Odisha HRD

Clustering govt. colleges in Orissa

Following are clusters of govt. colleges based on the list at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1780. Based on the NKC’s aim of having many small universities, we list some universities that may b e created.

1. Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri (Bhubaneswar university may be made with the following as constituent colleges. CET Bhubaneswar may be added to it.)
   • S.B. Women’s College
   • JKBK College
   • I.M.I.T. Cuttack.
   • B.J.B. College, BBSR.
   • Rajdhani College, BBSR.
   • R.D. Women’s College, BBSR.
   • CITE, BBSR
   • ISMT, BBSR
   • MICM, BBSR
   • S.C.S. College, Puri.
   • Govt. Women’s College, Puri.
2. Jajpur-Bhadrakh (A Kalinganagar University may be made near Jajpur Rd and these colleges may be made constituents of this University)
   • N.C. College, Jajpur.
   • Bhadrak College, Bhadrakh
3. Balasore (These two colleges should be made as constituent colleges of FM University)
   • F.M. College, Balasore.
   • K.K.S. Women’s College, Balasore
4. Keonjhar (A Keonjhar University may be created with the following three and perhaps OSME Keonjhar as constituent college of it.)
   • D.D. College, Keonjhar
   • Govt. Women’s College, Keonjhar
   • B.N. Sanskrit College, Tukuna, Keonjhar.
5. Baripada(These colleges should be made constituent colleges of North Orissa University)
   • M.P.C. College, Baripada.
   • Govt. Women’s College, Baripada.
   • Govt. Sanskrit College, Baripada
6. Dhenkanal-Angul (A University may be made in Angul and these colleges may be made as constituent colleges of that university. IGIT Sarang, may also be made a constituent college of this university)
   • Dhenkanal College, Dhenkanal.
   • Dhenkanal Women’s College.
   • Govt. College, Angul.
7. Berhampur-Chhatrapur-Aska (A South Orissa University may be created and these colleges may be made as constituent colleges of that university.)
   • Khallikote College, Berhampur
   • B.A. College, Berhampur.
   • S.B. Rath Women’s College, Berhampur
   • Govt. Sc. College, Chhatrapur.
   • Niranjan Govt. Women’s College, Aska.
8. Parlakhemundi (A Gajapati university made created with this college as a constituent college of it.)
   • S.K.C.G. College, Parlakhemundi.
9. Phulbani (A Central Orissa University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
   • Govt. College, Phulbani.
   • S.M. Govt. Women’s College, Phulbani.
10. Koraput-Jeypore (A Koraput University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
    • V.Deb College, Jeypore.
    • Govt. Women’s College, Jeypore.
    • D.A.V. College, Koraput.
11. Bhawanipatna (A Kalahandi University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
    • Govt. College, Bhawanipatna.
    • Women’s College, Bhawanipatna.
12. Sambalpur-Bargarh (A Western Orissa University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
    • G.M. College, Sambalpur.
    • N.S.C.B. College, Sambalpur.
    • Govt. Women’s College, Sambalpur.
    • Panchayat College, Bargarh.
13. Balangir-Titlagarh (A Balangir University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
    • Rajendra College, Balangir.
    • Govt. College, Balangir.
    • Govt. Women’s College, Balangir.
    • Govt. Women’s Jr College, Titlagarh.
    • B.B. Sankrit College, Bolangir
14. Sundergarh-Rourkela (A Rourkela University may be created and these colleges may be made constituent colleges of that university)
    • Govt. College, Sundargarh.
    • Govt. Women’s College, Sundargarh.
    • Govt. College, Rourkela.
    • S.G. Women’s College, Rourkela.
    • Rourkela College, Rourkela.

December 13th, 2008

Higher education reforms planned at the prodding of NKC

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Orissa has initiated moves to reform its higher education system, thanks to National Knowledge Commission (NKC) initiative.

The Higher Education department has moved to set up two committees in this regard.

Madhu Sudan Padhi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary Higher Education has moved for setting up the committees to take up reforms of the existing universities.

There are 7 universities under the administrative control of the Higher Education department.

As per guidelines of NKC, in order to bring reforms in the existing academic and examination system, Vice Chancellor of Utkal University will be assigned the job.

NKC has advised the State Governments to ask the universities to revise or restructure curricula at least once in 3 years.

Secondly it has said that annual examination, which tests memory rather than understanding, needs to be supplemented with continuous internal assessment.

