Odisha HRD

Ravenshaw status report by its VC in the first edition of “The Ravenshaw Times”, its monthly newsletter

Since January 2011 Ravenshaw has started publishing a monthly newsletter. These are available at http://ravenshawuniversity.ac.in/website/ravenshaw-times-(newsletter).htm. Following is an article written by its VC from  the first newsletter at http://ravenshawuniversity.ac.in/File/The%20Ravenshaw%20Times%20-%20January%202011.pdf.

Ravenshaw University was set up by the Ravenshaw University Act, 2005. The draft statutes of the University have been pending with the Government for approval. Pending that, the University is referring to the Orissa Universities First Statutes (OUFS), 1990 on the basis of which its own statute has been drafted.

The Ravenshaw University inherited 25 Departments in the disciplines of Science , Commerce and Humanities. In order to upgrade Ravenshaw like the single campus JNU, the University created 11 Schools out of the existing Departments. The Schools are headed by Deans. It takes time for a new structure to be grounded. Therefore academic reforms envisaged are vitally dependent on the faculty. The situation in Ravenshaw was queer. The Government created posts for new faculty only in August 2008, although the University was set up in 2006. For administrative reasons, the Government could not withdraw the old faculty till September 2010. Despite this mismatch, the syllabi in almost all Departments have been revised to cope with contemporary demands. While setting up the University, the Government had not provided adequate faculty to meet the UGC teacher-student ratio of 1:15. The current teacher – student ratio is about 1:50. In order to make it 1:30, which are twice the UGC/ AICTE norms, the University will require 106 new faculty positions. The demand of the University is pending with Government. Ravenshaw has envisioned incorporating all subjects from microbiology to geophysics in its growth. The University has accomplished only a few. The new faculty is still half formed. Many positions for recruitment have been hit by court cases and reservations. It is easy to set up a greenfield institution. It is difficult to deal with old baggage in an institution like Ravenshaw, where the expectations are high and resources low.

Ravenshaw had an identity like none other. In last 50 years it has become fairly pedestrian. When it became a University, it was caught like any other educational institution in the strangle hold of a predicament that is now fairly common. Every educational institution now faces the demand to expand by incorporating vocational elements. MBA, before it was hit by the economic meltdown, was regarded as the flagship course. Ravenshaw, therefore, introduced MBA and set up the Ravenshaw Management Centre, to mark its transition to a University. The Government does not give anything more than the salary grant and some money for infrastructure to the new University. The responsibility of earning by introducing new courses is on the University itself . The Government, in fact had advised in a meeting to consider winding up subjects like Philosophy, Hindi etc. and opening of technology and management courses.

Research in Ravenshaw has been almost nonexistent for many decades, for multipl e reasons. It is believed that given the research achievements of the new faculty, on the basis of which most have been recruited, particularly in science , Ravenshaw will reacquire its earlier fame in scientific research. The new faculty is still in the formative stage.

The Kanika Library wa s indeed the saddest place when the University started. The Library claimed that it had nearly two lakh books in its roll and numerous precious journals but they were thoroughly disorganised. By a hand count, it was found that only 1.12 lakh are available on the shelves. Of the entire lot, only 60,000 have been digitally entered. Precious journals were kept in gunny bags and piled up it some corner. ‘The Ravenshavian’ issues of an entire decade , which were almost falling off like debris , have now been scanned and made available in our website. The antique books of invaluable worth were rotting in a mezzanine floor to which there was no easy access. The only transaction with the students was for some textbooks. Due to lack of grant, and more than that, of involved interest, there was no accretion. The University has started renovation of the Kanika Library and the Centenary Library, which houses the textbooks on a massive scale. The renovation comprises conservation of the heritage structure, redesigning of utility areas and digitalisation with e-library. Already some beginning of the e-library has been made by storing about 80,000 PDF books and one lakh music files in the library server. In brief, the old Kanika Library is emerging now a s the new Ravenshaw Knowledge Centre (RKC) with other such auxiliary activities that a knowledge centre entails.

As for hostel accommodation, Ravenshaw has a low satisfaction of 23%. All its dilapidated hostels with leaking roofs, and their infrastructure falling apart have been renovated, if not fully. Only the West and East Hostels have been specially renovated. The University has spent nearly R s 8 crore of its precious money on the repair and renovation of hostels. Besides, a projection has been worked out to raise the level of satisfaction by another 25%, through construction of six new girls’ hostels and three new boys’ hostels at a tentative cost of Rs 27 crore.

There is a difference between beautification and restoration. Beautification is optional but  restoration is always expensive, if it is done with quality. A historic institution like Ravenshaw, whose infrastructure has greatly decayed, due to years of negligence, requires extensive restoration. The restoration of Ravenshaw College Hall, which once housed the Odisha State Assembly, was expensive. The restoration of Kanika Library is going to be expensive. Such expenditure is unavoidable if they are restored with quality. Many visitors, including the Chief Minister, who have seen the restoration of the Heritage Hall have admired it.

Desecration of statues had started long before the University was founded. Front area of the college was congested with growth of wild bushes, half masonry walls, dividers, broken tennis courts with potholes, and littered garbage. All the three statues were installed on pedestals in that nearly abandoned front area, with plasters peeling off them, and all discoloured. They were left open to the vagaries of both nature and men. The University decided to renovate the front area with a huge green lawn and wrought iron gates and boundaries, making the view of the majestic college building visible to the road. While clearing all impediments to the view, the statues too were removed. While removing them the University had discussed with their donors, and assured them that they will be reinstalled either in the front porch or in the Kanika Library building after they are renovated. The renovation work is in process.

The backbone of a University is its faculty. The old faculty was highly underexposed. The new faculties, chosen on the basis of an open competition and global advertisement, have brought tidings from other shores. I am sure they would gradually settle down and also incorporate the best practices they have experienced. When I was a student at Ravenshaw four decades before, we had tutorials. There is none now. The high teacher-student ratio makes it impossible for any exclusive supervision. Besides, the culture had so deteriorated tha t even after it be c ame a University, most of its faculty, particularly those who stayed at Bhubaneswar would leave the campus before early afternoon. I hope the new faculty does not fall into the same rot.

Ravenshaw University shall continue to be a blend of the old and new. For over a century it had been the home of classical studies. In its new version, it will now cope not only with new theories but more so with applications. Ours is a knowledge economy. But the creation of economic wealth must not be at the expense of cultural wealth and insight.

The Ravenshaw University has been in existence for some years. It should have incorporated a few best practices of the best universities of the world. I would like to believe that the University is about intellect. The intellect of a University is the sum total of intellect of its faculty and students. I trust the new faculty. I trust the students of Ravenshaw.

In the faculty recruitment front, the newsletter had the following to say: 

After receiving Government’s approval for creating 153 faculty positions comprising 17 posts of Professors, 45 posts of Readers and 91 posts of Lecturers, Ravenshaw University took up this mammoth recruitment enterprise by global advertisement for the faculty positions and received more than 7,000 applications.

