Bhubaneswar: To create a model centre in technical education in the state, the Odisha government has decided to invest Rs 1,500 crore to revamp the Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR), Bhubaneswar, formerly known as College of Engineering and Technology (CET).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday approved the master plan prepared to revamp the engineering institute with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in three years, of which, Rs 1,000 crore will be spent in the first year, an official release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.
It said that the state wants to redevelop OUTR in the line of IITs. The student intake capacity of the OUTR, will be enhanced to 10,000 from the existing 4,600.
Patnaik reviewed the available infrastructure, management, teaching facilities at the institute and asked officials to develop it as one of the leading institutions in the field of technical education and research.
He emphasized on the quality of education and research, the release said.
For imparting quality education, new courses will be opened for new age technology and more Centres of Excellence will be set up to promote human resource development and inter-departmental research programmes.
As per the plan, a Centre of Excellence will be set up in the university to offer new courses on new age technology and encourage inter-departmental research. Both the teaching and research works will be carried out in partnership with national and international universities, it said.
The OUTR will also be developed in collaboration with various leading industries to encourage startup culture among entrepreneurs and develop entrepreneurial spirit among them.
Special attention will be paid on how new patents and intellectual property rights can be obtained with research within the university.
The institution came into existence as the College of Engineering and Technology (CET) as a constituent College of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) in the year 1981. It was later in 2001 shifted to a 100-acre permanent campus at Ghatikia in the city. It was accorded the status of a university in 2021 and renamed Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR).—PTI