Bhubaneswar: Utkal University is said to have been asking about 30 students of Hostel No 7 on the varsity premises to move out immediately to accommodate overseas students and teachers from the International Centre for Teacher Training.
The tension between the two sides that has been prevailing for some time escalated Wednesday with students protesting against the move outside the venue of an international symposium organised on the campus. The aggrieved students alleged that the main reason for continuous pressure on them by university administration officials to vacate the hostel is to ensure admission of candidates from abroad.
Students said that the hostel warden has been asking the superintendent that the students should be moved out to carry out some repair works. But that is only a ruse, they alleged. This demand comes at a time when the inmates have already paid their fees amounting Rs 11,670 for the entire year. The administration is not assuring the aggrieved students of refunding the amount after the completion of the purported repair work.
The fee for Hostel No 7 which is considered as one of the best is also higher than other hostels whose fee ranges between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000. Hostel inmates claim they have been cheated by the administration which is asking them to shift to Hostel No 4 in the middle of the academic session.
“We have been mentally harassed for the last two-three months. We tried our best to meet the Vice Chancellor, but in vain. Even other officials are not coming forward to help us. How can the college ditch us midway while we have paid to stay in the hostel for one year, ”said a student requesting anonymity.
Many hostellers also said the heads of departments had been summoned and our personal details like copies of our ID cards and others details were sought.
On Wednesday, when a symposium on ‘Global Innovation Design’ was going on and the Vice Chancellor SM Patnaik took part in the event, the inmates protested and demanded the intervention of the VC in the matter. Cops from Sahid Nagar police station were called in to prevent any untoward incident.
A month ago, the VC had told the media that they would use 30 rooms of the hostel for accommodating students from abroad till a new structure was built. Now, it is unclear why all the inmates have been asked to vacate the hostel.
While responding to the row, the varsity VC told Orissa POST, “The students need to understand that the whole thing behind shifting of hostel and allowing the work to go forward for accommodation for International Centre for Teacher Training is done to ensure better options and opportunities to the students of the university. Some issues might have cropped up due to some initial miscommunications.”
Int’l symposium at UU
Bhubaneswar: A two-day symposium on ‘Global Innovation Design’ organised by International Cell of Utkal University started Wednesday as part of the Internationalisation Strategy Programme. The maiden symposium aims to enrich research activity in the university and provide it with a global audience. It offers an opportunity to the research scholars of the university to interact with their counterparts from Imperial College, London on themes of contemporary issues. About 40 research scholars of the university are taking part in the symposium. Thea Peterson, Laurenz, Alex Kane, Sophia and Imran Nazerali from the Imperial College of London came to present their work and actively interact with their counterparts from the university. Peterson of USA is also a member of the Global Innovation Design team, which focuses on sustainability and the circular economy within the context of modern cities. She focused on how design plays an integral role in facilitating them, outlining why countries not trapped in pre-existing infrastructure are at a better vantage point for implementing some of these strategies. The symposium was inaugurated by Soumendra Mohan Patnaik, Vice Chancellor Utkal University.