Central University of Orissa renamed as Central University of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Central University of Orissa has been renamed as Central University of Odisha, as per the recent Gazette Notification of the Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2019 by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department).

The Act has received the assent of President Ramanath Kovind, who is also the visitor of the Central University of Odisha.

Vice-Chancellor in-charge Prof. Sharat Kumar Palita announced this long awaiting order of the Government of India on the occasion of the Independence Day ceremony while addressing the University community.

Prof. Palita said, “It is a great moment for the CUO community as well as the people of Odisha to have the name changed from Central University of Orissa to Central University of Odisha. Since the name of the state was changed from Orissa to Odisha in 2011, this change was long due. By this change, Government of India has fulfilled the aspirations and long-standing demand people of the state.”

Prof Plaita said that all signboards, nameplates, official seals, letterheads etc will be changed accordingly at the earliest.

Central University of Orissa was established at Koraput of the state of Odisha under the Central Universities Act 2009.

It is one of the 15 new Central Universities established by the Government of India during the UGC XI Plan period to address the concern of the nation on the principle of “equity and access” to quality higher education.

As per the recent notification, the First Schedule of the Principal Act [section 3(4)], the territorial jurisdiction of the Central University of Odisha is whole of the state of Odisha.

Presently, the University offers 11 Master’s Degree programmes in Odia, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Journalism and Mass Communication, Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources, Business Management and Statistics.

Besides, the 5-year Integrated Masters programme in Mathematics, three years Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) and two-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programme are also offered by the University.

The University has a provision in M.Phil, and Ph.D. programme in eight subjects namely Anthropology, Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources, Economics, Education, Journalism and Mass Communication, Odia, Sociology, and Statistics.

The University has two campuses, the city campus at Koraput and main campus at Sunabeda.