It lists 75 new faculty that have been hired.  With respect to the quality of the new faculty its goes on to say the following:

The university now boasts of faculty members who have joined the university with their successful research and teaching career in universities abroad. As a Humboldt Fellow, Pradipta Mohapatra, a leading botanist of the country with his focus of research on toxicity of insecticides on algae and cyanobacteria has worked in Rostock and Duesseldorf Universities in Germany. Similarly, the two other botanists, S.K. Naik and N.R. Singh have done their postdoctoral research in the Universities of Kentucky, US, and Stellenbosch in South Africa respectively. Rupashree Shyama Roy, a young scientist with research in molecular modeling and computational chemistry has worked in the Universities of Munich and Leipzig, Germany. Another young scientist, Kumar Siddhartha Kesav Varadwaj with his research interest in nanoscience and technology has been associated with Hokkaido university, Japan and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Yet another young faculty of chemistry, Sabita Nayak has worked on the design and development of cardiovascular drugs as part of her postdoctoral research in the University of Texas. Apart from teaching and research on contemporary economic issues, the department of economics has started addressing the problems of rural Orissa. Economist Dr. Mamata Swain, with a Ph.D. from London, is the lead in this regard. Nachiketa Das with a dual citizenship status of India and Australia and being a permanent resident of Japan now heads the department of Geology. With a postdoctoral degree from Harvard, he has been associated with universities of Glasgow, Melbourne and Hiroshima in several academic capacities. Dipti Ranjan Patnaik, who has been both a Fulbright Fellow at Ohio State University, Columbia and an Indo-Canadian Fellow, and has recently received the prestigious Erikson Scholar-in-Residence Position, has already spelt out the roadmap for his department of English. The list goes on. The idea here is not to undermine the achievements of individual faculty members of other different departments by citing a few cases at hand. What needs to be stressed here is the clinical precision which has gone into the process of selection of the core faculty of the university. As one traverses through the departments cutting across humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, the possibilities of having an engagement with ‘ignited minds’ who seek to question meta narratives, becomes absolutely inescapable. In fact, this core faculty of the university in many ways than one is going to shape the texture of academic discourse not only for the university but also for the society at large.

The Ravenshaw website at http://ravenshawuniversity.ac.in/common/faculties.htm has the latest list of the faculty with their short biographies and their phone numbers. I also noticed that some of the faculty have foreign post-doctoral experiences, a couple have Ph.D from abroad, some have experience outside Odisha, some with Ph.Ds from IITs, and many with good publication record.

So it seems like a decent start. Having only one Mathematics faculty is worrisome though. If that can be strengthened and more Physics faculty is hired then Ravenshaw could develop good science programs, such as a 5-yr program in collaboration with NISER.

3 comments April 14th, 2011

The current faculty of Central University of Orissa Koraput

The following is from http://www.centraluniversityorissa.ac.in/Faculty_Details.asp?pgid=4 with the information in blue added via web searching.

6 comments March 8th, 2011

2011-12 budget allocations for various HRD institutions

The 2011-12 budget is available at http://indiabudget.nic.in/ebmain.asp. The HRD budget page is http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2011-12/eb/sbe59.pdf. Following is from those pages.

MHRD: Higher Education:

• Total budget for Higher Education: 21912 crores.   (2010-11: 18206 crores)
• UGC: Total budget is 8675.66 crores. (2010-11: 7530.19 crores) [Includes the budget of the old and new central universities.]**CUO Koraput**
• Educational Loan interest subsidy: 640 crores (2010-11: 500 crores; this program was introduced in 2010-11.)
• 7 old IITs: 2081.68 crores (2010-11: 1771.71 crores)
• Setting up of 8 new IITs: 500 crores (2010-11: 250 crores)**IIT Bhubaneswar**
• IISc Bangalore: 290.41 crores (2010-11: 267.65 crores)
• ISMU Dhanbad: 138.68 crores (2010-11: 122.47 crores)
• 5 IISERs: 580 crores (2010-11: 450 crores)
• 20 NITs: 1378.58 crores (2010-11: 1292.51 crores)**NIT Rourkela**
• Setting up of new NITs: 40 crores (2010-11: 16.81 crores)
• IIEST: 25 crores
• 7 old IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Indore, Shillong): 148.93 crores (2010-11: 108.8 crores)
• Setting up of new IIMs: 60 crores (2010-11: 13 crores)
• IIITs:  Gwalior – 39.38 crores; Allahabad  – 52.35 crores; Jabalpur – 40 crores; Kanchipuram – 70 crores.
• New IIITs: 29 crores **IIIT Berhampur ??**
• SLIET: 39.03 crores (2010-11: 27 crores)
• NERIST: 39.66 crores (2010-11: 36.34 crores)

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare:

• Total: 26897 crores (2010-11: 23300 crores)
• Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi: 345 crores (2010-11: 330.69 crores)
• Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi: 283 crores (2010-11: 257.54 crores)
• Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi: 67 crores (2010-11: 52.03 crores)
• All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mumbai: 14.5 crores (2010-11: 11.6 crores)
• Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, New Delhi: 56.22 crores (2010-11: 53.91 crores)
• Vallabh Bhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi University: 33.4 crores (2010-11: 30.72 crores)
• Lady Hardinge Medical College & Smt. Sucheta Kripalani Hospital New Delhi: 194 crores (2010-11: 174.72 crores)
• NIMHANS Bangalore: 166.23 crores (2010-11: 140.46 crores)
• All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore: 41 crores (2010-11: 34.35 crores)
• PGIMER, Chandigarh: 470 crores (2010-11: 407 crores)
• JIPGMER, Puducherry: 250 crores (2010-11: 266 crores)
• AIIMS New Delhi: 1022.35 crores (2010-11: 985 crores)
• 6 New AIIIMS-like institutions and upgrading of state govt. hospitals: 1616.57 crores (2010-11: 747 crores)**AIIMS-like Bhubaneswar**

Department of Atomic Energy:

• Total: 7602.41 crores (2010-11: 6535.29 crores)
• BARC, Mumbai: 2554 crores (2010-11: 2338.20 crores)
• IGCAR, Kalpakkam: 711.70 crores (2010-11: 454 crores)
• RRCAT, Indore: 248.15 crores (2010-11: 226.25 crores)
• VECC, Kolkata: 155.69 crores (2010-11: 106.54 crores)
• TIFR, Mumbai: 510.38 crores (2010-11: 417.30 crores)
• Tata Memorial Center, Mumbai: 289.78 crores (2010-11: 286.60 crores)
• Saha Institute, Kolkata:  117.05 crores (2010-11: 116.9  crores)
• Institute Of Physics (IOP), Bhubaneswar: 239.6 crores (2010-11:  76.86 crores)
• Harish-Chandra Institute, Allahabad: 25.8 crores (2010-11: 19.74  crores)
• Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai: 28 crores (2010-11: 27.5  crores)
• Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar: 564.48 crores (2010-11: 384.63 crores)

(IOP’s budget used to be around 20-25 crores, close to the budget of HCI Allahabad and IMS Chennai. The substantially higher amount is because it includes the budget of NISER, Bhubaneswar. I wonder why NISER does not have a line item budget.)

Ministry of Statistics and programme Implementation

• Indian Statistical Institute: 141 Crores (2010-11: 131.76 crores)

Ministry of Textiles

• National Institute of Fashion Technology: 167 crores (2010-11: 108 crores) [Several campuses, including one in Bhubaneswar]

Ministry of Environment and Forests

• Indian Institute of Forest Management: 12.5 crores (2010-11: 12.5 crores)

Department of Space

• Vikram Sarabhai Space Center: 686.03 crores (2010-11: 603.05 crores)
• ISRO-Inertial Systems Unit: 39.74 crores (2010-11: 29.63 crores)
• Liquid propulsions systems center: 314.33 crores (2010-11: 271.32 crores)
• Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology: 100 crores (2010-11: 100 crores)
• ISRO Satellite Center (ISAC): 320.69 crores (2010-11: 348.10 crores)
• Laboratory for Electro-Optics System: 42.85 crores (2010-11: 36.71 crores)
• Semi-Conductor Laboratory: 80 crores (2010-11: 58 crores)
• Satish Dhawan Space Center: 434.77 crores (2010-11: 364.41 crores)
• Space Application Center: 420.75 crores (2010-11: 300.86 crores)
• National Remote Sensing Center: 223.80 crores (2010-11: 222.2 crores)
• Physical Research Laboratory: 80.7 crores (2010-11: 47.13 crores)
• National Atmospheric Research Laboratory: 19.34 crores (2010-11: 9.1 crores

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

• Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology:  39 crores (2010-11: 36 crores)

Ministry of Chemical and Fertlizers

• NIPER (old and several new ones): 132.31 crores (2010-11: 71.22 crores)
• CIPET: 44.32 crores (2010-11: 74.55 crores) [*Several campuses including one in Bhubaneswar*]
• Institute of Pesticides Formulation Technology: 4 crores (2010-11: 3.19 crores)

Ministry of Agriculture

• National Institute of Biotic Stress Management: 20 crores (new)
• Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology: 30 crores (new)
• Central Agricultural University, Bundelkhand: 30 crores (new)

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

• Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development: 10.8 crores (2010-11: 9.9 crores)
• Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education: 24.63 crores (2010-11: 36.63 crores)
• Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education – NE area and Sikkim Initiative: 15 crores (2010-11: 3 crores)

Ministry of Science & Technology

• 23 autonomous S & T institutions and professional bodies: 713 crores (2010-11: 589 crores)
• 14 autonomous Biotechnology R & D institutions: 378.35 crores (2010-11: 330.1 crores) **Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar**
• 37 CSIR National Laboratories and 38 field centers: 2312.68 crores (2010-11: 2083.84 crores)
• Institute of Translational Research (Innovation Complexes): 10 crores (new) [To be created at strategic locations.]

