RD Women’s College to get University status

The Rama Devi Women’s (Autonomous) College will be converted into a University very soon. Bhubaneswar city will soon boast of the first exclusive university for women in the state. Then it would be among the very few exclusive universities for women in the country.

A senior government officer said the state government’s plan is in accordance with recommendations of the 17-member task force on higher education in 2010. SNDT Women’s University (Maharashtra) is the first women’s university in South-East Asia.

“The task force had suggested making RD Women’s College an independent campus. It will give the institution greater administrative autonomy, funding from various sources, including University Grants Commission (UGC) besides academic freedom,” the officer said.

Trilochan Pradhan, who headed the government’s task force, said the women’s university would further inspire excellence in women’s education. “An exclusive campus for women will go a long way in giving a new direction to higher education for women,” Pradhan said.

Pradhan said RD’s university status will also ease the load of its parent university (Utkal), which is overburdened with over 350 affiliated colleges. The new university will help conduct examinations and publish results on time. “Such unitary universities and universities with very few affiliated colleges are necessary to improve quality of education,” Pradhan said, citing the example of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack.

The government has asked the RD Women’s College to prepare a status report on faculty strength, infrastructure and land besides projected need for converting it into a university. The college authorities have welcomed the government move. “This will definitely help the institution achieve new standards of education and research,” said RD Women’s College principal Sanghamitra Khuntia. (Source – The Times of India)