Odisha HRD

Vedanta University land acquisition progress: Sambada

1 comment September 20th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Orissa plans to include class IX and X in Sarba Siksha Abhiyan

Following is Sambada’s take on it.

September 20th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

GOI expects states to compete for the 14 (=30-16) world class central universities.

Of the 30 new central universities proposed 16 will be in states that do not have any. It seems the rest 14 will be chosen from proposals sent by the state governments. Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on this issue.

The State Governments have to compete among themselves in providing land in prime locations free of cost if they wanted to have prestigious Central University with world class facilities.

The Central Government is making mandatory for the States to provide land and other infrastructure facilities free of cost in the prime locations for setting up world class Universities.

After getting a nod from the Planning Commission for establishment of 14 Central Universities with world class standards in the 11th five-year plan, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development made it clear that a prime location is the key for deciding the place for setting up such prestigious Central University.

Giving an example of what is prime location, the Union Ministry is asking the states to come out with proposals to provide land free of cost in attractive locations such as proximity to Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs.

Sources said that prime location is very important keeping in view of the magnetism of the location for attracting top class faculty. The location of the new Central Universities would be decided on the basis of careful consideration of alternative possibilities proposed by the State Governments.

The 14 universities would be planned with careful planning to have various schools including medical and engineering. The Union Ministry would soon set up autonomous project teams comprising of eminent people for each proposed world class university to design and implement the project creatively. Sources said that initially the beginning would be made with five such teams. …

September 20th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

ITER advertises for its M.Tech program for the third time: Ad in Samaja

ITER had earlier advertised for its M. tech program in August and then again in September. Perhaps it still has unfilled seats. Hence a third advertisement and a third entrance exam.

September 19th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Samaja op-ed on Vedanta University

The following op-ed in Samaja restates most of the points made in the recent Hindu article titled "Vedanta University: a flawed pipe dream,"  written by Philip G. Altbach. Readers should read my rejoinder to that article.

September 19th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Cost accountancy, chartered accountancy and company secretaryship

In India people who have passed the exams in these three fields can get very good jobs. However, these exams were not (i assume the situation remains the same) offered by specific universities, rather one has study on his/her own, possibly through the help of coaching centers, and pass the corresponding exams. So these exams are more like certification exams. Following are links for additional information on them.

• Cost accounting
• Chartered accounting
• Company Secretaryship

Following is an ad on Company secretaryship that appeared in Samaja.

September 19th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Updates on the AIIMS-like institutes

Following are excerpts from a report in livemint.com.

Tenders open in Oct for Rs 1,500 cr AIIMS-like hospitals in six cities

C.H. Unnikrishnan

An ambitious Rs 10,000 crore project, led by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, to set up over a dozen multi-speciality hospitals and medical education institutions across the country, under the so-called National Rural Health Mission, will kick off in the first week of October with the opening of architecture and design tenders for six hospital projects.

The six medical institutions —being modelled on New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences—at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh costing Rs1,500 crore are expected to be completed in 2009. Other phases of the National Rural Health Mission, including super-speciality hospitals and medical institutions in 11 states, will be finalized soon.

This is the first major government investment for health care infrastructure in the country, even as private players such as Fortis Healthcare Ltd, Max Helathcare Ltd, Hinduja Group, Apollo Hospitals Ltd, and Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd, among others, have earmarked between Rs10,000 crore and Rs15,000 crore for new hospitals and expansion of existing ones.

According to an official at the state-owned Hindustan Latex Ltd’s procurement and consultancy division, which has been appointed a consultant to the first phase of the project, the government has received 14 “expressions of interest for the design and architecture of the six AIIMS-like medical institutions proposed in the project.”

IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects Ltd, RITES Ltd, HSCC India Ltd, Hospitech Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd, Technicalia Consultants Ltd, Kotari Associates Ltd, and Borg Lor Associates Ltd are among those that have bid for architecture contracts.

The proposed institutes will be equipped to handle multiple diseases and disorders with 800 hospital beds along with intensive care units and trauma care centres. They will have medical colleges with annual intake of 100 students and will also offer doctoral courses.

The following phases of the National Rural Health Mission, which include upgradation of seven medical institutions in six other states, and setting up of super-speciality medical institutions and research centres in another five states through the public-private partnership model, are also being finalised. The government is also planning upgradation of about 700 hospitals in rural areas especially in underserved states.

The emphasis on health care infrastructure under the five-year, Rs40,000 crore National Rural Health Mission of the government comes in the wake of strong criticism from non-governmental organizations and national healthcare action groups.