Ministry of Culture

• National School of Drama: 21.2 crores (2010-11: 21.95 crores)

Ministry of Shipping

• Indian Maritime University: 41 crores (2010-11: 26 crores)

Ministry of Tourism

• Training (22 institutes of Hotel Management; 5 Food Craft Institutes; IITTM; National Institute of Water Sports): 123 crores (2010-11: 109.22 crores)

Department of Information Technology

• National Informatic Centers: 679 crores (2010-11: 628 crores)
• C-DAC: 185.4 crores (2010-11: 163 crores)

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

• Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs: 28 crores (2010-11: 87.36 crores)

Ministry of Commerce

• National Institute of Design: 9.5 crores (2010-11: 11.49 crores)
• National Institute of Intellectual Property Management: 8.4 crores (2010-11: 10.3 crores)
• Central Manufacturing Technology Institutes: 5.5 crores (2010-11: 4.24 crores)

I have not been able to figure out which ministry funds the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Also, if I am missing some institutes which I should include, please let me know.

1 comment March 1st, 2011

Xavier University Bill ready: tathya.in

Following is from the tathya.in report at http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=4965.

It seems that the long awaited proposal for the Xavier University will take a concrete shape, thanks to the initiative of B K Patnaik, Chief Secretary. 

Mr.Patnaik is pursuing the proposed private university initiated by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), said sources. 

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik cleared the proposal of the XIMB for an university after A U Singh Deo, Minister Planning & Coordination brought to his notice about the long pending case 

Once the Chief Minister cleared it, Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education asked the authorities in DOHE to frame the bill. 

In the meantime XIMB authorities have identified the place near Pipili in Puri district to set up the University Campus.

However the Xavier varsity bill got delayed because of the proposed Umbrella Act for all universities.

With the Supreme Court of India rejecting the idea, the State Government in the Department of Law (DOL) has favoured the proposal for that each private University shall be established by a separate State Act and shall conform to the relevant provisions of the UGC Act, 1956. 

So Chandra Sekhar Kumar, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, DOHE has sent the draft Xavier University bill to the Department of Law for vetting the same. 

Debabrata Dash, Principal Secretary DOL has discussed the issue with his officers and they are busy in finalizing the provision of the bill, said sources. 

Once cleared by the DOL, the proposed bill will be presented to the State Cabinet. 

With the approval of the Cabinet, bill will be placed in the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) to be cleared. 

Sources said that Xavier University bill will be placed in the OLA in the coming Budget Session.

I hope this really happens. A lot of expansion plan is dependent on this. In particular there have been reports about plan for a Rural Management school in Balangir, a campus in Sambalpur that will offer Business program as well as general courses (arts, commerce, etc.), a campus in Bhubaneswar that will offer general courses (arts, commerce, etc.), a new institute run together with XLRI that will offer courses on HR, etc. There was earlier plans to offer B.Ed courses. All these will become easy to implement once the university happens.

1 comment February 8th, 2011

India’s Supreme Court takes up the appeal by the Odisha government and Vedanta University against the high court judgment

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

 

The Supreme Court on Friday admitted petitions of Anil Agarwal Foundation and the Orissa government challenging the Orissa High Court , which ruled acquisition of over 6,000 hectares for an international university in Puri was illegal. …

The state government and Anil Agarwal Foundation, in separate special leave petitions told the apex court that the appellant foundation is a public limited company under the Companies Act.

The state government argued that the land acquired for the mega university was not illegal. The high court had held that land acquisition was not permissible under Section 40(1)( a) of the Land Acquisition Act. Earlier, two different benches of the apex court refused to hear the case as one judge, each, was linked to the adjudication of the issue earlier. The petitions were admitted by a bench comprising Justice DK Jain and Justice HL Dattu.

… Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had made a statement in the assembly denying that an ordinance was passed to build the university. "The reference to the ordinance is baffling. The fact is that no ordinance has ever been promulgated by the government for establishing the proposed Vedanta University. Under the UGC Regulations , 2003, a university can be set up by an Act of Parliament or state legislature by a Section 25 company or a trust or a registered society. The promoter of the proposed university, the foundation is a "not for profit" company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act" .

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express. 

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Orissa government to maintain status quo on acquisition of 6,000 hectares of land for setting up an international university by UK-based Vedanta group in the holy city of Puri.

A Bench of Justices D K Jain and H L Dattu passed the order on appeals filed by the Orissa government and the Anil Agarwal Foundation against an Orissa High Court decision that land acquisition procedures for the proposed university project was illegal.

This has been widely reported in various media but most have not analysed the ruling properly. The best analysis is done in the Odia paper Sambada. Following are screen copies from its site.

January 29th, 2011

Update on Centurion University of Technology and Management Parlakhemundi, Odisha

Their website is http://www.cutm.ac.in/. The university name appears in the UGC website of private universities at http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/privateuniversity.html as well as in the Government of Odisha list of universities at http://www.orissa.gov.in/Portal/ViewDetails.asp?vchglinkid=GL014&vchplinkid=PL070. Their 2011 brochure is available at http://www.cutm.ac.in/downloads/public/CUTM-Brochure-2011.pdf. The university was inaugurated by the CM on January 22 2011.

3 comments January 23rd, 2011

Vice President Calls for More Funds for State Universities to Improve Higher Education: PIB

Following is from http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=68579.

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that higher education cannot improve in India unless State Universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrollment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Delivering foundation day lecture at University of Calcutta today Shri Ansari said, anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one Central University is almost the same or more than the budget of all State Universities in some States. Just like the Central Government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to State Universities as a shared national enterprise, the Vice President observed.

Shri Ansari said, “Our Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrollment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrollment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.”

Following is the full text of Vice President’s lecture delivered on the occasion:

“ This is a rare privilege. I do feel flattered to be invited to deliver the Foundation Day Lecture of a great and famous seat of learning, India’s oldest modern university, more so because of an ancient association of a few youthful years with this city. I also subscribe fully to what the Urdu poet Ghalib said about Kolkata which he visited around the year1830:

Kalkatte ka jo zikr kiya tu ne hum nasheen

Ek teer mere sine main maara ki hai hai

Ah me, my friend! The mention of Calcutta’s name

Has loosed off a shaft that pierces to my very soul

Voltaire was perhaps unduly cynical when he describes history as “nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” This is certainly not true of the history of this great city which is, in a sense, also the history of modern India.

Most of us associate the year 1857 with the First War of Independence, with the heroic deeds of many, as also with the eventual failure of the effort to overthrow the foreign yoke and seek freedom from bondage. Few today would associate 1857 with another event of seminal significance. It was on January 24, 1857 that the Calcutta University Act was enacted. It was the culmination of a process initiated by Lord William Bentinck and energised by his successor Lord Auckland. The conceptual input and framework had come earlier from Sir Charles Wood. Its purpose, and ambit, was unambiguously linked to a colonial purpose, namely “to confine higher education to persons possessing leisure and natural influence” over the minds of their countrymen and who, by attaining a higher standard of modern education “would eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community.”

