, station, and major tourist sites and offices in Odisha and India.
(ii) The Odisha government pursue the imemdiate establishment of a centrally funded Indian Institute of Arcaheology and Art History located near these sites to produce adequate number of trained manpower to expedite the excavations in Udayagiri and recently discovered nearby sites such as the Langudi hills site.
In addition it should help in the recent effort to establish a Ratnagiri-Puspagiri International University as a revival of the Ratnagiri and Puspagiri Mahaviharas along the lines of the recently revived Nalanda International University; Puspagiri being the Mahavihara mentioned in Hiuen Tsang’s Si-yu-ki and thought by many to represent a subset of Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udayagiri; but is yet to substantiated by archaeological evidence.
Last December, I had a chance to discuss the above compilations of quotes with Utkal University professors of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Art History & Archaeology and also with the Culture and Tourism Secretary. Although I was not able to discuss this with the CM or CS, I hope the above points will be forwarded to them and they will quickly take some necessary actions. Additional details on this is available at http://www.facebook.com/puspagiri .
January 23rd, 2012
Our first posting in this site was on November 28th, 2006. It is at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/7. It was about a central university in KBK. We succeeded in our mission and a central university in KBK was announced in March 2008, and it has now been established in Koraput district.
Earlier this year (On May 22nd 2011) I wrote to the planning commission to establish a central agricultural university in Odisha as part of the 12th plan. Following are excerpts of my mail.
I propose that the 12th plan staring from 2012 include several Central Agricultural Universities in backward district clusters of India that have potential for agriculture.
Sirs and and Madams: One of the biggest achievement of the 11th plan was that the new institutions (16 central universities, 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, proposed 20 new IIITs, proposed 14 innovation universities) were located across India, in states ruled by UPA, in states not ruled by UPA, and so on. It was an inclusive distribution and less driven by political connections.
I request that similar distribution be made with respect to the institutions that are proposed for the 12th plan, starting with several central agricultural universities with various colleges (Agriculture, Horticulture, Veterinary, etc.).
The initial wave of creation of agricultural universities across India (in the 1960s) were an important factor in the initial Green revolution of India. However, as has been noted in the last two budgets (2010-11 and 2011-12) there is a need for another such revolution, especially taking into account factors such as (i) further mechanization (ii) urbanization (iii) looking east and (iv) developing backward and tribal areas.
In the 2010-11 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2010-11/bs/speecha.htm ) the Finance Minister had said the following:
44. The agriculture sector occupies centre-stage in our resolve to promote inclusive growth, enhance rural incomes and sustain food security. To spur the growth in this sector, the Government intends to follow a four-pronged strategy covering (a) agricultural production; (b) reduction in wastage of produce;
(c) credit support to farmers; and (d) a thrust to the food processing sector.
45. The first element of the strategy is to extend the green revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and Orissa,…
In the 2011-12 budget speech ( http://indiabudget.nic.in/bspeecha.asp ) he said the following:
Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern Region
52. The Green Revolution in Eastern Region is waiting to happen. To realize the potential of the region, last year’s initiative will be continued in 2011-12 with a further allocation of `400 crore. The program would target the improvement in the rice based cropping system of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
.
Both speech say the green revolution needs to be extended to the eastern region. The allocation of a total of 400 crores to 7 states is miniscule for the purpose and does very little.
Hence, I request that this aspect of extending the green revolution to the eastern region be taken seriously and in the 12th plan Central Agricultural Universities be established in appropriate locations in these states and some of the other states of the country.
Somewhat of a start in this direction has been made via the allocation of 30 crores for a Central Agricultural University in Bundelkhand in the 2011-12 budget.
It was reported by the press that Mr. Rahul Gandhi lobbied for this.
I would like to thank him for his vision and initiative and humbly request the planning commission that they need to also think of the other backward areas of the country.
Taking all the above into account, it would be a win-win to include the establishment of several Central Agricultural Universities in the country located in backward districts with agriculture potential. The win-win aspects are:
(i) They will help higher education and GER, but will not stress the MHRD budget or its management. The majority of the funding could come from the Ministry of Agriculture with some required contributions from the state governments.
(ii) They will help bring in a new green revolution in some areas and extend the green revolution to the eastern region.
(iii) Since there have not been many new agricultural universities across the country, it will be comparatively easier to recruit faculty for these new institutions.
(iv) By locating them in the backward district clusters, they will bring Bharat and India closer.
I had sent copies of my mail to the MPs of Odisha as well as the Chief Minister’s officer. I talked to the secretary of agriculture Ranglal Jamunda by email at agrsec.or@nic.in as well as by phone and urged him that the Odisha government must push for a central agricultural university in Odisha, especially in the KBK regions (in particular, Kalahandi, as Kalahandi is known to be one of the rice bowl of Odisha; and Kalahandi was skipped over when deciding on the location of the central university in Koraput).
My emails and phone calls has had no visible impact on Odisha government, Odisha officials or Odisha MPs as so far I have not read any news regarding Odisha pursuing a central agricultural university. However, the news of the West Bengal government pursuing a central agricultural university came out after a few days of my writing to the planning commission. It is possible that may mail to the planning commission somehow got forwarded to the right people in West Bengal or it may just be a pure coincidence. Following is from a Telegraph article on 13th July 2011.
I think there is still time to pursue to get this included in the 12th plan. I request all readers to write to the Chief Minister’s office at cmo@ori.nic.in regarding this.
Sincerely,
Chitta Baral
November 29th, 2011
The various reports are at http://www.innovationcouncil.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=10. The following excerpts are from the report at http://www.innovationcouncil.gov.in/images/stories/reportpeople/report%20to%20the%20people-full-report.pdf.
NInC is focused on encouraging and facilitating the creation of an Indian Model of Innovation by looking at five key parameters: Platform, Inclusion, Eco-system, Drivers and Discourse. The aim is to re-define innovations to go beyond formal R&D parameters and look at innovation as a broader concept that breaks sectoral silos and moves beyond a high-tech, product-based approach to include organisational, process and service innovation. The core idea is to innovate to produce affordable and qualitative solutions that address the needs of people at the Bottom of the Pyramid, eliminate disparity and focus on an inclusive growth model.
