SOA among the finest universities, rendering huge service to society

Several eminent academicians on Wednesday heaped accolades on the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) for emerging as one of finest institutions of higher learning saying it had been rendering a huge service to the society at large.

“SOA has grown because of visionary leadership and has provided the educational scenario a huge boost,” Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Director of IIT, Bhubaneswar, said while addressing the 18th Foundation Day program of the university held here.

Besides Prof. Karmalkar, Member of the Legislative Assembly Mr. Babu Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) Prof. Amiya Kumar Rath and Vice-Chancellor of Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR) Prof. Bibhuti Bhushan Biswal also graced the occasion.

While congratulating SOA on its Foundation Day, the speakers praised the university’s Founder President Prof. (Dr.) Manojranjan Nayak saying his visionary leadership had contributed to the institution’s incredible growth within a short span of time. Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, presided.

Prof. Karmalkar, who was the chief speaker on the occasion, said SOA had been continuously striving to excel and truly lived up to its name which meant ‘education’ and ‘research’.

Education, he said, was not about learning diverse subjects but developing critical thinking in the student and learning the same subject in diverse ways. The teacher’s goal should not be to cover the whole syllabus but teach the student how to understand things in multiple ways, he said.

 Prof. Karmalkar said research begins with a curious mind and it was important that the researcher should get intrinsic pleasure in solving puzzles. Thomas Alva Edison failed again and again before succeeding in inventing the electric bulb while NASA stumbled 20 times out of 28 attempts to send rockets to space.

“The researcher must strive,” he said, “which meant a willingness to fail and learn from experience.”

Referring to the oft asked question as to why there were no Nobel laureates from India, Prof. Karmalkar said he had found a link between the reading habits of a country and the Nobel Prize.

Israel and Hungary are two countries where the people are avid readers. The average person in Israel read about 64 books a year while Hungary had around 20,000 libraries with one library serving 500 people, he said adding Israel and Hungary had several Nobel Prize winners.

“Knowledge is power and people who read think differently’” he said adding one person’s reading habit affected the entire community.

Whether a society will develop or lag behind depends on how many people read and the kind of books they pick up, Prof. Karmalkar said.

Mr. Singh said SOA had become a milestone in the realm of higher education in Odisha and was counted as one of the best universities in the country. “Prof. Nayak’s leadership and teamwork had contributed to its success,” he said while exhorting the faculty members and other employees to strive to take it even higher.

Prof. Biswal heaped praise on Prof. Nayak saying he thought differently. “He was a brilliant student and teacher. Today he has become an institution,” he said.

NAAC had re-accredited SOA with the highest grade as the university had maintained its quality while benefitting the community. The students who passed out from the university were spread across the world, he said.

Lauding SOA’s yeoman service during the pandemic, Prof. Biswal said the state benefitted greatly because the university extended its support to battle the disease.

Prof. Rath described SOA as a complete book saying few of its chapters were yet to be written. “Prof. Nayak’s vision, leadership and positive attitude has enabled it to reach great heights.

“One should focus on performing duties sincerely without worrying about the outcome,” he said.

The June 2024 issue of ‘SOArchives’, SOA’s monthly newsletter, was released on the occasion.

Prof. (Dr.) Sanghamitra Mishra, Dean of the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, SOA’s faculty of medical sciences, welcomed the guests while Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare) conducted the program and proposed the vote of thanks.