NKC proposes a transition to a course credit system where degrees are granted on the basis of completing a requisite number of credits from different course, which provides students with choices.

Universities must become Hub of Research, which is totally absent, said a senior officer.

These are the few guidelines and including others on which the VC committee will prepare the “blueprint” for reforms, said he.

Another committee headed by the Secretary Higher Education will look into to structural reforms including governance, setting up small universities and restructuring the under graduate colleges.

Both the committees will present their report by 15 February, which will form the part of the Blue Print for the state, said he.

I think various state-funded colleges should be combined to form local universities. I will elaborate on this in another post.

December 13th, 2008

IISERs and NISER leadership comparison

(The following is compiled from various sources including wikipedia.)

December 11th, 2008

Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar joins as NISER Bhubaneswar director on Dec 8, 2008.

Prof. T. K. Chandrashekar has joined as director of NISER on Dec 8, 2008. His web page at IIT Kanpur is at http://www.iitk.ac.in/chm/tkc.html. He is coming from a stint as Director of the  National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology(NIST) (Formerly Regional Research Laboratory) Trivandrum.

His profile obtained from a NISER notice is as follows.

1 comment December 11th, 2008

UCE Burla unitary university bill to be presented in assembly later this week

It is through the Orissa Cabinet. See http://www.tathya.in/2008/story.asp?sno=2413 and http://www.tathya.in/2008/story.asp?sno=2411. Many thanks to the industries department and especially the unsung SM, who I think did the bulk of the work in the government in such a speedy manner.

Following is a report on the subject.

Continue Reading 15 comments December 9th, 2008

Vedanta University Project sets record stratight against unsubstantiated rumors

Following is from a report in Daily Pioneer.

The State Government has allotted 6,000 acres of land, and not 8,000 acres as reported in a section of the media, to the Anil Agarwal Foundation to establish its world-class Vedanta University near the Puri-Konark marine drive.

The land would be used only for the purposes of the university as per the terms of the Government, said a project release on Monday.

The release said the Anil Agarwal Foundation is acquiring land at full market value, well beyond the Government’s land acquisition norms in terms of compensation, ex-gratia payment, rehabilitation and other facilities to the landowners.

Out of the 6,000 acres earmarked for the university, only 1,300 acres constitute the land owned by Lord Jagannath.

The temple trust has agreed to sell the land for the educational mission and the foundation is acquiring it at full and fair market value.

The release claimed that world-class universities like Stanford, Duke and Harvard have land areas of 8,180 acres, 7,200 acres and 4,940 acres, respectively. Vedanta University, 6,000 acres, would be unique with 100,000 students, 10,000 faculty and 95 academic disciplines.

Vedanta would have no control over any land near or far from its site. The Puri-Konark Development Authority and the district administration would make all decisions regarding future developments in the area.

Following are some excerpts from a tathya.in report.

The University will have its own water harvesting and recycling system and there will be no adverse impact on the availability of water for the people of Puri.

… World Class Vedanta University will put Orissa on the global education map and will further enhance the cultural significance of Puri and Konark.

It will provide continuing employment opportunity for several thousands of people in the area.

Vedanta University Project(VUP) has already undertaken many developmental programs in the areas of health, education, livelihood and peripheral development which are greatly appreciated by the local people.

December 9th, 2008

Tathya on six deemed university proposals waiting for NOC from the state

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

… At least 6 professional educational institutions have applied for No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the State Government for Deemed University (DU) tag.

Those are Vidya Bharati Trust, Bhubaneswar, Krupajal Educational Trust, Bhubaneswar, Nav Dignata Educational Trust, Bhubaneswar, C V Raman Educational Trust, Bhubaneswar, Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar and Ajay Binay College of Architecture, Cuttack.  (Editor’s addition: See https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1197)

Once they receive the NOC then they will approach the University Grants Commission (UGC) for conferring DU status.

But it seems the Government of Orissa is in no mood to give NOC to these institutions.

Recently held meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary has opined negatively over the issue, said a senior official.

Orissa is having 9 State Universities, 3 Deemed Universities and 1 World Class University and a Central University have been sanctioned by MHRD.

World Class University of Vedanta at Puri, Sri Sri University at Naraj in Cuttack and ICFAI University at Bhubaneswar is also coming up.

In view of the surge of universities in the state, the Chief Secretary Committee has decided not to allow any other professional educational institution for Deemed University status, said sources.

Once they receive DU tag then those will not come under the purview of the Orissa Professional Educational Institution (Regulation & Fee) Act-2007.

