Odisha HRD

Board of Secondary Education, Orissa – toppers since 1957

The Board of Secondary Education of Orissa now has a nice web page. Following is a list of its toppers since 1957.

Continue Reading 10 comments August 2nd, 2007

Founding director of IIIT Bhubaneswar, Prof. Gopal Nayak’s biography from Tathya.in

Tathya.in has a biographical article on Prof. Gopal Nayak. Following are some excerpts.

Prof. Nayak is the product of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur was born at Berhampur in Ganjam district to a family of teachers.

An electrical engineer with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from IIM Bangalore did his Ph. D from IIT, Kharagpur.

He has done his Ph. D under the guidance of Prof. Damodar Acharya who was the Vice Chancellor of BPUT, Chairman of AICTE and at present the Director of IIT, Kharagpur.

Prof. Nayak has spent a few years on Industry.

He has worked for Nelco in Mumbai in the product development area and for NTPC in the Procurement automation area.

Prof. Nayak has spent about 20 years in academics.

He is one of the founding Professors of Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), Bhubaneswar.

As the Professor of Information Systems, he was instrumental in transforming XIMB into the most technology intensive campus in India.

XIMBans give credit to him in creating several firsts management education field: a campus network, providing PC to each student, making Internet accessible 24×7 and giving a technology orientation to the curriculum at XIMB.

He held important positions at XIMB such as the Dean (Academics), IT services and Admissions Co-ordinator.

Prof. Nayak’s most notable contribution is development of Academic Information System (AIS) and PAMIS.

The AIS is being used by many top business schools in the country such as XLRI Jamshedpur, IIM Indore, NITIE Mumbai.

PAMIS has been implemented in 314 blocks and 30 DRDAs in Orissa and is one of the most successful e-governance projects in Orissa.

With this background the Government of Orissa has roped in Prof. Nayak for the IIIT.

With a director of such background IIIT Bhubaneswar should also start offering degrees that relate to business and information systems such as MBA and MIS (Master in Information Systems). One may note that some of the IIITs, such as IIITM Gwalior, do offer such degrees.

July 26th, 2007

NAAC accredition of Orissa colleges and Universities

NAAC, the National Accredition and Assessment Council, an autonomous body established by UGC now does periodic assessment of colleges, universities and even specific programs. We analyze the NAAC ratings of Orissa colleges and universities below.

Among the 149 colleges of Orissa it has rated only 6 have secured an A rating. (None have an A+ rating.) They are:

Continue Reading 3 comments July 15th, 2007

From the AICTE pages: List of approved Pharmacy institutions in Orissa – 2007-08 (July 12 2007)

The following is from http://www.aicte.ernet.in/approval/Pharmacy/Pharmacy-List.doc (as of July 12 2007) reached via http://www.aicte.ernet.in/app_inst_new.htm after clicking the scrolling sentence in AICTE web page that says “Approval status 2007-08 as on 05-07-2007.”

The last two columns below denote “Existing intake for 2006-07″ and “Approved intake for 2007-08.” Please note that they may not be properly aligned. (I am having problems with the editor when copying and pasting from word documents.)

Continue Reading 7 comments July 12th, 2007

From the AICTE pages: List of approved MCA institutions in Orissa – 2007-08 (July 12 2007)

The following is from http://www.aicte.ernet.in/approval/MCA/MCA-List.doc (as of July 12 2007) reached via http://www.aicte.ernet.in/app_inst_new.htm after clicking the scrolling sentence in AICTE web page that says “Approval status 2007-08 as on 05-07-2007.”

The last two columns below denote “Existing intake for 2006-07” and “Approved intake for 2007-08.” Please note that they may not be properly aligned. (I am having problems with the editor when copying and pasting from word documents.)

Continue Reading 6 comments July 12th, 2007

From the AICTE pages: List of approved MBA institutions in Orissa – 2007-08 (July 12 2007)

The following is from http://www.aicte.ernet.in/approval/MBA/Management-List.doc (as of July 12 2007) reached via http://www.aicte.ernet.in/app_inst_new.htm after clicking the scrolling sentence in AICTE web page that says “Approval status 2007-08 as on 05-07-2007.”

The last two columns below denote “Existing intake for 2006-07” and “Approved intake for 2007-08.” Please note that they may not be properly aligned. (I am having problems with the editor when copying and pasting from word documents.)

Continue Reading 3 comments July 12th, 2007

Orissa engineering colleges in the AICTE list and their number of seats (July 12 2007)

From http://www.aicte.ernet.in/approval/engg_LIST/Orissa.doc (as of July 12 2007)

Continue Reading 17 comments July 12th, 2007

Institutions with Nontraditional programs – a dated list

Following is a list of institutions with non-traditional programs that I compiled earlier. They are categorized as follows: Arts and Crafts, Design, Teachers training, Diploma in Engineering, ITIs, Film and TV, Homeopathy and Ayurveda, Hotel management, Journalism, Law, Library Science, Performance arts, Physical Education, Sanskrit and Social work.