… Some key initiatives that NInC has focused on in the past year include: (a) Developing a framework to finance innovation for the Bottom of the Pyramid through the creation of an India Inclusive Innovation Fund; (b) Creating an eco-system for seeding innovations in regional industry with a focus on MSMEs, by facilitating the creation of Industry Innovation Clusters to drive job creation and productivity; (c) Leveraging our demographic dividend for innovation by creating a connected India through the spread of rural broadband in two years time to all 250,000 panchayats; (d) Nurturing innovation in the education system through action in schools and colleges by intervening in curriculum, talent-spotting of innovators among students and award of Innovation Fellowships, creation of a Meta University, as a global first, that rides on the National Knowledge Network to promote multi-disciplinary learning, facilitating the creation of innovation ecosystems at Universities through University Innovation Clusters; (e) Promoting an innovation culture through action in areas of communication and advocacy through an Innovation Portal and working through mass media organisations; (f) Creating an institutional framework for innovations in Government by facilitating the setting up of State Innovation Councils in each State, and Sectoral Innovation Councils aligned to Union Government Ministries; (g) Promotion of projects that create an innovation dividend like the setting up of a Rabindranath Tagore Knowledge City in Kolkata, setting up twenty Innovation Design Centres co-located in existing institutes; (h) Setting challenges for the Indian imagination to come up with solutions, especially those that relate to inclusive innovation; (i) Promoting co-creation and sharing of knowledge through Global Knowledge Partnerships, beginning with a Global Roundtable on Innovations for sharing ideas.
…
Developing an India Inclusive Innovation Fund
To promote inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship focusing on the needs of people in the lower echelons of society, an India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) was conceptualised, detailed and is currently under discussion with the Ministry of Finance and leaders of industry. The Fund seeks to promote enterprises engaged in developing solutions in key areas such as health, education, agriculture, handloom, handicrafts and other small business enterprises. The Fund will combine commercial and social returns. The Fund will be capitalised to an eventual target size of Rs 5000 crores to be achieved in phases. It will be kick-started with seed investment from the Government and bilateral/ multilateral institutions and go to scale with private capital. The Fund will be an autonomous, professionally managed entity with a social investment focus.
PROGRESS
The idea of the IIIF has been proposed to the Ministry of Finance and its initial contribution will kick start the Fund in the fiscal year 2012-13.
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Nurturing Innovation through Education
To promote creativity and nurture innovations NInC has so far made six proposals to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). These include five proposals made in May 2011 and one in September 2011.
(a) Creation of a separate scholarship stream of National Innovation Scholarships analogous to the National Talent Search Scheme. This will help identify talented children at the school level who think creatively, laterally and innovatively on issues that they perceive as important in their local environment. It is expected to have a multiplier effect of valuing creativity and innovation by parents, teachers and the learning system.
(b) Setting up an Innovation Centre in each DIET (District Institute of Education and Training) to enhance teacher training and enable them to become facilitators of creativity and innovative thinking. This could be done by tapping local creative talent on part-time basis into DIETs.
(c) Mapping of Local History, Ecology and Cultural Heritage by each High School in the country to create critical thinking on their local environment by students.
(d) Creation of a National Innovation Promotion Service to replace/add to National Service Scheme in Colleges to use college students to identify local innovations. This is a scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which along with Ministry of HRD has been requested to examine its feasibility.
(e) Setting up a Meta University, as a redefinition of the university model in the 21st century by leveraging India’s National Knowledge Network to enable multi-disciplinary learning and collaborative knowledge creation.
(f) Setting up twenty Design Innovation Centres co-located in Institutes of National Importance. It has been proposed to set up these Design Innovation Centres in twenty select institutions and included in the 12th Plan for consideration by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Co-location in campuses of national repute like IITs/NITs will help leveraging of academic and industry resources and give a boost to design capacity in the country.
(g) Setting up a pilot University Innovation Cluster. NInC proposes to identify and facilitate the development of 20 University Innovation Clusters across the country where innovation would be seeded through Cluster Innovation Centres.The CIC will provide a platform for the university and its partners to forge linkages between various stakeholders from industry and academia, initiate and assist innovation activities, encourage innovations in curricula and act as a catalyst and facilitator. It will also work closely with other industry clusters in its region. An initial pilot with University of Delhi has commenced and received overwhelming response from the student community.
PROGRESS
Ministry of Human Resource Development has green—lighted the following three proposals:
(a) Award of 1000 Innovation Fellowships at the School Level (Classes 9-12)
(b) Introducing the Mapping of Local History, Local Ecology and Local Culture and Heritage by all High Schools
(c) Setting up the first Meta University of the world for multi-disciplinary learning and collaborative learning All these three proposals will roll out in academic year 2012-13. Other proposals are also under consultation with Ministry of HRD.
(d) University of Delhi has set up a University Innovation Cluster as a pilot which has been widely welcomed
The 12th Five Year Plan will include all approved proposals. Most, except the proposal on Design Innovation Centres, can be done under existing policies and schemes by appropriate modifications.
…
Some of the key initiatives taken up by the National Innovation Council in its first year to nurture innovations through education are given below.
(a) Creation of a separate scholarship stream for National Innovation Scholarships analogous to the National Talent Search Scheme To complement the government’s National Talent Search Scheme, the NInC has proposed the introduction of a parallel stream of National Innovation Scholarships to be administered by NCERT and conducted through the decentralised management system it has put in place.This will help identify talented children at the High School and Secondary School level (Classes 9-12) who think creatively, laterally and innovatively on issues that they perceive as important. It will have a multiplier effect of valuing creativity and innovation by parents and teachers and will gradually evolve into a culture of valuing innovation in the schooling system. It is proposed that 1000 scholarships be considered for awarding each year under this scheme with 50% earmarked for innovations by students in schools located in non-urban areas and at least 33% earmarked for children from the field of liberal arts.
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(e) Setting up a Meta University as a Global First to promote collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning using the National Knowledge Network
India pioneered the idea of the university with Nalanda and Taxila to explore a life of the mind and undertake an exploration of ideas.Today India is poised to reinvent the university of the 21st century as a new adventure of cross-cutting ideas facilitated by technology. In doing so it seeks to position the university as a cradle of innovation.The National Knowledge Network connecting India’s major knowledge institutions is already in place and provides a platform to facilitate this endeavour, further the fact that most of these major knowledge institutions in India are part of a public system, makes collaborative effort easier. Technology offers unprecedented opportunities to “disrupt the classroom” as traditionally understood, provide for individualised and customised learning and radically alter pedagogic systems to move towards collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning.
Seizing these new opportunities and leveraging the platform of the National Knowledge Network, the National Innovation Council has put forward a proposal to create the first global Meta University. The idea of a Meta University was first conceptualised by Charles Vest and later developed by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams as a Global Network of Higher Learning to be realised in several stages.The basic idea of a Meta University as a collaborative platform where a network of Universities offers students a customised learning experience is eminently applicable in the Indian context.