The expectations from this endeavour were anticipated to be modest. The first Vice Chancellor, Sir James William Colvile, was candid about results. “We must recollect,” he said in the first Convocation Address, “that we are not merely planting an exotic (tree), we are planting a tree of slow growth.” His successor went against the tide of opinion in the British Indian establishment in the aftermath of 1857 and said three years later: “Educate your people from Cape Camorin to the Himalayas and a second mutiny of 1857 will be impossible.”

These worthy gentlemen evidently could not discern the thirst for new knowledge among segments of the public, nor could they anticipate the use that would eventually be made of it. The alumnae of this institution played a great role in the freedom struggle as also in the furtherance of knowledge in all fields. The record does speak for itself.

The proclaimed and principal purpose of the university was, and is, ‘Advancement of Learning’. There was an element of idealism about it. In a celebrated work published in November 1858, Cardinal John Henry Newman spelt out the idea of a university in terms worthy of reiteration:



“ A university is a place of concourse, wither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge…It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward, and discoveries verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error exposed, by the collusion of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge…It is a place which wins the admiration of the young by its celebrity, kindles the affections of the middle-aged by its beauty, and rivets the fidelity of the old by its associations. It is a seat of wisdom, a light of the world, a minister of the faith, an Alma Mater of the rising generation.”

Over the past century and a half, the ideal has retained its relevance. What has changed in response to the evolving external environment is the content, some of the methodology, and some of the end product. These were propelled by the enormity of change – political, economic, technological and cultural. A historian of our times noted at the turn of the century that “we are entering a fearful time, a time that will call on all our resources, moral as well as intellectual and material.” In this endeavour, the intellectual inputs from seats of learning and research would impact decisively on the moral and material resources needed to respond to the emerging challenges.

The need to revisit the framework for higher education in the country has been felt in recent years. This was summed up in the 2008 Report of the National Knowledge Commission:

“The emerging knowledge society and associated opportunities present a set of new imperatives and new challenges for our economy, polity and society. If we fail to capitalize on the opportunities now, our demographic dividend could well become a liability. The widening disparities in our country will translate into social unrest, if urgent steps are not taken to build an inclusive society. And our growth rate, which is faltering now, will stagnate soon, if a sustainable development paradigm is not created. “

A look at the ground reality is relevant to this discourse. Today we have 504 Universities, with varying statutory bases and mandates. Of these, 40 are Central Universities, 243 are State Universities, 130 are Deemed Universities, five institutions established under State legislation, 53 are State private Universities, and 33 are Institutions of National Importance established by Central legislation. We have a total teaching faculty of around 6 lakhs in higher education.

The structure and quality of these institutions, and their output, was the subject of critical scrutiny in the Yashpal Committee Report of 2009, tasked to suggest measures for the renovation and rejuvenation of higher education. One of its observations is telling:

“Over the years we have followed policies of fragmenting our educational enterprises into cubicles. We have overlooked that new knowledge and new insights have often originated at the boundaries of disciplines. We have tended to imprison disciplinary studies in opaque walls. This has restricted flights of imagination and limited our creativity. This character of our education has restrained and restricted our young right from the school age and continues that way into college and university stages. Most instrumentalities of our education harm the potential of human mind for constructing and creating new knowledge. We have emphasized delivery of information and rewarded capability of storing information. This does not help in creating a knowledge society. This is particularly vile at the university level because one of the requirements of a good university should be to engage in knowledge creation – not just for the learner but also for society as a whole.”

The Report goes on to say that our universities remain one of the most under-managed and badly governed organisations in society, with constricted autonomy, internal subversion within academia and multiple and opaque regulatory systems. Furthermore, university education is no longer viewed as a good in itself but as the stepping stone to a higher economic and social orbit.

The Report dwells on the increasing demand for expansion of private college and university level institutions necessitating an understanding of its implications in terms of the system’s enrolment capacity, programme focus, regional balance, ownership pattern, modes of delivery, degree of regulation, quality and credibility as well as social concerns of inclusiveness. It points out that State universities and affiliated colleges represent the bulk of enrolment in higher education and remain the most neglected in terms of resources and governmental attention.

Targeted government interventions to enhance access to elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have been successful in quantitative terms, even though problems remain with regard to content, quality and outcomes. You are also aware that one of the focal themes of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is the expansion and enhancement of access to higher education.

Our Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrolment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrolment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, gross enrolment in higher education is not directly linked to economic growth and prosperity or to elementary school enrolment. Thus, for example, some of the economically and educationally backward states with respect to literacy rate and school enrolment, such as Orissa, Assam, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have higher enrolments in higher education as compared to relatively better off states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It would seem that enrolment is a function of a variety of social, cultural, institutional and economic processes and is significantly affected by the availability of educational infrastructure and facilities.

In addition to expansion, the other two central themes of the Eleventh Plan are inclusion and excellence. This is recognition of the fact that expansion does not necessarily ensure automatic access to the marginalised sections of the society and that quantitative expansion without maintaining quality would defeat the basic objective.

There are five questions pertaining to higher education that need to be addressed urgently:

First, we must ponder whether the existing means of instituting new universities is desirable and sustainable. Currently, Universities can be established only through Central or State legislation or through recognition as Deemed Universities on a selective basis. Legislation has been accorded to many private Universities by some State Governments, and both Central and State governments have accorded statutory status to some institutions.

Second, higher education cannot improve in India unless state universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrolment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one central university is almost the same or more than the budget of all state universities in some states. Just like the central government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to state universities as a shared national enterprise. The Midterm Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan takes note of this option and has observed:

“Many state universities including the old and reputed universities of Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune are starved of funds and this allocation could be used for improving the conditions of the existing State universities and colleges which faces severe paucity of resources to help them retain their excellence and competitive edge….. The Central funding of State institutions should be linked to the reforms and a MOU signed between MHRD, UGC, States, universities and institutions for implementation of time-bound reforms and outcomes.”

Third, a significant focus of reform should be the college system, numbering around 26000 colleges, where most of the enrolment in higher education occurs. Sadly, under graduate education does not get the attention it deserves in universities amidst paucity of funds for qualitative development and quantitative expansion of colleges. The government is planning to establish colleges in 374 educationally backward districts in the country, representing over 60 per cent of all districts, with shared funding between the state and central governments.

Fourth, we need to liberate education from the strict and fragmented disciplinary confines of our formal higher education structures. This has become a significant impediment in the creation of new knowledge, especially in view of our stated objective of creating a knowledge society. We need to remind ourselves that the Indian Nobel Prize winners in the early part of the last century were a part of our higher education set-up. We had then allowed free interplay between science and engineering, languages and the humanities, performing and fine arts. It was at the fringes of such inter-disciplinary interaction that new knowledge was produced and existing knowledge flourished. I am aware of academic administrators who bemoan that those pursuing Mathematics could not simultaneously study Sanskrit grammar in India despite sound academic and research logic of doing so, due to systemic rigidities of our university system.

Fifth, higher education in our country must be an arena of choice, not of elimination. Increasingly, one notices that entrance and admission criteria and procedures are designed to screen out and eliminate, due to the adverse ratio of demand and availability, especially in disciplines with job potential or where the college or university reputation is likely to be a determining factor in employment. We must create avenues for skills training and vocational education so that entering universities does not become a default choice for the sake of employment, particularly for those who might not have interest in the subject or desire for higher education.

Allow me to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, by pointing out that the entire gamut of issues dealing with the rejuvenation and restructuring of higher education in India is in the public domain for an open policy debate. In the near future, we would witness civil society, policy community, academia, the government and the legislatures debating issues ranging from regulatory and governance structures, academic and administrative reforms, capacity building and teacher training, and entry of individual and institutional foreign education providers. This is a positive development and must be pursued to its logical conclusion.

It is my hope that this distinguished audience, and students, would be part of the ongoing debates on higher education. Each of you is an important stakeholder in the process and must contribute to it, not only as members of the academic community, but more importantly as citizens of this Republic. It is only with active engagement that we can hope to mould higher education as an instrumentality to achieve the Constitutional vision propounded by our founding fathers.”

