Sandeep Mishra
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 23: Bringing all the seven campuses of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar that are spread across the city together is the primary task for Ratnam Varada Rajakumar, a professor of IIT Kharagpur who has taken over as the director of IIT Bhubaneswar.
“I hope the new campus will be commissioned soon and we will move there by the coming academic year,” said Rajakumar, who was a professor of electronic and electrical engineering at IIT Kharagpur.
The vacancies in the institute are also a priority for Rajakumar, who joined Kharagpur in 1984 and has many awards and honours to his name such as the national award for best paper on “Education in India — Quality Concerns and Remedial Measures” in 2008.
“I will take stock of the vacant teaching and non-teaching posts and other pending issues of the institute and will resolve these soon. A meeting is on the cards to discuss these issues,” he said.
Rajakumar also plans to introduce new courses in view of the state’s huge potential in the field of mines and minerals. “Research activities will be strengthened in the field of mines, minerals and materials in the state. Orissa has a huge potential of mining. Students should undertake courses in it for further development,” said the director.
On the question of students from Orissa not getting admission into IITs, Rajakumar said that the performance of students in various states is not up to the mark, except for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. “Parents and teachers play a pivotal part in a student’s life. The parents should think of knowledge of their child, not the marks he or she secures in examinations,” said Rajakumar.
