Utkal University

About Utkal University

Utkal University is a State Government Teaching-cum-affiliating University established in the year 1943. It is the seventeenth oldest University in India. The foundation stone of the campus was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, on 1st January 1958, and the campus was inaugurated by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the second President of India, on 2nd January 1963. Utkal University at present has 27 Post-Graduate Departments located in its campus for studies and research in the disciplines of Science, Humanities, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Law and Commerce. It is also the largest affiliating university in the country having 359 affiliated general colleges including 16 Autonomous Colleges, 94 Professional Colleges, 9 Law Colleges and 7 Medical Colleges, which include 2 Homeopathic, 1 Ayurvedic, 2 Dental and 2 Allopathic Medical Colleges. Its campus is located on a sprawling 399.9 acre area in the heart of Bhubaneswar, with the Sainik School to its north, National High way No.5 to its south, Regional Research Laboratory and Institute of Physics to its west and the South Eastern Railway line to its east.

The establishment of Utkal University goes back to time, when Odisha was made into a separate province during 1936 and all its colleges were under the jurisdiction of either Patna University or Andhra University. In 1938, the government of Odisha, headed by Shri Biswanath Dash, the then Prime Minister; appointed a committee on 2^nd March, the same year with Pandit Nilakantha Das as its Chairman to examine the possibility of establishing a separate university in Odisha. Then, during the premiership of Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, who played a pioneering role in the establishment of the University, the recommendations of this committee were made available. Pandit Godavarish Mishra, the then Minister of Education, introduced the Utkal University Bill, which was passed by the Odisha Legislative Assembly on 30^th June 1943. On receiving the Governor’s assent on 2^nd August 1943, the Utkal University Act, 1943 came into force, clearing the way for the foundation of Utkal University on 27^th November 1943. The University started functioning from this date in room no. 15 of Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. The Utkal University Act, 1943 did not specify clearly the territorial jurisdiction of the University. However, its jurisdiction was extended to include the princely states of Odisha by an agreement between the rulers of these princely states and the Government of Odisha. The Utkal University Act, 1943 was amended in 1947 defining the territorial jurisdiction of the University, which was subsequently extended to the whole state of Odisha in 1950. However, with the establishment of other regional universities over a due period of time its jurisdiction was reduced. Utkal University now has jurisdiction over 9 districts, namely Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri. Thus, the University exercises territorial jurisdiction over an area measuring 24,973 sq. kilometres and caters to the higher education needs of a population of more than 120 lakh.

Location of Utkal University

Utkal University campus is located at Vani Vihar in the heart of Bhubaneswar besides the National Highway No.5, connecting Kolkata and Chennai. It is nearly 5 km from both the Main Railway Station at Master Canteen and Bus Stand at Baramunda. It is at a distance of about 5 Km from airport and 3 Km from railway station.

Departments at Utkal University

Facilities at Utkal University

Hostels – The University has 12 hostels inside the campus, 6 are for boys and 6 for girls. Every hostel has a common room where Boarders are provided with newspapers, periodicals and television etc. Common mess facility exists in all hostels. Boy's hostels are named as Gopabandhu Chhatrabasa, Madhusudan Chhatrabasa, Fakirmohan Chhatrabasa, Godabarish Chhatrabasa, Nilakantha Chhatrabasa, Acharyaharihar Chhatrabasa. Some of the girl's hostels are named as Kuntala Kumari Chatrinivas, Ramadevi Chatrinivas, Sarala Devi Chatrinivas and Malati Devi Chatrinivas.

Library - The library is named as Parija Library in the memory of late Dr. Pranakrishna Parija, first Vice-Chancellor of the Utkal University and a renowned scientist of international repute. The library has a collection of about 2, 51,663 Books, 236 National and International Journals and about 5,800 Manuscripts. The library is a part of UGC INFONET Digital Library Consortium INFLIBNET programme and gets access to various e-resources. There are two Reading Rooms in the Library – General Reading Room and Current Journal Reading Room. The Library is housed in its own building inside the campus. Members can borrow books/journals and get photocopies of non-loanable articles and journals from national and other libraries on Inter-Library loan basis. The library remains open from 10.00 A.M. to 10.00 P.M. on all working days, except second Saturdays and Sundays.

