BHUBANESWAR: Utkal University is a global brand and its distinguished alumni can be found serving in every part of the world today," said executive director of All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) - Bhubaneswar and alumni of the university Prof Ashutosh Biswas.
Attending the 80th foundation day celebration of the university here on Sunday, Biswas lauded the authorities for bringing about a paradigm shift in teaching-learning on the campus. He said students now have access to e-library and smart classrooms which were never thought of during his stint as a student 45 years back. Congratulating the university for operating a centre of incubation and innovation, he said AIIMS-Bhubaneswar will be happy to collaborate with Utkal University to conduct research in areas of medicine and healthcare.
Inaugurating the foundation day celebration, vice-chancellor Sabita Acharya said Utkal University is taking a number of measures to strengthen its position among the top higher education institutions of the country. She said the university has set up additional 30 smart classrooms in different departments, an e-library with access to e-resources and a high-end virtual tutorial lab for developing the e-resources.
The vice chancellor said in order to augment research infrastructure, the university had decided to establish a central instrumentation facility the foundation stone of which was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in April, 2017.
"On the occasion, the chief minister had announced to provide the university a grant of Rs 15 crore to buy sophisticated equipment for research. However, the university is yet to get the funds," she said. Acharya further said the facility has recently become operational with some basic infrastructure and equipment.