The National Knowledge Network (NKN) initiated by the National Knowledge Commission, is already being implemented to connect all our universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, hospitals and agricultural institutions across the country with a high speed (multi gigabit) fibre based, broadband network. The NKN by networking all knowledge institutions and providing them with high speed connectivity aims to facilitate flow of information and create a platform for collaboration between researchers, academic faculty and students from diverse backgrounds and geographies. In addition, the Ministry of HRD aims to eventually provide connectivity to colleges and schools as well as support content creation through its initiatives. Further, the proposed Universities for Innovation Bill recognises flexibility as its DNA to facilitate innovation.Thus India provides unique opportunities for innovating with this idea of a ‘Meta University’ given the enormous unmet demand for high quality education in an environment of limited resources and the availability of a dedicated national network. It will enable the breaking down of silos of academic disciplines and help students to gain multi-disciplinary understanding to be able to create more “rounded” intellectuals for society.
The Meta University riding on the NKN envisages a collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning platform, where students enrolled in a primary college/university will be able to take courses available in other universities and colleges. With the help of Mentors, students will therefore be allowed to customise their learning experience and select options from a wide menu of choices, leveraging the specialisation of individual institutions. So it will be possible for an engineering student from, say IIT Kanpur to also enrol for a course in ancient history from the Jawaharlal Nehru University or a mathematics student from Indian Institute of Science pursue a course in comparative literature from the Jadavpur University.
The Meta University will reinterpret the concept of a University as not just a traditional, physical space of learning, but as a repository of knowledge and information that can be delivered in multiple ways, and can be accessed from anywhere and anytime. It will seek to enhance the learning experience through new and innovative delivery models of education that allow students and institutions to collaborate in unprecedented ways.
This model is low-cost, requires no brick-and-mortar, leapfrogs over conventional bottlenecks of non-availability of a talented faculty pool, and works within existing legal systems. It innovates on both the content and form of the twenty-first Century University and offers a unique model for the proposed fourteen Universities of Innovation mooted in India. It is hoped that this would become a model for the world to emulate to move towards collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning that redefines knowledge-creation and knowledge-sharing in the twenty-first century.
Though the internet and technology are fundamental to this conception of the Meta University, at the crux is not a new technology but a ‘new pedagogy’ that is more in tune with the requirements of the knowledge society of the twenty-first century. In such an environment there is a greater focus on moving from the chalk and talk model with the teacher at the centre, to a learner-centric, collaborative model that allows continuous learning from the environment.The web/internet therefore provides both a platform for communication and collaborations as well as a source of content.
The learning platform of the Meta University will incorporate these principles of collaborative and multi-disciplinary knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, openness and flexibility in its design. It will in effect be a test bed for experimenting with a new model of teaching and learning that may show the way for a new education model for the future.The detailed design of the Meta University will be undertaken by a core group of academics, heads of institutions and experts who would constitute the Board of Governors of this new Meta University. The National Innovation Council is working closely with government departments concerned and other stakeholders to implement these initiatives at the earliest.
(f) Setting up of 20 Design Innovation Centres by co-locating them with Institutes of National Importance Design is a key element of the innovation process and will be critical for driving innovation in the new knowledge economy. Design-driven innovations can ensure sustainable competitive edge, enhance industrial productivity and also address crucial challenges by harnessing design thinking for needs-based solutions. Design thinking is especially important for solving key problems because it works with a different set of processes: repeatedly reframing the problem, engaging with stakeholders, prototyping and testing solutions, exploring alternatives, visioning scenarios and so on.
In the last fifty years the world has seen dramatic changes and design has also transformed significantly along the way. Design and Design thinking are increasingly about building in capabilities that empower and enable people to use these resources, with quality of life and environment as the guiding principles, not just economic factors which are also important. However, we as a nation do not have enough state-of-the-art design institutes to enhance our innovation capabilities.The major bottleneck in clearance of setting up of Design Institutes across the country is availability of land, as well as access with an ambience conducive to professional education and trained and talented faculty. One such campus needs a minimum of 30 acres of land for construction of about 20,000 sq meter area of class rooms, studios, hostels, offices, faculty residences etc.
In this context, NInC has suggested a model of setting up Design Innovation Centres in twenty select locations to be included in the 12th Plan for consideration by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.These could be through co-location in campuses of national repute to ensure maximum convergence, optimum utilisation of existing resources and infrastructure, and to leverage a context of academia-industry interaction. These centres could be located in IITs, new IITs where there is industry presence, the NITs, and select Technical and Liberal Arts Universities. Co-location will address issues of availability of land and faculty, save costs, enable horizontal transfer of knowledge, as well as offer a ready talent pool to enable timely execution of this initiative. Also, co-locating these schools in institutes beyond IITs would also ensure that emphasis of design education is not on engineering and technology oriented product design alone, but could extend to other faculties/disciplines related to eco-friendly and green design for products and services, service design, communication design, systems design etc. broadly integrating design intervention in different sectors supporting economic growth and increasing employment opportunities. Further, existing National Institutes of Design could play a mentoring role to these centres given their expertise in the field.The aim is to make these Innovation Design Centres/Schools state-of-the-art institutions to enhance the innovation quotient in the country and foster a design culture.
Out of the above, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has green-lighted the following proposals: Award of 1000 innovation fellowships at the school level; Mapping of local history, local ecology and local culture and heritage by high school students; Setting up the first Meta University of the world for multi-disciplinary learning.
(g) Creation of Cluster Innovation Centres (CICs) at Universities
Over the years universities in India have become increasingly focused on their teaching function, imparting and disseminating knowledge and training to a large number of students.With a few notable exceptions research by and large has moved out of academic institutions to stand alone research centres and laboratories. Further, university linkages with industry and society have at best been weak and under developed. As a result, our Universities have not been at the vanguard of innovations that solve real world problems and result in creation of products and processes that boost the economy and help the common man. While far reaching systemic reforms in higher education are required and the government is committed to them, one significant way to revitalise the university system in the context of innovation is to strengthen its linkages with industry and society.
Recognising that educational institutions must be at the centre of the innovation process, in the last decade or so renewed efforts have been made by various stakeholders to promote innovations and entrepreneurship in our educational institutions. The Government has taken up various initiatives like setting up Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres (IEDC) in educational institutions, Science & Technology Entrepreneur Parks, and Technology Business Incubators, in order to promote knowledge based and innovation driven enterprises. Other initiatives include creating better incentive structures to reward innovations, encouraging young talent through scholarships, making available risk/venture capital and other necessary ingredients to strengthen the institutional capacity for innovation in the country.
