The Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT University) plans to open a branch of its well-known Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in Bihar, if the Nitish Kumar government provides a plot for the purpose.
KIIT University founder professor Achyuta Samanta met Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh on Thursday in Patna and proposed the opening of KISS, which would offer free-of-cost primary to postgraduate education to poor and tribal children in Bihar and along with focusing on imparting various job-related skills to them for better employability.
"We have met the Bihar chief secretary in Patna and we are also trying to meet the chief minister. We want to open a branch of KISS in Bihar if we just get a small piece of land for the purpose. It would be a thanksgiving gesture to this vast state from our end," Achyuta said, while talking to mediapersons.
Achyuta said over 16,000 students from Bihar have studied and passed out with flying colours since KIIT was established in 1997 and around 4,500 students from Bihar are studying in Odisha at present.
It offers a wide range of technical, professional and medical education courses with a 2,000-bed superspecialty hospital attached to it.
"There is a craze among the students from Bihar to study at KIIT University because we ensure that everyone gets two to four job offers from reputed institutions. But you can understand the economics involved when such a large number of students from this state study at our place. We are grateful and want to express our thanks by way of establishing KISS here to impart education, life and vocational schools to children coming from poor families," he added.
KISS functions in Odisha and has been billed as the largest fully residential tribal institute in the world, as it is devoted to indigenous people. It has also been bestowed special consultative status by the United Nations.
Achyuta pointed out that a branch of KISS was functioning in New Delhi and efforts were on to establish others in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) member Ram Kishore Singh, Patna University vice-chancellor Y.C. Simahadri and Nalanda Open University vice-chancellor Ras Bihari Singh and several others were present on the occasion.
KIIT University, formerly Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, is a co-educational, autonomous university. It was one of the youngest institutions to be awarded the deemed university status (under Section 3 of UGC Act 1956) in India and then the university status in 2004.
