Bhubaneswar, Nov. 24: Students of Utkal University undertook a campus cleaning drive today as part of the varsity’s foundation day preparations. The institution will celebrate its 69th foundation day on November 27.
“More than 50 of us, including NSS volunteers, cleaned the administrative block this morning. For the foundation day, we have also decided to conduct a blood donation camp on the campus. Our target is to collect 300 units of blood,” said president of university students’ union Tanmaya Swain.
Hectic preparations are on for the annual event in which Odisha governor and chancellor of state universities M.C. Bhandare and Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Patnaik have been invited as guests. They would address the students in the MKCG auditorium, said Utkal vice-chancellor P.K. Sahoo.
Registrar G.C. Pradhan would read out the annual report, highlighting the achievements of the students in the last one year. Forty-two cash awards, including five gold medals, would be given away to students who have shown exceptional performance or have won various competitions conducted within and outside the university.
Director of students’ welfare Kabir Sethy said security measures are in place for the smooth conduct of the event. “We have already written to the city police and they would take care of fire safety and other security-related issues. The police would patrol the campus 10 hours before the start of the programme on Sunday,” Sethy said.
The department of science and technology, government of India, has sanctioned Rs 9 crore to the science departments of the university under the Promotion of University Research for Scientific Excellence programme, said secretary of the Utkal University Teachers’ Association Santosh Kumar Tripathy.
“Utkal is among the 20 best universities of the country to get this honour. A special grant of Rs 1.8 crore has been sanctioned by the University Grants Commission for purchase of equipment by the departments to supplement teaching and research,” Tripathy said.
He added that during the past five years, departments of anthropology, philosophy and economics have been given the status of Centre for Advance Studies by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“The department of psychology has been enjoying this status since 1981. Other departments such as physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, mathematics, commerce, geology, geography, Odia, English and political science, have been given the status of department under special assistance due to their research achievements,” said Tripathy.