Continue Reading 6 comments June 8th, 2007

Nursing Schools catch on in Orissa

Orissa government has a list of Nursing Schools in this site. Earlier I had compiled a list of Nursing School at this site. Based on today’s article in Telegraph on this topic, following is an updated but partial list of nursing schools/colleges in Orissa.

In the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri area:

• School of Nursing, SCB Medical College, Cuttack
• Kalinga Hospital Ltd., Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar
• Nayak Educational Trust, Nayak Health Care, Abha Diagnostic Complex, Medical Road, Ranihat, Cuttack
• Lord Jagannath Mission, Plot.No.706, Old Station Square, Cuttack Road, BBSR
• Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, (KIIT), BBSR
• Vivekananda Institute of Social Work & Social Science (VISWASS), BBSR N-2/158, Nayapalli BBSR
• SUM Nursing School, Sikshya Anusandhan, C-51, BDA Duplex, Baramunda, BBSR
• Sushree Institute of Technical Education, Bhubaneswar
• Neelachal School of Medical Science and Nursing, Bhubaneswar
• Manjari Devi school of Nursing, Bhubaneswar
• Hi-tech School of Nursing, Bhubaneswar

In rest of Orissa:

• School of Nursing, VSS Medical College, Burla, Sambalpur
• College of Nursing, MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, Ganjam
• Nursing Training Institute (NTI),IGH, SAIL, Rourkela
• School of Nursing, NSC Hospital, MCL Talcher

According to the Telegraph article there are currently 20 nursing schools and five more have been given no objection certificates (NOCs).

7 comments June 6th, 2007

List of Engineering Colleges in Orissa

Following is a list of engineering colleges in Orissa which I earlier compiled at http://orissalinks.com.

Continue Reading 52 comments May 31st, 2007

List of Management Institutes in Orissa

Following is a list of management institutes in Orissa which I earlier compiled in http://orissalinks.com.

Continue Reading 4 comments May 31st, 2007

List of Research Institutes in Orissa

Following is a list of research institutes in Orissa which I earlier compiled at http://orissalinks.com.

Continue Reading 33 comments May 31st, 2007

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are CBSE board schools set up by the MHRD across India. As per their website their objective is:

* to provide good quality modern education to the talented children predominently from the rural areas, without regard to their family’s socio-economic condition.
* to ensure that all students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas attain a reasonable level of competence in three languages as envisaged in the Three Language Formula.
* to serve, in each district, as focal points for improvements in quality of school education in general through sharing of experiences and facilities.

In Orissa currently there are several such schools with the school in Cuttack as the nodal school.

Continue Reading May 22nd, 2007

Talking points and documents that make a case for an IIT in Orissa: point-counterpoint

Documents that make our case for an IIT in Orissa.

* A collection of points and counterpoints regarding making a case for an IIT in Orissa. (pdf,2MB)(word document, 500kb)
* Compilation of news items (9 MB): http://iitorissa.googlepages.com/Binder1.pdf
* Digambara Patra’s compilation of national labs distribution across India: http://iitorissa.googlepages.com/state_wise_national_lab.pdf

Now the article: “IIT in Orissa: talking points”

Following are some points that can be used to convince the other MPs, the PM, the planning commission etc. that the issue of an IIT in Orissa is an extremely important one; it has caused a lot of strife in Orissa; and appropriate amendments must be made at the earliest.

Continue Reading 3 comments April 27th, 2007

Initiatives and projects (many higher education related) during the 1961-1967 tenure of Biju Patnaik

Yesterday’s Dahritri has a column by senior columnist Barendra Kumar Dhal [1,2,3,4,5,6] where he lists the various initiatives and projects taken up during Biju Patnaik’s government of 1961-67. I am amazed by the list which includes many HRD institutions. Here are some of the highlights.

• Paradeep Port
• Daitari-Paradeep highway
• Mig factory in Sunabeda
• Rourkela Steel Plant
• Regional Research Laboratory
• Regional College of Education (Now called Regional Institute of Education)
• Berhampur University
• Sambalpur University
• Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology
• Sainik School
• Baragarh Cement factory
• Various factories of IDC
• Orissa textile mills (OTM)
• Kalinga Tubes
• Kalinga Iron works

Other References: Ganjam District site,wikipedia,Orissa govt. e-magazine, another.

3 comments April 24th, 2007

Frequently asked Questions related to the current movement towards an IIT in Orissa

1. Why this FAQ?

When one brings up the topic of establishing an IIT in Orissa MHRD officials, ministers and spokesperson, and even many technical education committee members sometimes retort back: “Why does it matter where an IIT is located as students from any where in India, including from Orissa, can study in an IIT.”

Until recently, I thought it was just some thing said and not really meant by the MHRD officials or the technical education committee members. However, a recent exchange of emails with one of the most well respected technologists of India, Mr. K, makes it clear that many influential people in decision making roles sincerely believe that it does not matter where an IIT is located as students from any where in India can study in an IIT. This misconception needs to be cleared up, as otherwise, as we argue below, it will further worsen the existing inequities in India.

Many in Orissa also question why one should focus on getting an IIT to Orissa when there are several other pressing issues in Orissa. In this FAQ we try to address these and related questions.

Continue Reading 4 comments April 22nd, 2007