In order to strengthen these efforts and to make Universities hubs of innovation the National Innovation Council seeks to create Cluster Innovation Centres (CIC) at Universities with an aim to foster an ecosystem of innovation, and connect research with application for the benefit of society. The CIC will provide a platform for the university and its partners to forge linkages between various stakeholders from industry and academia, initiate and assist innovation activities, encourage innovations in curricula and act as a catalyst and facilitator. It will also work closely with other industry clusters in its region. The CIC will provide a range of services and facilities, starting from evaluating an idea for its innovation potential, advice on technical and commercial viability, advice on IPR issues, guidance on relevant schemes and grants, helping innovators find partners and collaborators including funding, business development and finally taking the products and processes to end users.The CIC will have an appropriate institutional structure to enable it to undertake a range of functions, and a lean management team with expertise in guiding stakeholders in innovation management.
The NInC aims to catalyse the creation of at least 20 such Cluster Innovation Centres at Universities and provide support for the clusters to bear fruit and sustain.The NInC is currently working with a few select academic institutions to showcase the potential of Cluster Innovation Centres and will scale up this activity to a larger number of educational institutions in the coming year.
November 18th, 2011
The website of this summit is http://www.ficci.com/past-Events-page.asp?evid=20665. Following are excerpts from the press release on Dr. Montek Ahluwalia’s speech.
Inaugurating FICCI Higher Education Summit 2011: Strategies for Expansion in Higher Education in India’, Mr. Ahluwalia said, “The challenge before planners, policy makers and educationists, both in the public and private sector, was of producing world class Indian universities that could be counted in the top 200 rating list.” In the next 20 years we must see a significant number of educational institutions in that category, he declared.
Mr. Ahulwalia also underlined the need to lend an international flavour to Indian universities by inducting international faculty. This would not happen unless the government removes the restriction on employment of international faculty, he said.
For higher education, the 12th Plan objective was expansion, equality of access and excellence. The aim was to raise the gross enrolment ration from the current level of 15 per cent to 30 per cent over the next 15 years. “Expansion of higher education has to be balanced with equality of access, especially for those living in areas where educational institutes did not exist,” he said.
Following are excerpts from the press release on Sam Pitroda’s speech.
Addressing the FICCI Higher Education Summit 2011, Mr. Pitroda said, “Higher education reforms are essential if the nation is to meet the serious challenge of skill shortage that will not allow the economy to grow at 8-10 per cent annually. While many of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission are in the process of being implemented, we are waiting for the government to act on the recommendations retailing to reform of higher education.”
“The debate on what needs to be done ought to be over, the time now is to focus on action,” he said and added that “the Bills have already been drafted but none of them have been tabled in or passed by Parliament.”
Mr. Pitroda’s concern found an echo in FICCI President, Mr. Harsh Mariwala’s suggestion that although education continues to be a priority sector during the Twelfth Plan, unless the reform agenda initiated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the 11th Plan is carried forward within a stringent timeframe, the demographic dividend of a young population could become a demographic disaster for India as well as the world.
Mr. Mariwala hoped that the Foreign Education Providers’ Bill; Unfair Practices Bill; Tribunal Bill and the Accreditation Bill will be passed in the coming winter session of the Parliament and the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) Bill 2010 and Innovation University Bill will be introduced in the winter session of the Parliament. The delay in implementation of the reforms is a serious impediment for the economic development of the country, he said and added that FICCI earnestly urges the political leadership to take cognizance of this fact.
Mr. Pitroda said that the government was creating a US$ 5 billion National Knowledge Network (NKN) which is expected to be ready in about nine months. The network would be a state-of-the-art multi- gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high speed network backbone for all knowledge related institutions in the country. It would facilitate the building of quality institutions with requisite research facilities and creating a pool of highly trained professionals. The NKN will enable scientists, researchers and students from different backgrounds and diverse geographies to work closely for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas.
Following are excerpts from a report in Chronicle of Higher Education.
Mr. Sibal has said that private participation in higher education must be encouraged, and conference attendees agreed that if the government hopes to reach its goal of sending 30 percent of young people to college, both private and public participation are needed. The challenge, as always, is in weeding out the low-quality operators.
"The public perception of private higher education is in a range," said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, head of India’s Planning Commission, a top government policy-making body. "Many are good, but there is a problem of those not-very-good ones."
Mr. Ahluwalia argued that supply and demand will eventually eliminate the bad actors, but others disagreed.
"It will be difficult to weed them out," said M. Anandakrishnan, head of the Indian Institute of Technology’s Kanpur branch. Because there is more demand than supply, he said, it will take time for stakeholders to make discerning choices.
Another delegate, Sachi Hatakenaka, a British-based education researcher, argued that "private sector growth is good for quantity but not for quality."
… Still, said Mr. Agarwal, the next round of government higher-education planning will focus more on expanding capacity at existing institutions rather than adding new universities.
Some private players were hopeful that the government will look to the private sector more as an ally than an adversary in coming years.
November 16th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
… the debate over Pujari’s brainchild SU Institute of Information Technology (SUIIT) has divided faculty in the varsity and educationists in the region.
While a section of them term the less than two-year old institute as the biggest success story for the varsity, others dismiss it as the culprit ruining traditional departments.
…Sadhu Charan Panda, former VC of Utkal University of Culture and a former faculty member of SU said SUIIT is the best thing that has happened to the university and to Sambalpur region to be relevant with the changing time and technology. "In less than two years of its existence, it has already attracted state-wide attention," he said.
Panda cautioned that an institutional mechanism should be put in place so that SUIIT continues to excel.
Established in 2010 as an autonomous constituent of SU, the institute imparting MCA, BTech, MTech and MSc in computer science, MSc (electronics) and MSc (bioinformatics) has proved to be a sought after institute in the region. Students from the institutes have got lucrative paid summer internships while several software companies have shown interest to come for campus recruitments, sources said. "Such a thing was an unheard of possibility for the varsity a year ago," pointed out a varsity teacher.
While the state government had given an initial budget of Rs 10 crore in 2009-10 for the institute, Rs 5 crore from Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education (DDCE) was given to it for construction of its buildings inside the varsity.
Not all are convinced with the "rare success story" eulogy for SUIIT. "Most of the courses being offered by the SUIIT were pulled out from different existing departments. It was not a new thing," said Prof B K Tripathy, senior-most professor in the university.