… The Committee is of view that providing DU status to professional educational institutions in the state will defeat the purpose of setting up a technology university in Orissa, BPUT.

However all the private educational institutions are making efforts to influence political leadership to favor them with DU tag.

Vidya Bharati Trust(VBT), Bhubaneswar, which runs Gandhi Group of educational institutions has claimed to be the largest educational complex in KBK area of the state.

As the KBK area does not have any university, VBT has justified its demand for DU status.

My thoughts: The two private deemed universities in the state are KIIT and SOA. Both have medical colleges associated with them. The state government should suggest the 6 applicants above that they will get serious consideration for a NOC only after they have an associated medical college, especially in a backward district. This will be a win-win situation for every body.

Orissa needs more medical facilities in most of its districts and even after promising free land and Rs. 5 crore through WODC it is having difficulty establishing medical colleges in WODC districts. Thus if the above 6 applicants establish medical colleges in some of the backward districts in Orissa, then that will help Orissa a lot.

The government is right in being careful in granting NOCs. There are 50+ engineering colleges in the state and not every one of them or too many of them should become deemed universities. By requiring an associated medical college as a criteria for giving NOCs the government will be able to figure out which organization is financially strong and has a bigger goal.

1 comment December 6th, 2008

Sambada on Vedanta University and not messing up an opportunity that may not come again in 100-200 years

Thank you Sambada.

Following is a translation of the initial part of the article:

Today in the state assembly two private university bills will be discussed; Sri Sri University bill and Vedanta University bill. Orisssa’s higher education future rests on these two bills. In regards to the first university bill, so far, there has not been any controversy, but for whatever reason the proposed Vendanta University is embroiled in controversies. Opposition to land acquisition for the project, court entanglement, reports in police station, and similar issues have tied down the project. For two years there has not been much progress in the ground. The situation is such that like the Singur Nano project in West Bengal there is apprehension that this world class project may withdraw from Orissa. If that happens Orissa’s dream of being a top higher education location in the world will be shattered. In the past several assembly members have opposed the Vedanta University project. The reason for their opposition! Doubt. There is opposition to the land acquisition in the proposed project area. Few days back there was a struggle in that area. The reason for that was also doubts. May be Vedanta will withdraw from the university project after acquiring the land; May be the people will lose their livelihood; May be Vedanta will renege on its obligations; several such doubts are fueling the opposition. The opposers say that Vedanta plans to loot Orissa in the name of the university. But what is the basis of these doubts and it is not clear how does one loot by establishing a university. This project does not need mines or forests; the government does not need to spend a paisa. It only needs to help in providing land where 15000 crores is aimed to be invested to establish a world class university. Eminent educationalists says that such opportunities come once in 100 or 200 years. If such small issues are used to throw away this opportunity then Orissa’s higher education aim for the next century will definitely become unsure. In reality, states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are eying the Vedanta University project. The land acquisition problem in Orissa has resulted in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh sending proposals to Vedanta. But planning and design of the project has progressed so far that Vedanta does not want to leave Orissa. Vedanta Chief Anil Agarwal has given $1 Billion (Rs 5000 crores) of his own money to the project and has mentioned this to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The main built-up area of the university will be spread across 2000 acres. The Ayres St. Gross company of the US has designed the master plan of this university. This company has developed the building design for many top universities of the world. Vedanta has decided to establish a medical college and hospital in the first phase.  This college and hospital to be built in 34 acres has been designed by the world famous firm  Perkins and Will. The medical college program will be designed and its equipments will be supplied by Jensen partners. The curriculum of the various colleges of the university and the kind of faculty to hire for such programs have been discussed in conferences organized by Vedanta in Paris and Washington. After all these to doubt that Vedanta will cheat and go away is baseless. Eminent NRO professor CRB says that losing Vedanta will be like kicking a humongous wealth. With IIT, NISER and AIIMS being established Bhubaneswar, if Vedanta University is established it will make the Puri-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area an heaven for high quality higher education and Orissa’s place in the world will rise significantly. No other industrialist in Orissa has spent that much money on education. If Vedanta wants to spend 15000 crores, why should we throw it away? The top educational institutions in India, the IITs and the IIMs rank 300-400 in the world. Vedanta aims to be in the top 50. He says, if that happnes Orissa will be among the tops in the country. The government should take meausers to resolve the issues related to land acquisition in a war footing. For such a university the sacrifice of the local people should be adequately respected and compensated by the government, he adds.

