BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited Odia University at Bakula Bana in Satyabadi of Puri district will be opened for academic activities by June-end. This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by the development commissioner on Monday.
Currently, infrastructure work for the university has been completed over 9.06 acres of land at Bakula Bana under which, an academic block, administrative block, hostels for students and research scholars and cafeteria have come up.
The Odisha State Higher Education Council has been given the responsibility of framing the modalities for admission of students and academic operations of the university, said officials of the Higher Education department. The university will offer PG courses and facilitate research in Odia Language, Literature and Culture; Conservation of Tribal Language and Literature; and Linguistics.
As far as the appointment of the vice-chancellor (VC) of the university is concerned, officials said as per Section 8 of the Odia University Act, the first VC will be appointed by the Chancellor (Governor of Odisha) on the recommendation of the state government for a term not exceeding two years.
While no tentative dates for the opening of the newly created Vikram Dev and Dharanidhar universities were decided, the operational modalities of those at Jeypore and Keonjhar were discussed at the meeting. In the case of Dharanidhar University, it has been decided that the science section will be moved to its second campus at Suleikhamar, eight km away from the main campus. The humanities and commerce subjects will be taught in the existing campus. Further, a blueprint of the infrastructure for the university will be prepared by the higher education council.
As far as Vikram Dev University is concerned, the collector has been asked to identify land for the expansion of the campus. “The land at Bariniput between Jeypore and Koraput where there are dilapidated quarters of the minor irrigation wing, has been identified for the purpose. But a final call is yet to be taken,” officials added.