Electronics was taken out of physics department, computer science from mathematics while bioinformatics was pulled out from life sciences department.
These courses were already offered by the varsity, Prof Tripathy said, adding whether the consolidation has done wonders will be known after the first batch comes out of SUIIT next year.
With the varsity administration concentrating solely on SUIIT, other departments were suffering, said a teacher, adding "the varsity is getting reduced to an engineering college." Some teachers and the students’ union have questioned the logic of starting B Tech in SU.
"Most engineering colleges are not getting students for B Tech and are on the verge of closure. The VSS University of Technology, three km away from SU, is offering such a course. There was no need to start it here," reasoned Karunakar Supkar, chancellor’s nominee in the Syndicate.
The students’ union has objected to undergraduate courses being offered in the varsity where all other courses are at the post-graduate level. "The varsity was exclusively for PG students. Starting an undergraduate course was diluting its character, which is unacceptable," said student union general secretary Asis Chand.
The people with the view in blue should checkout the top universities in the world and whether they have undergraduate programs or not.
In regards to the view in yellow, Prof. Karunakar Supkar should check the statistics of what percentage of students in VSSUT are from the Sambalpur area and what percentage of students in SUIIT are from the Sambalpur area. My guess is that there are very few Sambalpur area students in VSSUT while a much larger percentage of the students in SUIIT will be from the Sambalpur area.
In previous articles we have highlighted many of the achievements of Prof. Arun Pujari. If he is not allowed a second 3 year tenure at Sambalpur University, that would be a big loss for Sambalpur University and Sambalpur.
October 19th, 2011
Further updated on April 4, 2012.
Further updated on February 4, 2012. These updates are in pink.
Further updated on December 7, 2011. These updates are in red.
The following was compiled from http://www.iiit-bh.ac.in/faculty/faculty-list and http://www.iiit-bh.ac.in/downloads/AdmissionBrochure2011.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1 on September 23rd, 2011. (For an older list compiled in March 2011 see https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/6149.)
Computer Science:
- Dr. Gopal Krishna Nayak, B. Tech (IIT Kharagpur), PGDM (IIM Bangalore), Ph.D. (IIT Kharagpur), Professor & Director
- Mr. Ajit Kumar Das, B. Tech (IIT Kharagpur), M. Tech (UU), Ph.D. Continuing (UU), Professor & Dean
- Dr. Rakesh Chandra Balabantaray, M. Tech (UU), Ph. D. (UU), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Anjali Mohapatra, M. Tech. (UU), Ph. D. (UU), Assistant Professor
- Ms Puspanjali Mohapatra, M. Tech.(UU), MBA, Assistant Professor
- Dr. Debasish Jena, BE, M.Tech.(UU),Ph.D.(NIT, Rourkela), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Alok Chakrabarty , Ph.D. (Assam Univerisity), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Hemanta Kumar Pati , Ph.D. (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor
- Mr. Suvendu Rup ,B.E(UU) , M.Tech.(Jadavpur University), Ph.D. continuing (NIT Rourkela), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Sudarsan Padhy, Ph.D, Professor (Retired from Utkal University)
- Ms. Bharati Mishra, M.Tech, Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Sabyasachi Patra, M.Tech, Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Tushar Ranjan Sahoo, M.Tech (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor (NEW)
Mr. Muktikanta Sahu, M. Tech. (BPUT), Lecturer
- Dr. Shakti Ranjan Mohapatra, Ph.D, Visiting Faculty, from CITE Bhubaneswar
- Dr. Ajit Nayak, Ph.D, Visiting Faculty, from ITER, SOA University Bhubaneswar
Electrical Engineering:
- Ms. Usharani Rout, M. Tech.(BIT, Mesra), Assistant Professor
- Mr. Tapas Kumar Panigrahi , M. Tech.(Bengal Engineering College), Assistant Professor
- Ms. Umamani Subudhi , M.Tech.(UCE, Burla), Assistant Professor
- Mr. Debani Mishra, M.Tech (IIT Delhi), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Kshirod K Rout, M.Tech, Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Saroj Mishra, M.tech (IITKharagpur), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Prakash Kumar Ray, M.Tech (UCE Burla), Ph.D (cont. at MNNIT), Assistant Professor.
Electronics:
- Mr. Harish Kumar Sahoo ,M.Tech.(NIT,Rourkela),Ph.D. continuing (Sambalpur University), Assistant Professor
- Mr. Ashutosh Kar, M.Tech (NIT Hamirpur), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Rajat K Giri, M.Tech, Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Subrat Mohanty, M.Tech (BESU), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Dr. M. Ravi Kumar, M.Tech (CUSAT), Ph.D (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Pradyut K Biswal, M.Tech, Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Mr. Bijayanada Patnaik. M.Tech. Continuing Ph.D. (IIT BBS) Assistant Professor.
Mr. Ratnakar Dash , M. Tech.(UCE, Burla), Ph.D.continuing (NIT, Rourkela), Lecturer- Mr. Soumendranath Dutta, M.Tech, Ph.D (cont)., Assistant Professor.
- Mr. Tapas Patra, Visiting Faculty, From CET Bhubaneswar
Mechanical Engineering:
- Mr. Bamadev Sahoo, M. Tech. (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor
- Mr. Biranchi Narayan Padhi , M. Tech.(UCE, Burla), Ph.D. continuing (NIT Rourkela), Assistant Professor
- Dr. L. N. Panda, Ph.D, Visiting Faculty, From CET Bhubaneswar
- Dr. P. K. Satapathy, Ph.D, Visiting Faculty, From CET Bhubaneswar
Physics:
- Dr. Monalisa Ray, M.Phil., Ph.D.(UU), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Biswajit Pradhan, Ph.D.(IIT Bombay), Assistant Professor
- Mr. R. K. Parida, Visiting Faculty, From ITER, SOA University
Chemistry:
- Dr. Satyanarayan Pal, Ph.D.(CU, Hyderabad), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Hiranmayee Satapathy, Ph.D.(IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor
Mathematics:
- Dr. Rupaj Kumar Nayak, Ph.D.(UU), Assistant Professor
- Dr. Prasanta K Ray, Ph.D. (NIT Rourkela), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Dr. Sanjay Parhi, Ph.D. (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor (NEW)
- Dr. Shanta Kumar Sunanda, Ph.D. (IIT Kharagpur), Assistant Professor.