DDCE - Directorate of Distance & Continuing Education (DDCE) is a constituent directorate of Utkal University. It offers various graduate and post graduate courses in Open Distance Learning mode in the field of arts, management, commerce and computer science. It is located in the South East part of the University. It has more than 50000 square feet floor space, 150 computers, Internet lease line and 1800 Books.  For more information, visit - http://ddceutkal.ac.in/

Samarthya - Samarthya is the name of the Disability Unit of Utkal University. It comes under Higher Education for Persons with Special Needs (NEPSN) scheme of the UGC. The unit provides assistive support to students having special needs such as visual, speech and hearing and orthopaedic impairment which restricts their access to various buildings and study materials. Steps such as building ramps have been taken to develop access facilities for the wheel-chair users. Apart from that, the Unit running in the premises of the Centre of Advanced Study in Psychology has three computers, a braille embosser, one high speed scanner with ADF, one plain scanner, one ZOOM EX scanner and reader to enable the students having visual impairment to use the computer for accessing their study material without depending on a reader.

Grants - There are three types of grants available for the students of the Post-Graduate Teaching Departments; namely, Free Studentship, grants from the Social Service Guild and grants from the Students Aid Fund.

Scholarships - The students of the Post-Graduate Departments at Vani Vihar are eligible for various scholarships.

Some of these are:

• National Scholarships - These are awarded every year by the Government of India through the Director of Higher Education (H.E), Orissa on the results of B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., B.Ed. and LL.B. Examination Pass and Honours both.
• Post-Graduate Merit Scholarships - These are awarded by the Director of Higher Education, Orissa on the result of the Annual B.A., B.Sc. and B.Com. Examinations.
• Post-Matric Scholarships – These are awarded to SC and ST students of Post-Graduate classes every year by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Government of Orissa.

Fellowships – The University provides various fellowships.

Some of these are:

• Research Fellowship (U.G.C.) - There are Junior and Senior Research Fellowships awarded by the University Grants Commission and also by the University. The number of Fellowships to be awarded is determined by the University Grants Commission every year.
• Research Fellowship (C.S.I.R.) - CSIR Junior Research Fellows (JRF) / Senior Research Fellow (SRF) JRFs selected through CSIR-NET Examination

Computer Centre – The computer centre has a history of its own. It was established in 1971 with the commissioning of an IBM 1130 computer inside the premises of Post Graduate Department of Physics under the initiatives of Professor B. B. Deo. This computer was one out of eleven such systems installed in the country. It now has updated Desktops, Servers, Printers, Routers and other infrastructure. It provides and maintains Wireless Campus Network (Point to Point). It also provides 1 Gbps internet connection under National knowledge Network Commission, Government of India.

Sports Council - The council conducts different sports activities among different affiliated colleges of the University, selects and coach’s sportsmen and women in different games. It also facilitates infrastructure for different games and sports such as football, hockey, cricket, basketball and athletics

National Service Scheme (NSS) – NSS unit has been established by the university to develop the personalities of the students through community service. NSS engages in sustained community interaction and organises various programmes under regular and special camping activities in different spheres focusing on sustainable development and better quality of life. These activities promote the dignity of labour and sense of discipline among student. The university has about 23500 volunteers. Out of total 30 districts in the state, Utkal University covers nine populated districts affiliating approximately 330 colleges under its jurisdiction

Health Centre - A Health Centre with two male doctors and one lady doctor exists in the university to take care of the health of the concerned.

Guest House - The University has a guest house to provide residential facility to the special guests of the University. The guest house has 24 hour electricity, water and other facilities.

Placement Cell - The Utkal University Placement Cell assists the students perusing studies in different Post Graduate programs in the university in securing meaningful career in different sectors.  The Placement Cell develops networks with leading corporate houses, PSUs, Banks, Government and Non-Government Organizations and facilitates recruitment for filling up entry level positions.