7 comments December 6th, 2008

Asian Institute of Public Health starts offering courses

See details at its web page http://www.aiph.ac.in/.  See also this press release. 

4 comments December 6th, 2008

3344 faculty and staff positions at each of the proposed AIIMS-like institutes

Following is from the architect’s brief.

Continue Reading 35 comments December 4th, 2008

Bed distributions in the AIIMS like institutes

Following is from http://www.mohfw.nic.in/EoI_FOR_PC.htm.

Continue Reading December 4th, 2008

Specs for AIIMS like institutes

Following is from http://www.mohfw.nic.in/PMR.htm.

Continue Reading 1 comment December 4th, 2008

Feedback on NISER academic and residential township specs

Going through the NISER call for tenders for providing consultancy for the academic and residential townships, available at http://www.dcsem.gov.in/Page/Tender.htm, I have the following suggestions to the advisory specs mentioned in that document.

1. The whole campus should be universally accessible. (For too long public spaces are designed in India without taking into account people with disabilities.)

2. Research labs in NISER should have the space to accommodate all students in the 4th and 5th year of their integrated M.Sc program. In other words, when students are in their 4th and 5th year they should be required to be part of a research lab, and thus the research labs should have space to accommodate them.

3. Instead of just a cafeteria, most US universities have a "Student Union" which has multiple eating places, bank (with ATM), post office, book store, entertainment options (such as chess, pool, etc.), etc. Some even have a movie theater. The student union should be a one stop place where students (and faculty) can not only eat but also transact other necessary businesses.

4. There should be plan for designing the landscape of the campus as a combination of a botanical garden (with trees labeled with their botanical name and their place of origin) and science based sculptures. Local industries may be approached for sponsoring part of this.

5. Finally the whole design should be such that there is room to expand. Otherwise 20-30 yrs down the road, NISER will suffer the same problem that IISc is facing now in terms of lack of room to grow.

December 3rd, 2008

NISER residential township specs

(Following is from http://www.dcsem.gov.in/page/pcdtbrp3.pdf)

RESIDENTIAL TOWNSHIP

December 3rd, 2008

NISER academic township and Sports complex specs

(From http://www.dcsem.gov.in/page/pcdtb1.pdf.)

ACADEMIC TOWNSHIP & SPORTS COM PLEX

1             for Integrated 5-yr M.Sc course (1000 students in full fledged operation): double room w/o attached toilet for first three years. Single room w/o attached toilet for the last two years;

2             for integrated M.Sc + PhD course (300 students total): Single room w/o attached toilet for the first two years (like other M.Sc. students), single occupancy with attached toilet for PhD part;

3             PhD students : total 300 (other than from (2)) : same as other PhD students;

4             Post-doc fellows (150 max.) : flatlets.

Classroom complex (service area is included in the bulk): .

(A) School adm inistration (for  six schools)

School chairman’s offices (100 sq.m .*6) 600 sq ms

Meeting rooms (small, two each, 50sq.m X2*6)) 600

Seminar halls (one each, 150 sq.m . *5) 750

Committee rooms (one each, 120 sq.m . *5) 600

School libraries and outreach halls (200 sq.m .*6) 1200

Total 3750

(B) Faculty and Research Scholaroffices

Each faculty office will be standard size (5.5m X 3.6m ≈20 sq.m .). There will be 200 such offices, senior faculty (150) being given independent offices, and junior faculty (100) sharing two each. Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs), associates and visiting faculty will share (double) a normal faculty office. Since visiting faculty will be both short and long-term type, it is assumed that 50 rooms, seating 100 people, may be adequate. Office space for PhD scholars will be provided by sharing three scholars in one room. A good proportion of scholars are usually accommodated in research labs. However sitting space is provided for about 500.

Faculty offices (200 X 20) 4000

Visitingfaculty(50 X 20) 1000

PDF(150atanygiventime),150X10 1500

PhD scholars 3250

Total 9750

Total 6500

Total 20000

Note: The area mentioned above are indicative. However the Consultant may change the same as per planning requirement

December 3rd, 2008

NISER call for tenders for Providing Consultancy Services for Construction of Residential and Academic Townships

Following is excerpted from http://www.dcsem.gov.in/Page/Tender.htm. The cost estimates are:

• Residential Township : Rs 160 crores
• Academic Township & Sports Complex: Rs 130 crores

(As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31118 each IISER construction budget is 241  crores.)

December 3rd, 2008