This is an important speech. It gives some hints regarding what may happen in the 12th plan. It looks like there may be a significant central funding component for state universities.

December 21st, 2010

IGIT, CET, VSSUT, NIT RKL selected to proceed further on the TEQIP-II program

(Thanks to Biswa for the pointer.)

Update: It looks like IGIT Sarang was the only one in the 25 government colleges that are eligible (under sub component 1.1) to submit an Institutional Developmental Proposal (IDP). VSSUT and CET are in the list of Ineligible (under sub componnet 1.1) Govt. funded/aided institutions (for which the state is ready to co-sponsor) that can submit again for compliance of eligibility conditions & then submit IDPs. There are no private institutions from Odisha under sub component 1.1.

There are no eleigible institutions from Odisha under sub-component 1.2. NIT Rourkela is in the list of Non-Eligible Institutions (for which State is ready to co-sponsor) shortlisted for compliance of eligibility conditions for participation in the Project under Sub-Component 1.2.

The following table lists the institutions that applied from Oidsha, their over all scores and the problems they had (if any).

As per http://www.npiu.nic.in/faq.htm sub component 1.1 is about  Strengthening institutions to improve learning outcomes and employability of graduates and Sub-component 1.2 is about Scaling-up postgraduate education and demand driven R&D and innovation.

One  of the requirement for the BOG is that it be headed by an eminent industrialist/engineering academician with adequate representation from other stakeholders.

So it is not clear what the Telegraph article below is talking about.

As per the report in http://telegraphindia.com/1101207/jsp/orissa/story_13265662.jsp the five Colleges are:

• DRIEMS, Tangi, Cuttack
• NIST, Berhampur
• CEB, Bhubaneswar
• VSSUT, Burla
• IGIT, Sarang

The details of the program is at http://www.npiu.nic.in/faqi.htm. From a quick reading it seems that the government institutions will get about 10 crores each and the private ones about 4 crores each.

1 comment December 7th, 2010

Odisha CM responds to the High Court judgment on Vedanta University land acquisition; time for us to take action in support of this

Update 5: The companies act of 1956 is at http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/companiesact/companiesacts.htm.

Update 4: The land acquisition act is given at http://dolr.nic.in/hyperlink/acq.htm. Following are the excerpts on the whole section on land acquisition for companies, including Section 40 referred below.

PART VII

Acquisition of Land for Companies

38. [Company may be authorized to enter and survey]. Rep. by the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1984 (68 of 1984), s.21.

[38A. Industrial concern to be deemed Company for certain purposes. – An industrial concern, ordinarily employing not less than one hundred workmen owned by an individual or by an association of individuals and not being a Company, desiring to acquire land for the erection of dwelling houses for workmen employed by the concern or for the provision of amenities directly connected therewith shall, so far as concerns the acquisition of such land, be deemed to be a Company for the purposes of this Part, and the references to Company in [selections 4, 5A, 6, 7 and 50] shall be interpreted as references also to such concern]

39. Previous consent of appropriate Government and execution of agreement necessary. – The provisions of [sections 6 to 16 (both inclusive) and sections 18 to 37 (both inclusive)] shall not be put in force in order to acquire land for any company [under this Part], unless with the previous consent of the [appropriate Government], not unless the Company shall have executed the agreement hereinafter mentioned.

40. Previous enquiry. – (1) Such consent shall not be given unless the [appropriate Government] be satisfied. [either on the report of the Collector under section 5A, sub-section (2), or] by an enquiry held as hereinafter provided, –

[(a) that the purpose of the acquisition is to obtain land for the erection of dwelling houses for workmen employed by the Company or for the provision of amenities directly connected therewith, or

[(aa) that such acquisition is needed for the construction of some building or work for a Company which is engaged or is taking steps for engaging itself in any industry or work which is for a public purpose, or]

(b) that such acquisition is needed for the construction of some work, and that such work is likely to prove useful to the public].

(2) Such enquiry shall be held by such officer and at such time and place as the [appropriate Government] shall appoint.

(3) Such officer may summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses and compel the production of documents by the same means and, as far as possible, in the same manner as is provided by the [Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908)] in the case of a Civil Court.

41. Agreement with appropriate Government. – If the [appropriate Government] is satisfied [after considering the report, if any, of the Collector under section 5A, sub-section (2), or on the report of the officer making an inquiry under section 40] that [the proposed acquisition is for any of the purposes referred to in clause (a) or clause (aa) or clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 40], it shall require the Company to enter into an agreement [with the [appropriate Government]], providing to the satisfaction of the [appropriate Government] for the following matters, namely :-

(1) the – [payment to the [appropriate Government]] of the cost of the acquisition;

(2) the transfer, on such payment, of the land to the Company.

(3) the terms on which the land shall be held by the Company,

[(4) where the acquisition is for the purpose of erecting dwelling houses or the provision of amenities connected therewith, the time within which, the conditions on which and the manner in which the dwelling houses or amenities shall be erected or provided;

[(4A) where the acquisition is for the construction of any building or work for a Company which is engaged or is taking steps for engaging itself in any industry or work which is for a public purpose, the time within which, and the conditions on which, the building or work shall be constructed or executed; and]

(5) where the acquisition is for the construction of any other work, the time within which and the conditions on which the work shall be executed and maintained and the terms on which the public shall be entitled to use the work.]

42. Publication of agreement. – Every such agreement shall, as soon as may be after its execution, be published in the official Gazette, and shall thereupon (so far as regards the terms on which the public shall be entitled to use the work) have the same effect as if it had formed part of this Act.

43. Section 39 to 42 not to apply where Government bound by agreement to provide land for Companies. – The provisions of sections 39 to 42, both inclusive, shall not apply and the corresponding sections of Land Acquisition Act, 1870 (10 of 1870), shall be deemed never to have applied, to the acquisition of land for any Railway or other Company, for the purposes of which, [under any agreement with such Company, the secretary of State for India in Council, the Secretary of State, [the Central Government or any State Government] is or was bound to provide land].

44. How agreement with Railway Company may be proved. – In the case of the acquisition of land for the purpose of a Railway Company, the existence of such an agreement as is mentioned in section 43 may be proved by the production of a printed copy thereof purporting to be printed by order of Government.

[44A. Restriction on transfer, etc. – No Company for which any land is acquired under this Part shall be entitled to transfer the said land or any part thereof by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise except with the previous sanction of the appropriate Government.

44B. Land not to be acquired under this Part except for certain purpose for private companies other than Government companies. – Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, no land shall be acquired under this Part, except for the purpose mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 40, for a private company, which is not a Government company.

Explanation. – "Private company" and "Government company" shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).] 

Update 3: Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer.

The dispute was over whether the Anil Agarwal Foundation is a private company or a public company in terms of the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. The Court held that the acquisition of land in favour of the Foundation is not permissible, except for some limited purposes enumerated under Section 40(1)(a) of the Land Acquisition Act, since it is a private company.

The Chief Minister, however, countered the Court’s stand by stating, “In this connection I may point out that acquisition was never made under this aforesaid provision but under Section 40(1) (aa) or 40 (l) (b) for a public purpose, the acquisition being for the purpose of setting up a university… As the Government has accepted, based on the records, that the Foundation is a Public Company, land acquisition for an educational purpose like for the proposed world class university would be permissible under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.”

Replying to the court’s observation that the Ordinance promulgated by the State Government in favour of the Foundation cannot give the legal status to the university proposed to be established in the acquired land by the Foundation, Patnaik observed, “The reference to the Ordinance is baffling and is an error apparent on the face of record. The fact is that no Ordinance has ever been promulgated by the Government for establishing the proposed Vedanta University. Under the UGC Regulations, 2003 a university can be set up by an Act of Parliament or State Legislature by a Section 25 Company or a Trust or a Registered Society. The promoter of the proposed University, the Foundation is a “not for profit” Company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act”.