Dr. Manas Ranjan Tripathy , Ph.D .(IIT Kharagpur), Lecturer
Humanities:
- Ms. Lipika Das, Lecturer, M. A., M.Phil., Ph.D.continuing (UU) – Communicative English, Assistant Professor
- Dr. Tanutrushna Panigrahi, Ph. D. (Berhampur University) – Communicative English, Assistant Professor
- Jolly Dey; Humanities, Assistant Professor
- Mr. Bhawani Shankar Mishra, Humanities, Visiting faculty.
September 25th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from Shilpi Sampad’s report in Telegraph.
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), is planning to introduce a master’s programme in public health with a specialisation in mental health from next year.
The course will be conducted in association with the Union ministry of health and family welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) in Mumbai and the London School of Medicine.
… we hope that things will be finalised soon,” said Father P.T. Joseph, director of XIMB.
He added it would be a residential programme and around 25 to 30 students would be enrolled in the first batch. Tiss, Mumbai will confer the degrees. Speaking about the importance of the course, Joseph said: “Public health and mental health are areas of great concern worldwide.
… Earlier, XIMB had entered into a partnership with two foreign B-schools — Antwerp Management School in Antwerp and Fordham Graduate School of Business in New York — to launch a “3-Continent Master of Global Management” (3C MGM) programme. The duration of the course is 12 months and it is scheduled to begin on September 1.
For this, 20 candidates each have been chosen from the continents of Asia (India and China), Europe and America. The students will spend four months at Antwerp B-school, XIMB and Fordham.
Of the 40 applicants who had applied for the course, which will cost around 39,750 Euros or Rs 30 lakhs, only one has been selected to be part of the group from India.
“The applicants found it difficult to secure bank loans since XIMB is neither a university nor recognised under the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). We are trying our best to attain the status of a university so that these problems do not recur,” said Joseph, who is also one of the deans for the 3C MGM programme.
August 30th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from Shilp Sampad’s report in Telegraph.
The course has been approved by the State Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training and recognised by the Directorate of Technical Education and Training, Orissa. The department of food technology and biochemical engineering of Jadavpur University, Calcutta, will provide technical support.
“Earlier, sweets making formed a small part of training in food craft institutes, but this is for the first time in the country that an independent course in sweets technology has been introduced.
“Technology will be used right from making sweets to packaging and marketing to reduce cost of production,” said Prasanta Kar, founder of Bikalananda Kar Memorial Trust, which established BKITC.
Applications have already started trickling in and admission is expected to be completed by end of August. The intake capacity has been fixed at 64.
The minimum eligibility for the course is matriculation and the fee is Rs 15,000. However, the trust and the Paschimbanga Mistanna Byabasayee Samitee will also provide full scholarships to poor, meritorious students.
Kar said there are more than 500 types of Oriya sweets and the course would involve training in only 140 types, including 60 varieties from the neighbouring state of Bengal. “We have brought out books on these 140 kinds of sweets. The trainees would be taught making sweets using dairy products as well as agricultural products such as dry fruits, wheat, flour, gram flour and so on,” said Bibhuti Bhusan Patra, principal of BKITC. He added the course would also focus on sugar-free sweets.
The syllabus will cover trade theory such as preservation of food and sweets, process technology (good manufacturing practice), quality control in food processing, food microbiology and contaminants, wastewater treatment, sanitation and hygiene standards, food safety and practical-oriented training.
Talking about the employment prospects, Patra said there is a dearth of skilled labour in the confectionery industry and it would not be difficult for the trainees to secure jobs.
August 4th, 2011
Today, the 22nd July, is a very auspicious day for us. It is on this day in 2008, the society of IIT Bhubaneswar was registered. Further, the date assumes more significance as we began our academic programme from the city of Bhubaneswar for the first time on 22nd July 2009. I wish to avail this opportunity to congratulate our students, staff, officers and faculty, who all are working as a dedicated team to develop this new IIT, for successfully completing 2 years of existence in the city of Bhubaneswar.
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Infrastructure:
Temporary Campuses
We started our journey in 2008 from the campus of IIT Kharagpur. As mentioned earlier, we commenced our operation from the city of Bhubaneswar from 22nd July 2009. Currently, we are operating from a number of campuses which include IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre, Toshali Plaza at Satyanagar and Workshop cum laboratory complex near IIT Kharagpur extension Centre. Government of Odisha provided us about one (1) acre of land on which we have already constructed a new workshop cum laboratory complex (22000 sq. meters). The Government of Odisha also provided us two towers of Toshali Bhavan which we have already renovated. In addition IIT Kharagpur has constructed a new 200 capacity Dr. A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence near the Workshop cum Laboratory Complex for the students of this Institute. I must avail this opportunity to thank IIT Kharagpur for constructing the hostel which is of great convenience to us. We are also getting support of some of the sister Institutes like IMMT (CSIR) and Central Tool Room and Training Centre.
The class rooms and the laboratories are in place in our campuses at IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre, Toshali Plaza and the New Workshop cum Laboratory Complex.
IIT Bhubaneswar is well equipped with modern Teaching rooms and Teaching and Research Laboratories. All the class rooms are fitted with Multimedia Projectors, Internet Facilities and Wireless Connectivity. Besides the Normal teaching rooms, The Institute designed and developed three Virtual Class Rooms (VCR) sponsored by National Knowledge Networks (NKN). These rooms facilitate Real time on campus and Off-campus teaching learning process. These rooms are equipped with high end and high resolution equipment to facilitate the real time interaction among the students and teachers of the campus and as well as off campus students and faculty members. These class rooms are connected to the NKN Network by means of a dedicated 1GBPS Leased Lines.
The Government of Odisha has provided us 14 flats at Government Colony, Gajapati Nagar. We are fortunate to have found cooperation from the Housing Complex in SBI Colony Kesura wherein we have hired about 60 HIG 3 bed-roomed flats and few MIG flats for accommodation of our students and faculty. While the 3rd and 4th year male students have been being accommodated in the A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence, we have to accommodate others (all the girl students, research scholars and 1st and 2nd year students) in SBI Colony Kesura, 10 KM away from our academic campus. I may avail this opportunity to put on records my deep appreciation of the students, the staff and faculty who have to commute regularly between their residence and the various academic campuses. I am aware that this is strenuous. But I am sure our students, faculty and staff will accommodate the strains and be a part of the history in the making.
Permanent campus
The Foundation Stone of our campus at Arugul was laid on 12th February 2009. The Government of Odisha has allotted 936 acres of land at Arugul (near Jatni) for developing this new IIT of which we already have taken advanced possession of 598 acres. The Government of Odisha has started construction of 4 lane access road to IIT Campus from the National Highway 5. The work on water supply and electric supply to the campus is also in progress. The power supply systems for construction are virtually ready. The Honourable Chief Minister himself as well as the Chief Secretary of the Sate are taking active interests in the developmental work and are addressing issues that need their constant attention. It may not be out of place to mention that the Government of Odisha has also agreed to provide us 75 acres of land on Puri–Konark coast to set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change.
