The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Brahmapur will now be managed by a new Board of Governors (BoG), which has been constituted recently by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
MHRD Director of Management Rina Sonowal Kouli has informed this to IISER Director, Bhopal, Vinod Kumar Singh, who is the Mentor Director of IISER Berhampur.
The new BoG will be a 14-member team headed by Union Higher Education Secretary Vinay Sheel Oberai as the Chairperson of IISER Berhampur.
While Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi is a new Member in the BoG representing the Government of Odisha, Union Atomic Energy Secretary Sekhar Basu and Union Science & Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma have also been taken as Members.
The other Members include IISER Bhopal Director VK Singh, IISC Bangalore Director Anurag Kumar, IIT Bhubaneswar Director RV Raja Kumar, NISER Bhubaneswar Director V Chandrasekhar, IISC Bangalore Professor Udaya Maitra, IIT Kanpur Professor Sandeep Verma, Union Higher Education Joint Secretary Parveen Kumar and MHRD Financial Advisor Darshana M Dabaral.
IISER Bhopal Registrar KV Satya Murty has been appointed as Member-Secretary of IISER Berhampur.
Now with the new BoG in place, all decisions will be taken by it as it has been declared as the competent authorities in the MHRD.
Earlier, for day-to-day management, the IISER Bhopal authorities were consulted. Now, it would be easier for the IISER Berhampur to operate smoothly, said sources.
The MHRD has proclaimed that the IISER Berhampur would promote quality education and cutting-edge research in basic sciences and provide a platform for the faculty to engage in high-quality education at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Classes have already started at the temporary campus at Brahmapur. In the meantime, the MHRD has approved a permanent campus at laudigaon near Brahmapur.
The student strength intake for this year in the BS-MS course is 60 which would progressively go up. The cumulative student strength is envisaged as 665 in the 3rd year, including MS Degree, MS-PhD, PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowships.
The total cost of the project for the permanent campus is `152.79 crore, said MHRD sources.
The five-year dual degree programme is for highly-motivated science students, who have passed XII examination.
Presently, the IISER Berhampur is running at its temporary campus within the Government ITI of Brahmapur, where 14,000 sqft space has been given to it for classrooms and workshop. Hostel accommodations for both boys and girl students have been arranged. Faculty members and other staff are in position.
For the permanent campus, 200 acre of Government land has been made available. While the site is 15 km from NH-5 and 20 km from the Brahmapur railway station, it is 23 km from the Rangeilunda airstrip. The site is well connected with a metalled approach road.