The Union government is planning enrol at least 70 students in the proposed IIM at Sambalpur from this academic year, a senior officer of ministry of human resource development (MHRD) said on Sunday.
Director (management), MHRD, Shailendra Kumar said site selection committee would submit its report to the ministry by Thursday. He is part of the four-member team. “If the ministry accepts the report, plans will be made to take in 70 students this year, scaling down the admission capacity (140) of the institute,” he said.
Despite the cut on seats, the whole visit is being seen as a positive development since admission to the proposed IIM was pushed to uncertainty due to delay in finalization of the temporary campus and permanent site.
Accompanied by senior officers of the district administration, the team visited on Sunday one of the probable sites for the permanent campus at Neeldungri under Jujomura block and the ITI building at Rasanpur near the Maneswar, on the outskirt of Sambalpur, for the temporary setup.
On Saturday, they had visited Basantpur near Goshala under Dhankauda block and Brahmanipali under Rengali block. They also went to Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology (SUIIT) at Burla, Silicon Engineering College and the government polytechnic at Rengali to inspect facilities available for starting the temporary campus.
Pawan Kumar Singh, a professor of IIM Indore, mentor institute of the proposed IIM, said, the team would evaluate all the sites and reach a consensus on sites for temporary and permanent campuses.
Prasanta Patnaik