Out of total 19 KM, we already have completed construction of 8 Km of boundary wall. About 10 bore wells have been sunk to facilitate construction work. IIT Bhubaneswar has also taken up tree plantation programme for its new campus.
The master plan of the new campus at Arugul for 10, 000 students, 1000 faculty and 1100 supporting staff has been approved and the total construction should be completed in 3 phases in next 12-15 years. The work for land grading, road and other related construction are expected to begin in August 2011. While the Government of India has approved construction of 2, 21,000 sq meter of covered area in the 1st phase, our consultant has already completed conceptual design of 1, 20, 000 sq meters of covered areas for various schools, residential quarters, hostels and other service/administrative buildings based on the availability of fund in the initial phase. Applications for clearance form statutory bodies (e.g. forest, BDA, environment) are under process and such clearance are expected shortly. We expect the tendering process to be over and hope that CPWD would be able to start the construction work by the end of this year or early next year. We are planning to move to our new campus by end 2013 or beginning 2014.
Academics
Academic Schools
IIT Bhubaneswar promotes a borderless academic environment: We have the concept of Schools, rather than Departments. We encourage academic staff and students to work together in an interdisciplinary environment. Initially we had set up the following five (5) schools:
• School of Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Bioscience, Mathematics)
• School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management
• School of Mechanical Sciences (Mechanical, Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Naval Architecture)
• School of Infrastructure (Civil Engineering, Architecture, Urban Design, Town Planning, Traffic & Transportation Engineering)
• School of Electrical Sciences (Electrical Engineering, Electronics Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Energy, Learning Sciences, Instrumentation)
The Institute has just set up the following two (2) new Schools:
• School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering – Materials, Metallurgy, Mining (Relevant to the Rich Resources of metals and minerals in the region)
• School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences (Relevant to the region keeping in view the vast Coast Line, Rich Biodiversity and mineral resources, need for Disaster Management and Mitigation arising out of Flood, Cyclone etc.) As a part of this School, the Institute will set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change on the Puri-Konark coast line.
The following schools are proposed to be set up in the second phase of our expansion:
•School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Chemical, biochemical, biomedical, biotechnology
• School of Design and Creative Arts
Academic Activities
We started our journey with a total of 94 students in three (3) undergraduate programmes namely civil, electrical and mechanical engineering with an intake capacity of 40 each in 2008. We already have introduced Ph. D. programmes from 2009 and have about 35 Research Scholars. We are planning to start our postgraduate (MS/M. Tech.) programmes from July 2012. Currently, we have about 500 students (UG and Ph. D.), 50 full time faculty members 7 officers and 40 supporting staff.
Awards and Honours
We are proud that our Chairman Board of Governors, Professor P. Rama Rao, has received the second highest civilian award “Padma Vibhushan” of the Government of India this year.
Prof. S. C. Datta of the School of Infrastructure was awarded Fulbright-Nehru Sr. Research Fellowship and he visited the University of California at Davies, USA. He has been awarded the prestigious Occasional Lecturer Fund by Council for International Exchange of Scholars, US Department of State, for delivering two invited lectures at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, during his Fulbright Grant period in USA. Dr. Sumanta Haldar of the same School received the Prof. Leonard’s best Ph.D. thesis award from Indian Geotechnical Society. Dr. C.S. Bhende of the School of Electrical Science received the best Ph.D. thesis award from Indian National Academy of Engineering.
Mr. Pyari Mohan Pradhan, Mrt. Satyasai Jagannath Nanda and Mr. Vikas Baghel, Research Scholars of the School Electrical Sciences were awarded the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada, “Commonwealth Graduate Student Exchange Programme” fellowship. Dr. Subhransu R. Samantaray of the same School won the Samanta Chandra Sekhar Award for 2010 from Orissa Bigyan Academy for his contribution to Engineering and Technology by Oriya Scientist working in Odisha. Dr D. Sahoo of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management received the Best Paper Award at the International Workshop on Regional Competitiveness and International factors Mobility at Oriens France. Professor M. Chakraborty received the Best Technical Paper Award 2010 from the Indian Foundry Journal of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen.
Mr. Raghav. R, 3rd Year Student of Mechanical Engineering won the All India essay competition for college students conducted by the NGO: Nandini Voice for the Deprived
Publications
Within 2 years of our existence in the city of Bhubaneswar, the faculty members have already contributed to creating new knowledge by publishing about 115 papers in National and International Journals of repute. Besides, 85 papers have been presented in various National and International Conferences in India and Abroad that have made our presence felt all over the world. Our doctoral and undergraduate students have also published a few papers in journals and made presentations in conferences. Our faculty members have also published 17 books/ chapters of books in Humanities, Science and Technology.
Sponsored Projects and Consultancy and Endowment
The Institute already has received a number of sponsored projects from various funding agencies like DST, CSIR and DRDO and consultancy from industries worth more than 320 lakhs.
Industries are coming forward to join us in developing this new IIT. M/s MGM Minerals Group has already established a perpetual “MGM Chair Professor” for the School of Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with an endowment of Rs 300 lakhs.
International Collaborations
IIT Bhubaneswar has started collaborative activities with a few Universities abroad. We already have signed MOU for faculty exchange programmes with the University fo Massachusetts at Dartmouth USA, and the University of Western Ontario Canada. Professor Lord S. Kumar Bhattacharyya of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, of the University of Warwick has been appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professor of IIT Bhubaneswar while Professor Richard Dashwood of the same university spent two weeks at IIT Bhubaneswar as visiting Professor in March 2011. Professor Asit K Biswas, President of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Winner of Stockholm Water Prize (2006) has also been appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professor of this Institute.
Workshop/Conferences
The Institute organized a one day workshop “An Academy – Industry Interface” with participation from the Warwick Manufacturing Group, the University of Warwick, UK, IIT Bhubaneswar, Tata Steel, Infosys, IBM, WIPRO, L&T and others on 17th September 2010. Another workshop “Multivariate Statistical Analysis” was organized by the School of Humanities, Social Science and Management on 24th March 2011. The Training and Placement Section had organized a Panel Discussion “Managing Generation Y in workplace – A Challenge to the Indian Industry” on 12th March 2011. The Institute has started organizing “Research Scholars Day” on the National Science Day on 28th February every year.
