President of India Inaugurates of ICT-IOC’s Bhubaneswar Campus

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Bhubaneswar campus on March 18, 2018. He also laid the Foundation Stone of the permanent campus of Skill Development Institute (SDI) at Bhubaneswar. Both initiatives promoted by IOC under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) were launched at the 6th Convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, with the President as Chief Guest. Other dignitaries present on the occasion were Dr. S.C Jamir, Governor of Odisha; Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, Human Resource Development, Govt. of India; Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, IOC; and Prof. G.D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor, ICT. “The setting up of these two institutes demonstrates the commitment of the Government of India towards the development of Odisha,” the President said while applauding the initiative by the MoPNG to promote skill enhancement among the youth and improve employability.

The President hoped that the ICT-IOC campus would evolve into an innovation hub for carrying out high-end research in chemical engineering, petrochemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals and energy. He expressed happiness that the SDI of IOC aims to train about 50,000 youth over the next 10 years at its permanent campus.

Integrated five-year M.Tech programme

IOC and ICT had signed a MoU on November 16, 2017 for setting up a campus at Bhubaneswar to offer several innovative programmes. The flagship is an Integrated M.Tech. of five-year duration (after 12th Standard) with major in Chemical Engineering and minor in Petrochemicals, Textiles, Polymers & Materials, Foods & Pharmaceuticals, and Energy Engineering. The last two trimesters of the course will be for experimental and design projects to promote entrepreneurship and start-up companies. The institute will also offer Executive M. Tech. programmes for industry personnel and Ph.D. programmes, as well. “During the industrial internship, students will receive stipend from industry, making the education affordable to one and all,” Prof. Yadav said. The first academic session will start this year.

The initial investment for establishing the first phase in a temporary campus is around Rs. 100-crore. ICT has applied to the State Government for 100-acres of land for setting up a full-fledged, permanent campus with an approximate investment of Rs. 500-crore. According to IOC, the ICT-IOC Centre will act as an innovation hub to catalyse the structured growth of industries in the State in petrochemicals, chemicals, polymers, textiles and fibres. The oil refiner is making significant investments at Paradip and once these projects go on stream, the region will evolve into a petrochemicals hub, leading industrial growth in Odisha and adjoining areas in Eastern India.

Promoting skill development

In 2015, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas embarked on the setting up six SDIs in different parts of the country. The locations chosen were Bhubaneswar, Nagaram & Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Kochi. IOC took the initiative of setting up the first SDI in the Hydrocarbons Sector at Bhubaneswar. The pilot campus was inaugurated on May 9, 2016, where about 150 students per batch are already being skilled in five trade courses of three to six months duration each.

SDI, Bhubaneswar, is now getting its own campus set up with technical support from the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Once fully functional, the 60-acre permanent campus will have the capability to train about 3,000 to 4,000 youth every year in 16 regular trades. The objective is to train about 50,000 youth from Odisha and other States in the next 10 years. The courses offered are not-for-profit and the fee structure is very nominal.