The Chief Minister further clarified that the Assembly has already passed a Bill in July, 2009 for setting up the Vedanta University with an aim to provide education of global standards in the State. The Bill is presently awaiting the assent of the Governor.

The High Court had also observed that acquiring land in which two rivers are flowing, and requiring the company to maintain the flow of these rivers, would affect the residents of the area. The Chief Minister contended that no land comprising the rivers, channels or embankment would be transferred to the university.

“There is also no proposal to alienate the water channels in favour of the proposed university and the ownership, possession and right of use of channel will continue with Water Resources Department, and hence will serve the interest of the public at large”, he claimed.

Update 2: Following are excerpts from an IANS report in sify.com.

‘The setting up a world class university in Orissa is most certainly in the larger public interest and his government had acted in a bonafide manner throughout the process,’ Patnaik told the assembly in response to an adjournment motion.

… Responding to the questions raised by some opposition members during the debate, Patnaik also reiterated that as per the records available with the government, the foundation had satisfied all the norms for converting itself from a private to public company.

 Update 1: Following are excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has shot back at the Opposition, refuting all allegations regarding land acquisition for the proposed Vedanta University Project.

Responding to the adjournment motion on the issue moved by the Congress MLA Prasad Harichandan, Patnaik clarified that land acquisition for the project was not illegal.

… Giving his initial response to the motion, the chief minister said,"After receipt of intimation of the Anil Agarwal Foundation about the change of its status from a private to a public limited company, notification was issued under Sub-Section 1 of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in respect of 7184.37 acres of land which was subsequently reduced to 6137.90 acres. Acquisition has since been made in respect of 3495.21 acres of private land while government land to the extent of 509.27 acres has also been leased out to the Foundation”.

Referring to the High Court verdict on the issue, he said, “The High Court has held that the Anil Agarwal Foundation is a private company and not a public company in terms of provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. Therefore, it has held that the acquisition of land in favour of the Foundation is not permissible except for some limited purposes enumerated under Section 40 (1) (a) of the Land Acquisition Act. In this connection, I may point out that acquisition was never made under this aforesaid provision but under Section 40 (1) (a) (a) or 40 (1(b) for a public purpose, the acquisition being for the purpose of setting up a university.”

He further clarified that the Anil Agarwal Foundation had confirmed to the state government regarding the change of its status from a private to a public company with effect from November 23, 2006 by a resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting pursuant to the approval of the regional director, Department of Company Affairs.

"The company subsequently produced a letter dated February 21, 2007 from D K Gupta, Registrar of Companies to its address stating that the company has complied with the provisions of requirements of Section 25 of the Companies’ Act and accordingly, the status of the company has been changed from a private company to a public limited company. A copy of this letter has also been filed before the High Court by the Foundation on June 20, 2008”, he added.

Patnaik also clarified that there has been no violation of Section 16 (2) of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act.

"So far as the acquisition of land from the Lord Jagannath Temple is concerned, about 606 acres spread over nine villages has been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. There is no violation of Section 16 (2) of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act by such acquisition as the above section mentions about previous sanction of the state government for lease, mortgage, sale and alienation of land belonging to Lord Jagannath and would not, therefore, apply to the acquisition of land under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act”, he added. …

Following is an excerpt from a report in DNA.

Indicating that the Orissa government might challenge the high court judgement on Vedanta University in the Supreme Court, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today claimed that there was no violation of law during land acquisition for the proposed project in Puri district.

"The period of challenging the order of the high court has not yet expired. The advocate general has been requested to advise the government on the subject, after which appropriate steps will be taken in accordance with the law," he said in a statement on an adjournment motion moved by Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan on the issue.

… The court, in its November 16 judgement, stated that the acquisition process by the state government for a private limited company was not legal.

The chief minister, however, said, "We started land acquisition process after receipt of intimation from Anil Agarwal Foundation about the change of its status from a private to a public limited company."

Claiming that the state government had not violated law of the land, Patnaik said that land was acquired for public purpose.

"I would like to point out that the Foundation had submitted a letter dated 22, November, 2006 issued by VS Rao, regional director, ministry of company affairs, Mumbai to its address, stating that their request for permission under section 25(8) of the Companies’ Act has been considered for conversion of status of the company from private company, and that the provision of section 23, 31, 189 (2) and 192 of the Companies Act are required to be compiled with," Patnaik said.

However, a representative of the Registrar of Companies, Mumbai in its affidavit before the high court on October 15, 2008 stated that though the Registrar considered the change of status from private to public limited company, it did not furnish a certified true copy of the altered memorandum and articles of association.

The company affidavit also stated that the company had less than 7 members, the minimum requirement of a public company.

"This stand is at variance from the contents of the letter dated 21-2-2007 reportedly issued by the Registrar of the company. In view of the apparent contradiction, this matter will be examined further and appropriate steps will be taken as per law," Patnaik said.

Patnaik also rejected other factors that the varsity project would affect the Konark-Balukhand Sanctuary, violation of environment act, forest act and others.

Admitting that about 600 acre of land belonging to Jagannath Temple was acquired for the purpose, the chief minister said: "The high court has not passed any order with regard to the acquisition of the Jagannath Temple land."

Patnaik also cited recommendation of a House Committee that had earlier recommended for disposal of temple land to augment the resources of the temple. "By present acquisition for the proposed university, Rs8.80 crore have been received by the temple administration," he said.

Stating that a world-class university was required for the state, Patnaik said Vedanta Group had selected Puri after looking for different places in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

It is great to read that the CM understands the importance of Vedanta University. He has taken a huge risk to his political career in supporting this. It is time we take action in support of this. Stay tuned for our action plan.

1 comment November 25th, 2010

More tidbits on the Universities of Innovation

Following are excerpts from a report in University World News.

… "These universities will focus a lot on research and development and industry-academia collaboration. Besides the conventional streams of knowledge, research and development in emerging areas like global warming, food security, agriculture and community health will get prime focus," Sibal said after the consultation on 28 August with vice-chancellors, academics and business and industry organisations.

Universities themselves will decide their area of focus. However, Sibal said, they "should essentially identify areas having a direct bearing on the community."

Apart from the 14 public universities to be set up under the bill, private players could set up more institutions within the prescribed framework.

The new universities will be allowed to admit half their students from abroad, teach foreign curricula and hire teachers and even vice-chancellors who are foreign nationals, according to a draft law circulated by the government.

"Every university of innovation shall provide an ambience of learning that has an international flavour," states the Universities for Innovation Bill 2010, though "not less than half" the students should be Indian nationals".

The universities will not come under the purview of the University Grants Commission, which regulates most universities in India. The UGC caps the enrolment of foreign nationals at 15%.

Instead they will be set up with private help and be self-regulated, with half their board members being independent experts of academic eminence. They will also be free to set up more than one campus, including outside India.

Some of the universities will be set up in collaboration with leading American and British universities. Yale University, for instance, is already in talks with the education ministry and wants to develop leadership programmes for the new universities.

Innovation universities will be allowed to teach both Indian and foreign curricula simultaneously, and issue degrees that need not comply with established Indian norms.

The bill allows each innovation university to frame its own policy to attract faculty members from India and abroad and hire them directly, offering wages and perks that it deems fit. Currently, the government clears all faculty appointments and decides the salary structure of teachers in government and government-aided institutions.

There was overwhelming support for more flexibility in appointing faculty members. "The heart of this bill is innovation. We want to give the required freedom for innovation and not stifle promoters with regulations like appointing vice-chancellors through collegiums," said Sibal, referring to the current system of selection university heads. 

Lifting an existing 20% cap on appointing professors by invitation was also discussed. In the meeting "stakeholders asked to do away with the rule", Sibal said. A senior academic argued: "Why limit it to 20%? Let the innovation universities decide."

A key suggestion during the consultation was that since the universities will be innovative in nature, the bill should clearly define the outcomes it plans to achieve. Administrative structure, too, figured prominently in the discussion. 