Summer Internships
Our students have received support from various Universities and Industries in India and Abroad for summer internships. Some of these Universities and Industries abroad are the University of North Texas, Oklahoma State University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Northern Arizona University in USA, University of Warwick UK, McGill University Canada, University of Cologne Germany, University of Padua Italy, Flanders Mechatronics Centre Belgium, ExTechNa GmbH Switzerland, University of Zacadecas Mexico, Tianjin University China, Ming Chi University Taiwan and University of Technology Malaysia.
… Student Activities
Our Students under the Students Gymkhana are quite active and are organizing various activities. They already have formed several societies like Robotics Society, Entrepreneurship Cell, Dramatic Society, Music Society to name a few. They have been organizing cultural (Alma Fiesta) and Techno-Management (Wiessenaire) festivals successfully with support from many sponsors/industries drawing participations from various colleges/institutions of the country.
July 28th, 2011
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
After giving its nod to four privately promoted universities in the state, the Orissa government is set to table the Xavier University Bill in the ensuing monsoon session of the assembly.
Earlier, the state assembly had passed bills for setting up of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar University, Vedanta University, Icfai University and Centurion University of Technology & Management.
"We are making efforts to introduce the Xavier University Bill in the monsoon session of the assembly. All problems relating to the establishment of the university will be sorted out,” said state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.
P T Joseph, director, Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneswar (XIMB) said, “We want the status of a unitary university. Our proposed second university is coming up on 35 acres of land at Jatani in Khurda district. Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) is in the process of building a compound wall which will be completed soon. Then, we will start construction work on this campus in August.”
Joseph said, initially, XIMB will invest Rs 10-12 crore in the current financial year on the second campus.
While the university will function from XIMB’s existing campus in the city, the rural management course will be shifted to the new campus. Besides the flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), the new campus will offer courses like healthcare management, education management, human resource management and a doctoral programme in management for working executives.
… XIMB also has plans to set up a campus at Bolangir for the rural management course and a B-school at Sambalpur but details are yet to be finalized.
If this happens this will be the first Xavier University in India.
July 25th, 2011
(Thanks to Debi Sarangi for the pointer.)
The strategic plan is available at http://www.cable-quest.in/pdfs/StrategicPlan%20of%20I&B%20ministry.pdf. Following are some relevant excerpts.
(viii) INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MASS COMMUNICATION:
The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the field of communication teaching, training & research. The Institute was set up on August 17, 1965, as a department of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India in response to a need felt to evolve a methodology for effective use of communication resources as part of the country’s overall development strategy. The Institute was registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI) of 1860 on 22nd January, 1966 and receives grant-in-aid from the Govt. of India through the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to meet its recurring & non-recurring expenditure. While IIMC provides knowledge and skills to communicators in a variety of disciplines, including print, photography, radio & television, development communication, communication research, advertising & public relations, the Institute also collaborates with national & international agencies in conducting seminars, training, workshops, etc. It also undertakes joint research projects and organizes short- term courses to meet the specific needs of the industry, government and public sector organizations. The Institute presently have a branch at Dhenkanal in Orissa and propose to set up four new Regional Centres in the States of J&K, Kerala, Mizoram and Maharashtra.
(v) Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) (http://iimc.nic.in/)
Run courses with the objective to produce well-equipped communication professionals sensitive to needs of changing mass communication scenario; Conduct of short term specialized courses to meet the professional training needs of media personnel working in the Central/State Governments and Public Sector Organisations;
Conduct of seminars, symposia and conferences on various themes of communication with a view to contributing better understanding of communication in the context of India and other developing countries; Provide consultancy services on request to Central/State Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings, in designing and organizing training and research programmes related to Development communication.
(a) The following steps needs to be taken –
1. First step
* Up-Gradation of One-Year PG Diploma Courses into Two-Year Advanced PG Diploma Courses.
* Seeking of Equivalence to Masters Degrees for the Two-Year PG Diploma Courses from Ministry of HRD.
* Introduction of at least 2 new Two-Year PGD Courses: in Development Journalism and in Corporate Communication & Media Management.
* Setting up of 4 new Branches ofIIMC in J&K, Mizoram, Maharashtra & Kerala.
2. Second step
* An Act of Parliament to declare IIMC an ‘Institute of National Importance’ such as the IITs, AIlMS, NIFT, etc., thereby also giving it Degree-granting powers.
* IIMC proposes to continue using its established and well-recognised Brand arne, as in the case of the above Institutes.
Upgradation of branches to full-fledged Institutes offering all Courses at par with IIMC, Delhi.
* Provision of Buildings, Infrastructure, and expansion or Technical Equipment and Human Resources at the 4 new Branches of IIMC (DPRs to be prepared after allocation of land by State Governments and in-principle approval of the Planning Commission).
* Dialogues with various State Governments for opening of new IIMC Branches in their States and pursuing them to allot at least 10-15 acres of land free of cost and also made available temporary accommodation for start of the courses from 2015-16.
3. Third Step
* Introduction of Specialized and Niche Courses (a) At least 2 new Two-Year PGD Courses
(i) Development Journalism
(ii) Corporate Communication and Media Management (b) More extensive Courses leading to better job prospects for students (c) Advanced academic programmes such as M.Phil and Doctoral Programmes (d) More Post Graduate MA, M.Phil. and Ph. D. Programmes
* Enhanced National and International recognition of IIMC and its programmes and enhanced interaction with the best international Universities and institutes in the field.
* Access to research and training funds from National and international funding bodies.
* Creation of IIMC Affiliates abroad.
* Correspondence with International Media Institutions/Government for opening of Centres in their Countries.
(b) Requirement of resources (i) Financial
* IIMC has already been sanctioned an outlay of Rs. 51.50 Crores for the activities mentioned in the first step as above
* Based on the current trend of requirements, provision of buildings, infrastructure and expansion of technical equipments for a branch for establishing a permanent campus will be approximately Rs. 100 Crores, excluding the cost of land, which would be provided by the State Governments free of cost ( Total Requirement for four branches will be Rs. 400 Cr)
* Financial requirement for the introduction of various Advanced Courses, M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. will be approximately Rs. 10 Crores
* Financial requirement for introduction of new branches in other States will be approximately Rs. 5 Crores in temporary accommodation to be provided by State Governments free of cost
Total Requirement : Rs. 415 Cr
(ii) Human Resources –
* 150 personnel will be required to achieve the activities detailed in the first steps
* Additional 25 personnel per branch will be required for fulfilling the activities given in the next steps
July 4th, 2011
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