Other States - Orissa

Central varsity at Koraput from June

KORAPUT: The much-awaited Central University at Koraput would become functional from June this year, Surabhi Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said on Saturday. Speaking to media after visiting different places in and around the town over the last two days to select places for establishing the university, she said the university would be one of the 12 new Central universities that would be established in different parts of the country and would be the first Central University in the state. The university, which will be established by opening sections like school of languages, school of social sciences in place of the traditional way of opening departments, would concentrate in bringing quality education to the entire region.

Speaking on the proposed location of the university she said a committee under her chairmanship with B.K.Mishra, Registrar, Laxmikant Pati, Director, Finance and Ganesh Chandra Raula, coordinator of the university, as members had visited different places in and around the town to find a suitable place for the university. While speaking very high about the proposed location for establishing the university which is situated between the railway station at Koraput and Danagadeola village over an area of 565 acres of government land she said that over the next five years the university could become one of the major attractions even for the tourists for its unique green campus resembling that of many world class university campuses in the other parts of the globe.

It would take at least another four to five years to complete the infrastructure of the university once the land gets transferred to the university.

The committee, after visiting different sections in Council of Analytical Tribal Studies (COATS), Tribal Museum, Tribal Culture & Research Centre(TCRC) and Jagannath Temple premises took a decision to begin the classes in about 20 rooms available in the COATS premises.

Residential facilities for the girls joining the university could be completed in time, Krushna Chandra Panigrahy, Director, Tribal Museum hoped. The university under the leadership of Ms. Banerjee, who has been a successful vice chancellor in four reputed universities in the country, could meet the needs and aspirations of the much deprived highlanders of the state, he added.

The university with its undergraduate courses in language studies in English and Oriya, sociology, anthropology, tribal studies and mass communication and journalism could well begin its journey towards providing more innovative and attractive courses for the entire country.

While the students will be chosen through entrance examinations being conducted all over the country, the faculty will be recruited at the central level, Ms. Banerjee added.

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