Union Cabinet gives approval to IISER, Berhampur in Odisha

The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to formation of the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) at Berhampur in Odisha.
IISER, Berhampur will be established under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and it will start of its 2016-17 academic session from 1 August 2016.
It will being its operations from a transit or temporary campus from the Academic Year 2016-17 for the initial three years i.e. till 2016-19.
Union Cabinet also gave approval for introduction of National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016.
This bill will pave way for inclusion of IISER, Tirupati and IISER, Berhampur in Second Schedule of National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (NITSER) Act, 2007.
Background

• The IISER have been declared as Institutes of National Importance under the NITSER Act, 2012. These Institutes are envisaged to carry out research in areas of science and provide quality science education at Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate level.
• Earlier, there were five IISERs at Pune, Kolkata, Bhopal, Mohali and Thiruvananthapuram. In 2015, new IISER was started at Tirupati.
• IISER, Berhampur comes in line with the announcement made by Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech (2015) for setting up of an IISER in Odisha.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2016