September 19th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

More information on new courses at Fakir Mohan University: Samaja

September 18th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Nursing education in the 11th plan

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31161

Some excerpts:

In the strategic framework for Nursing during XIth five-year plan we have identified 230 districts in the country where there are no Auxiliary Nurse – midwives (ANM) and Graduate Nurse – midwives (GNM) institutions. It is proposed to open new ANM and GNM Schools in these districts during the XIth Plan period. It is also proposed to establish 4 Regional Colleges of Excellence with state of art facilities to improve the quality of Nursing Education in the country. A provision of Rs. 319 crores has been proposed for XIth Plan for the strengthening of Nursing Education in the country.

Continue Reading September 18th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

NISER Bhubaneswar instructions for the second list of candidates

The following is from a NISER announecment.

The admission process for the second list will begin on 17th September, 2007 at
10.00 a.m. The classes have been going on since 12th September, 2007. It is therefore desired that the students should take admission at the earliest and begin their academic activity without delay. The admission process will come to close on 27th September, 2007.

Students have been allotted the stream of their first choice provisionally. The final allotment of streams will be done at the end of the first year based on their overall academic performance in semester I and semester II.

Students will receive scholarship at the rate of Rs. 3,000/-per month.

All the students will have to register for all the courses which are to be credited by all the entrants to NISER’s 5-year integrated M.Sc. programme. The details of course descriptions are being posted in the webpage of NISER.

All the students are required to bring with them at the time of admission the originals of the following documents:

                    (a) Class X and Class XII Mark Sheets,

                    (b) Class X certificate,

                    (c) Caste / Tribe certificate (in case of SC/ST candidates).

In addition they should also bring four passport size photographs and two stamp size photographs and a Demand Draft for Rs. 13,000/= (Rs. 7,000/-for SC/ST students) towards payment of tuition fee, caution money and mess advance. The DD should be drawn in favour of NISER, payable at Bhubaneswar.
Hostel accommodation

All the students will be provided hostel accommodation. They are expected to register for the hostel accommodation at the time of admission. Details about the availability of hostel accommodation for boys and girls will be posted on the web soon.

September 17th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

GOI plans an aviation university

Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report.

the Prime Minister’s Office has primed the ministry of civil aviation to draft a policy document for setting up an ‘aviation university’ on the lines of international institutions.

Ministry sources say that the proposed university will be a registered autonomous body and its administration will be based on the lines of IITs and IIMs. The ministry is also forming a group of experts to examine the various models for setting up the university. The varsity will initially be located in Delhi and Mumbai which accounts for more than 50% of the air traffic.

The move has been initiated after the PMO asked the ministry to look into this issue. “The civil aviation sector is growing at the rate of 35-40% in the country and the industry is facing a crunch of skilled manpower in all departments.

If we have to compete as an international hub, we need to have the best trained manpower. The sector has the potential to absorb more than three million jobs directly by 2020 and this will further supplement the direct growth of this sector,” said a senior ministry official.

The expert panel that will work on the university project, will have eight members, consisting of a vice-chancellor of a renowned uni versity, officials of DGCA, HRD and the civil aviation ministry, and people from industry and aviation associations. The committee will first give shape to the objectives of setting up the aviation university and the broad areas and disciplines which will be covered by the curriculum such as gpround handling and technical training for pilots and engineers.

The expert committee will further advise the ministry on the modalities for private sector participation to bring in close coordination between the university and industry.

Besides setting up modalities, the group of experts will also study many international aviation universities which offer such courses. The faculty will have people from a diverse backgrounds such as those with professional aviation experience, including airlines, air traffic control, military, test pilot, and corporate aviation.

Orissa being one of the less dense- in terms of population – states, may be it can pursue this university. However, my guess is this will happen in Nagpur, one of the favorite area of the civil aviation minister, Mr. Praful Patel.

September 16th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Orissa to develop 600 new libraries : Samaja

September 15th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

UCE Burla’s ad in Samaja for M.Tech

8 comments September 15th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Entrepreunership and skill development program in Keonjhar: Ad in Samaja

September 15th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

NISER Bhubaneswar has a second and final list of candidates

The following list is from NISER’s web page.

September 15th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral

Including education in PPP

This report from Sambada talks about the government of Orissa establishing educational institutes via PPP. This is a good idea. They should take help of the major industries in Orissa, especially the ones involved in using natural resources from Orissa.

September 15th, 2007 Author : Chitta Baral