Bhubaneswar, Jan. 4: A new campus awaits students of Utkal University of Culture who will attend classes at Madanpur near Jatni by the end of this month.
Spread over 45 acres, the campus founded on the guru-shishya lineage aims to provide state-of-the-art facilities to the students.
After missing several deadlines over the past two years, the new campus was inaugurated last May. While the administrtion shifted to Madanpur last November, academics will also begin there shortly.
"We need to move to the permanent campus at the earliest, so that teachers and students can be together. Only then can the guru-shishya tradition be followed in its true sense," said vice-chancellor Kamal Kanta Mishra during the varsity's 18th foundation day celebrations at Rabindra Mandap today.
The campus is Wi-Fi enabled now. There are two 100-seat hostels each for boys and girls. The main gate has been designed to reflect the culture of Odisha. Proper arrangements for security of the students have also been made.
Special focus has been given on the beautification, including pathways being developed on the campus. Provisions for amphitheatres and auditoriums have also been made.
Overcoming the loopholes that are restricting the varsity from getting financial assistance from the UGC under Section 12B of the UGC Act is also on the agenda. As many as 33 posts, including 10 teaching and 23 non-teaching ones, have been created by the state government.
"We have set a target of two months to fill the posts. Also, working towards other modalities to receive funds from various central funding agencies is a priority now," said Mishra. Digitising admission and form-fill up is a priority, too. Experts from various fields of the arts will be invited for talks.
Culture secretary Manoranjan Panigrahi and development commissioner R. Balakrishnan were present on the foundation day event. The annual newsletter of the varsity, Sanskruti, along with the literary magazine, Rupayana, were released. An art exhibition was organised, along with a cultural programme.
The old campus of the varsity at Unit-II will be used as the research centre. It will also serve as the city office of the varsity. The Utkal University of Culture was established in 1999 to preserve, promote, propagate and protect the cultural richness of the state.
