Berhampur University Celebrates 45th Foundation Day

BERHAMPUR: Berhampur University celebrated its 45th foundation day on 2nd January at its Bhanja Bihar campus. Vice Chancellor of the University Prof Jayant Kumar Mahapatro presided over the main function to mark the establishment day of the premier institution of south Odisha. Finance Minister of Odisha Shri Prafulla Ghadei, Members of Parliament from Berhampur and Puri and the MLAs of Berhampur and Gopalpur along with several leading academicians of the state attended the foundation day celebration of the University.

There is need to open up more universities in Orissa to develop infrastructure for higher education in the State, said finance minister of Orissa Prafulla Ghadai. Interestingly this declaration came at a time when Orissa High Court has ordered to stop land acquisition for the proposed Vedanta University at Puri citing violation of several laws and Orissa government has approached Supreme Court in favour of this private university. According to Mr Ghadai Orissa is yet to become a big name in the field of higher education in the country due to lack of proper number of institutions and universities in this field. This function was also attended by MPs Pinaki Mishra and Siddhanta Mohapatra, MLAs of Berhampur RCC Patnaik, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, vice chancellor of the University Jayanta Kumara Mohapatra. Two writers were honoured during this function. They included Abhiram Panda, well known for his children's literature and Banamali Rath, a Sanskrit scholar who has researched and written books on Sanskrit and Oriya literature. During this foundation day celebration, the guests also released a house journal of journalism and mass communication department ‘Bhanja Vihar Reporter' and a documentary film on Berhampur University. Online edition of ‘Bhanja Vihar Review' was also inaugurated by the guests. Berhampur University was established on Jan 2, 1966 with only 11 colleges and 4586 students under its jurisdiction.. During the last four and a half decades the number of colleges affiliated to the University has gone up to 131, out of which 101 colleges have been granted permanent institution.

Source: The Hindu. Orissa Barta