Addressing faculty crisis and building infrastructure of Central University of Odisha at Koraput are the two primary things that newly-appointed Vice-Chancellor Prof Chakradhar Tripathi has on his mind. He speaks to Diana Sahu.
Are there any plans for a second campus of CUO?
Yes. We have proposals to establish a second campus of Central University of Odisha either in Bhubaneswar or Angul. The Ministry of Education has proposed to open a business management course in self-financing mode in the second campus. On our part, we have suggested we also open long-term courses in foreign languages like French, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Russian because such courses are still not being offered in the State.
When will the faculty crisis in CUO be addressed?
Within the next three to four months. We will advertise for recruitment of at least 85 professor, assistant professor and associate professor posts on October 10. The recruitments were stalled for last few years due to administrative issues but we are finally clearing them.
The CUO also lags behind other Central Universities as far as infrastructure is concerned.
Yes, I agree that CUO infrastructure is a huge problem. Currently, we have a library and a guest house which is used as the administrative building. There is another campus where classes are held. It is a scattered arrangement. Although the MoE had hired CPW to construct the new buildings within a year, the deadline is over and the agency is dragging its feet. We are hoping that it will finish all the constructions it was assigned within the next two years.
Any new centres for education or research coming up in the university?
The Rajiv Gandhi Chair on Tribal Studies which MoE had sanctioned to CUO for a period of five years is lying vacant. There are 18 months left for the tenure of this chair to end. So whatever remaining time we have, we will hire a professor within October 15 and start work. Besides, we will conduct skill training programmes for tribal youths of Koraput through our Centre for Tribal Welfare and Community Development. This centre was established primarily to provide skill training to youths but as of now, only mushroom cultivation training is being provided to them.
The MoE has also offered us an Ambedkar Centre of Excellence through which we will provide free IAS training to Scheduled Caste students. A tribal study centre is being set up for research on Adivasi communities of Odisha which will also have a library of research documents, publications and books on the subject.
Do you think Koraput has a locational disadvantage?
We can’t blame a landscape. But I feel the situation will improve once the Jeypore air link is established.
Speaking about landscape, is there any ancillary project that CUO wants to explore beyond teaching-learning?
We are thinking of opening a ghee manufacturing unit on university premises, to be manufactured from indigenous cows which graze on the grass of Koraput valleys. It is no secret that the quality of milk produced here is of superior quality when compared to other parts of the State. The main aim behind this unit is that we want to see if it has anti-cancerous properties. We will send the ghee samples to two labs in India and two abroad to get them tested for the same.
