Odisha’s premier women’s higher education institution Rama Devi Autonomous Women’s College Bhubaneswar is all set to become the State’s first Women’s University and the second one in the country after the SNDT Women’s University Mumbai.
The Project Approval Committee (PAC) of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has recently cleared a proposal in this regard submitted by the State Government.
Union Secretary of Higher Education Satyanarayan Mohanty chaired the PAC meeting, which cleared the proposal under the Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). The MHRD has informed this to the State’s Department of Higher Education (DoHE).
Principal Secretary of Higher Education Gagan Kumar Dhal is the Project Director of RUSA and would be taking up the State’s first Women’s University project, said an official.
The RUSA, a Centrally-sponsored scheme launched in 2013, aims at providing strategic funding to eligible higher educational institutions in different States. The Odisha Government, which has adopted the RUSA, has received a sanction of Rs 126 crore on various aspects including Rs 25 crore for the RD Women’s College to upgrade it as a Women’s University.
Recently, the RD Women’s College completed 50 years of its establishment with President Pranab Mukherjee gracing its golden jubilee celebrations here. The institution, named after celebrated freedom fighter Rama Devi Choudhury, adoringly called Maa (mother), is known for providing quality education in Plus II, Degree and Postgraduate courses. The cost of setting up the proposed Women’s University would be Rs 75 crore with the MHRD bearing 65 per cent of it.