Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 24: In a bid to refurbishing campuses with hi-tech facilities, the higher education department has planned to introduce Wi-Fi facilities in state universities and colleges. The decision was taken at a high-level official meeting of the department here.
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has been assigned the charge of executing the project for which the officials have already started the survey of the state-run institutions.
“The BSNL will be the executing agency for the project and has been asked to begin a survey to be concluded in March. The installation process will begin after the survey,” said higher education department additional secretary Ajay Nayak, Tuesday.
The Wi-Fi project will be commissioned in a phased-manner in Utkal, Sambalpur and Berhampur University and colleges including Rama Devi Women’s College, Gangadhar Meher College, Khalikote College and a few others.
“It is a big project which will take time. The colleges and universities in the urban areas will avail of the facility first and other institutions in rural areas subsequently. The move will benefit the students as well as faculty members of the respective institutions who can have easy access to the World Wide Web at their finger-tips,” said Nayak.
The higher education department has also planned to introduce e-libraries, smart classes, automation of day-to-day academic work and other technical bids at the universities and colleges across the state in the subsequent phases.
“The state of higher education in Orissa, compared to other states of the country, is not in good shape. The proposed measures of the government to introduce smart Wi-Fi campuses, e-libraries, smart classes and other digital initiatives will definitely help boost the stature and quality of higher education in the state,” said Pragyat Tripathy, a student of Utkal University here.