Sibal said most of the suggestions that came up in the consultation were likely to be incorporated in the final draft of the bill, which will probably be introduced into parliament during the winter session.

Most of the points above have been covered in earlier articles. The only new point here is that these universities will be free to have multiple campuses. This is significant. For the one in Bhubaneswar, the government should allocate land in multiple locations inside Odisha (some far from Bhubaneswar), perhaps from the beginning itself.

3 comments September 6th, 2010

ICFAI University bill passes in Odisha assembly with minor ammendments

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University Bill received the green signal of the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) today.

… Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education piloted the Bill, which was introduced in the Monsoon Session of the Thirteenth Assembly.

Mr.Mishra agreed few changes in the Bill and it was passed after discussion.

… According to latest accommodation, two Members of the House and Secretary of the Department of Higher Education(DHE) will in the Board of Management(BOM) of the University.

Mr.Mishra also agreed to the proposal for granting concession to students belonging to ST, SC and OBC students.

Assembly asked the ICFAI authorities to prepare Fee Structure on the Guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC) and other regulatory bodies.
Similarly the Endowment Fund will be raised to Rs.5 crore, which was Rs.3 crore.

… With the Bill cleared , now the Hyderabad-based ICFAI would invest Rs 150 crore in setting up a university in Odisha.

The university would have strength of about 1,500 students and offer courses in various disciplines like engineering, management, law, science and humanities. 

… ICFAI has identified 30 acres of land between Bhubaneswar and Khurda for setting up its proposed university.

2 comments June 24th, 2010

Compiling the list of private state universities in India: work in progress

(Request to readers: If you know of private state universities not listed below and not in the UGC list mentioned below, please add a link in the comment. We will update this page.)

In this page we will collect information regarding private state universities in India. By private state universities we mean privately managed universities that are establish by an act in the assembly of various states of India. These are different from the deemed universities.

The list at UGC date June 2009 is at http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/updatedpriuniver.pdf. We also listed them at https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/2782. My guess is that these private universities which have been created by state acts have UGC approval. We have come across many other private universities which have been created by state acts which are not in this list; some of them were created by state acts after June 2009.

We start with Odisha: Odisha has passed state acts for two private universities:

• Vedanta University
• Sri Sri University

Odisha has introduced an act for ICFAI university. It has been discussed and tabled in the assembly. As of writing this, It is yet to be passed by the Odisha assembly.

Chhatisgarh: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) CV Raman in Bilaspur and (ii) MATS in Raipur

Gujarat: .The UGC list of June 2009 lists five private universities. (i) DAIICT Gandhinagar (ii) Ganpat, Mehsana (iii) Kadi Sarva, Gandhinagar (iv) Nirma, Ahmedabad (v) Pandit Deendayal Petroleum U, Gandhinagar

Himachal Pradesh: It passed an umbrella private university act in 2006. The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) Chitkara University, Solan (ii) Jaypee, Solan. Besides them following are some new ones.

• Indus International University, Una
  
• Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Science 2009, Bajhol, Solan
• Manav Bharti University, Solan, 2009
• Arni University, Kangra, 2009
• Eternal university, Baru Sahib, Sirmour

Jharkhand:

• ICFAI University

Karnataka: The UGC list of June 2009 does not have any university from Karnataka. However, since then the following has been passed.

• Ajim Premji University, act passed on March 12, 2010.

Madhya Pradesh: It passed an umbrella private university act in 2007.

• JP University of Engineering and Technology, Guna (Gazette Notification on April 29th 2010.)

Maharashtra: From a TOI report.

Maharashtra has also revived the plan to bring private universities into the state. Tope said that plans were afoot to help the corporate sector play a key role in the field of education. The Private University Act is being finalised in this connection, he pointed out.

Meghalaya: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities. (i) Martin Luther Christian (ii) Techno Global.

Mizoram: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) ICFAI

Nagaland: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) Global Open

Punjab: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) Lovely Professional U.

Rajasthan: It has an umbrella private university act (enacted in 2005) to facilitate creation of private universities. There are 11 private state universities in Rajasthan in the UGC list of June 2009. (i) Bhagwant University,  Ajmer (ii)  Jagannath University, Jaipur (iii) Jaipur National University, Jaipur. (iv) Jyoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur. (v)  Mewar University, Chittorgarh. (vi)
NIMS University, Jaipur. (vii) Sir Padmapat Singhania University, Jhunjhunu. (viii) Singhania University, Jhunjunu. (ix) Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur.  (x) Jodhpur National University, Jodhpur  (xi) Amity University, Jaipur

Beyond those 11, some of the new ones not in that list are:

• Sridhar University, Pilani
• J K Lakshmipat University, Jaipur
• NIIT University, Neemrana, Alwar
• Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewal University, Jhunjhunu

Sikkim: The UGC list of June 2009 lists two private universities.(i) Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Jorethang. (ii) Sikkim- Manipal University of Health, Medical & Technological Sciences, Gangtok.

Tripura: The UGC list of June 2009 lists one private university. (i) ICFAI

UP: The UGC list of June 2009 lists eight private universities.(i) Amity University, NOIDA (ii) Integral University, Lucknow. (iii) Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakoot Dham. (iv) Mangalayatan University, Aligarh (v) Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur. (vi) Sharda University, Gautam Budh Nagar. (vii) Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut. (viii)
Teerthanker Mahaveer Univesity, Moradabad.

Uttarakhand: The UGC list of June 2009 lists six private universities.(i) Dev Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. (ii) Doon University, Dehradoon. (iii) Himgiri Nabh Vishwavidyalaya, Dehradun. (iv) ICFAI Dehradun (v) University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. (vi)  University of Patanjali, Haridwar.

West Bengal: The UGC list of June 2009does not have any from West Bengal. However, the following has been passed by West Bengal assembly since then.

• Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Kalyani

In regards to umbrella private university bills, as per http://www.academics-india.com/SC%20judgement.htm the Supreme court in

Prof. Yashpal & Anr. Vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.
Coram: CJI ,G. P. Mathur , P.K. Balasubramanyan 11/ 02/ 2005
CASE NO.: Writ Petition (civil) 19 of 2004
PETITIONER: Prof. Yashpal & Anr.
RESPONDENT:State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/02/2005
BENCH:CJI,G. P. Mathur & P.K. Balasubramanyan

has reiterated (see point 36) UGC rules that say:

3.1 Each private University shall be established by a separate State Act and shall conform to the relevant provisions of the UGC Act, 1956, as amended from time to time.

3.2 A private university shall be a unitary university having adequate facilities for teaching, research, examination and extension services.

The following table summarizes the private and deemed universities in various states of India. The data regarding deemed universities is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=50713. Since the HRD minister Mr. Sibal has said that the deemed university system will vanish, most of the private deemed universities will become private state universities.

12 comments April 10th, 2010

The importance of a community college system in India: Excerpts from an interview with Prof. Yash Pal

Following is an excerpt from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-Universities-are-for-bringing-subjects-together-/560254.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of students in colleges and universities in Gujarat is still pathetic according to UGC. Tribal areas in the state have a high school dropout rate. What needs to be done in Gujarat?

There is a community college system in the US, which is very flexible (unlike the polytechnics in India). In this system, the class hours are highly flexible. As part of the adult education, the students can enrol for any subject. But in India, we have strict rules such as a student should be a matriculate, etc. In north Gujarat, artisans are doing fine work in Bandhani (tie and die). No one else can do that. There should be a system that can educate them separately so that they are literate enough to use their skills in a better way. I do not believe in measuring methods such as GER. A minimal education is important but it is the skills that make a person knowledgeable. Gujarat may have private or deemed universities, but they are for the classes and not for the masses.

1 comment December 28th, 2009

Past catches up with ICFAI in Orissa

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

After years of donkey work to set up a multi-disciplinary university in Odisha at an investment of Rs 150-200 crore, it has failed to take off. For last 4 years the technocrat is trying hard to set up the facility. Every thing was falling in line and the Government was moving with full speed to clear the ICFAI University Bill-2009 in the Odisha House. 

However Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan played spoil sport. 

While initiating discussion on the bill, lawmaker from Satyabadi charged the university is mired in controversy following a ruling by the Madras High Court for closure of the institute’s off-campus and study centres in Tamil Nadu. He also cited the ruling of the Andhra Pradesh High Court restraining ICFAI to award degree certificates.

Although the ICFAI was registered under Societies Act in 1984 in Andhra Pradesh for offering distance learning, it is yet to set up a university in the state. The society has two universities – one in Agartala and the other is at Dehra Dun. However, many off-campus and study centres of the two universities are operating in many states without approval of the University Grants Commission and respective governments. 

ICFAI is also running an off-campus centre in Bhubaneswar also, which came to light. 

Now the State Government has asked to close down the centre as it is running without the approval of the UGC. 

The ICFAI authorities have been asked to file affidavit on this count, said an official. 

With allegations coming to fore, even Chief Minister is also worried over the reputation of his government, said sources. When these allegations came out in the floor of the Assembly, Naveen Patnaik Government was on back foot. This is because the State Government signed the MOU with ICFAI on 20 March, 2007 without verifying the credentials. Samir Dey, the then Minister Higher Education was batting for the ICFAI University and took the lead in signing the MOU, said an officer. 

However now things are different and Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister Higher Education has made it clear that unless ICFAI authorities clear the allegations against them, it is unlikely that bill will be taken up once again in the House. 

So quietly the bill has been deferred for the next Assembly session, said an official. 

While the bill is yet to be cleared, ICFAI has already identified 53 acres of land for the university. The land has been identified close to Sum Hospital on the outskirts of the city.  Out of the total land area of 53 acres, ICFAI has got 11 acres of land registered for the university project. Now with the bill being dumped, fate of the proposed private university hangs in balance.

The article at http://www.careers360.com/news/3437-ICFAI-avoid-till-they-come-clean seems to give a clear picture of the mess ICFAI has gotten itself into.

My suggestion to ICFAI would be to start the various colleges in Orissa with appropriate permission. I.e., if it wanted to start an engineering college and management school then it should do that with AICTE approval and under BPUT. Similarly for medical, nursing, journalism, etc.; whatever it had plans for. Only after it has them up and running and with quality faculty, top-notch facilities and some nationally ranked colleges it should come back to the state for a university bill. Not before that!!

4 comments December 6th, 2009

India’s effort to address imbalances in higher education: PIB

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=54585.

LOK SABHA 

The National Sample Survey (NSS) data for 2004-05, indicates rural-urban disparities, gender disparities, inter caste disparities, imbalances in access opportunities for tribal population of the country, disparities amongst religious groups and differences in enrolment rates between the poor and non-poor. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the nation as a whole as a percentage of the population cohort in the age group of 18-24 years is 12.4% based on 2007 enrolment data whereas the GER in secondary education (class XI-XII) as a percentage of the population in the age group of 16-18 years is 28.96% based on data reported in Selected Educational Statistics of 2006-07. 

During the Eleventh Plan establishment of Central Universities in hitherto uncovered States has been envisaged. 15 New Central Universities have been notified on 15.1.2009 and another Central University has been established in Jammu Division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) has been established for facilitating and promoting studies in areas concerned with the way of life of the tribal population in the country. A new Regional Centre of the IGNTU has been inaugurated in Manipur. University Grants Commission (UGC) has invited detailed project proposals from State Governments for Establishment of 374 model degree colleges in the districts having GER lower than national level with the Centre-State funding in the ratio of 1:1 for Special Category States and 1:2 for other States. The Eleventh Plan has schemes for incentivizing State Government for setting up of new institutions or expansion of existing institutions with Central assistance with focus on underserved areas, strengthening colleges and State universities with focus on underserved areas which are not presently eligible for receiving assistance from UGC to enable these institutions to fulfil the criteria for UGC assistance, additional assistance to State universities and colleges which are already declared fit to receive grants under Section 12B of the UGC Act. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has permitted second shift in certain engineering colleges and polytechnics. Expansion of intake in Central Educational Institutions by 54% has been undertaken consequent to the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. A scheme of interest subsidy during moratorium period for students accessing educational loans for technical and professional education has been notified on 8.9.2009. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in the Lok Sabha today. 

MV/Hb

November 25th, 2009

Vice Chancellor Faizan Mustafa’s dreams for National Law University Orissa

Following is from http://www.barandbench.com/index.php?page=brief&id=248&full=.

The National Law University, Orissa (NLUO) was formally inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, I. M. Quddusi, State Higher Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra and Minister of Law Bikram Keshari Arukha were present at the ceremony.

Bar & Bench talks to the dynamic Vice Chancellor of National Law University, Orissa, Dr. Faizan Mustafa, on his vision for NLUO and why NLUO is different from the other national law universities (NLUs).

Move from Interdisciplinary approach to integration of knowledge

NLUO is the first University in the country to integrate the B.A., LLB (Hons.) program with the BBA, LLB (Hons.) program. Students can opt for courses from both disciplines of study, and thus, can combine humanities courses with a human resources and marketing course. NLUO has also introduced innovative new courses in legal journalism and mass communication, in conjunction with the law degree.

Students from over 22 states and excellent infrastructure

In the first year, students from 22 states have joined NLUO. Our admission test has been rated as one of the best and some people have said it is tougher than the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). We hope to receive a better response next year when people see our infrastructure and campus. Currently people think Cuttack is far away from the "Metros" and won’t have good faculty and infrastructure facilities. We have spent more than Rs. 1 crore ($208,000) on the books alone. Our hostel facilities for students are amongst the best. The legal education space in the eastern part of India was in shambles. We hope to make a difference here.

Best of both worlds- Senior Faculty, alumni from NLUs and faculty from foreign law schools

During our times, teachers were good while students were bad, since law was the last option for many students. But with the advent of the national law schools, the quality of students has become excellent. I need thank my Senior from college, Dr. Madhav Menon, for his efforts in bringing change into the legal education space. Self-financing Law Universities like us cannot continue to run without quality faculty. There is an unwritten rule in our Universities where we encourage alumni from other NLUs and people who have taught abroad to come and teach in NLUO. We already have faculty who have had experience in other western countries, along with Senior Faculty from other NLUs. For example, the former Vice Chancellor of NLSIU, Bangalore, Dr. N.L. Mitra is one of the faculty members, as is Senior Professor Ajjappa, who has taught at various Law Universities. We want to bring the best of both worlds together, so students can benefit from such vast experience.

Also, I think Law Faculty should not be judged on UGC or other pay scales in self-financing institutions like ours. We need to provide other incentives to faculty to lure them away from private corporations or high paying jobs. If we have to be a third generation Law University, we need to provide the best for the Faculty and students.

 NLUs are producing ‘Soft’ Lawyers

The CJI in his welcome speech said, "The NLUs have failed in so far as producing lawyers for the Bar." Constant criticism against the NLUs is that they are producing ‘Soft’ lawyers who opt for Air Conditioned office spaces instead of joining ‘real ligation’ and or opting for judicial services. If we want to increase the quality of our Judges, we also need to increase the quality of the lawyers. One space where NLUO intends to bridge this divide is to concentrate on "traditional lawyering" and not merely corporate law.

New Areas of Legal Practice

NLUO will focus on mining law, water law, food law, energy law and agriculture law. Our country continues to be driven by agriculture and yet, very little importance is attached to agriculture and the legal issues around it. While Corporate Law and IP Law are important for the economy, equal importance has to be given to other areas of practice. Orissa is losing Rs. 20,000 crores ($4.16 billion) every year due to the center-state divide on resources. We plan to have centers on these areas to conduct exhaustive research and recommendations. 

I want to build a socially relevant Law University. I encourage people to come, see the University and provide us with comments on improving it.

4 comments November 3rd, 2009