Govt committed to support educational ventures

The city-based National Institute of Science Education
and Research (NISER) will give fillip to quality research in pure sciences as a centre of excellence and contribute its share towards making the Capital a `nucleus of educational hub’. While inaugurating the new academic building of the institute at its `transit campus’ on the premises of Institute of Physics (IoP) here today, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said not only the city, but the transformation of the State as a `regional education hotspot’ will soon be realised with the opening of full-fledged campuses of IIT, IIIT, Central University, Unitary University for Engineering, Burla, National Law School (University) and two proposed engineering colleges at Berhampur and Balangir.

Apart from the Government initiatives many other organisations and bodies are also evincing interest to set up institutes here, he said adding ``the Government is committed to support every venture with equal enthusiasm that enabled NISER to have its 300 acres of land near Jatni `free-of-cost’, a three-acre plot near IoP for its city centre and 44 apartments in the New Government Colony near Sainik School for the accommodation of students and faculty members’’.

``The State Government will also provide basic infrastructure to the main campus soon’’, Patnaik added.

Higher Education Secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi said the eligibility test for NISER has become so popular that this year out of 16,000 applicants 12,000 wrote the exam for only 52 seats, adding this also tells a lot about its `brand image’.

NISER Director Prof. TK Chandrasekhar said the institute with its third batch of students will soon start Ph.D. programmes and have its complete campus ready by 2013.

Member, board of governors, Prof. J. Maharana said with its unique integrated M.Sc. programme, the students of NISER will have an edge over others as they get the exposure to all branches of pure science in the first year and later specialise with their choicest subjects to acquire a scientific knowledge `based on totality’.

Registrar RK Naik also spoke.