SOA’s 16th foundation day celebrated

Bhubaneswar: A multi-disciplinary Deemed to be University, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA), is looking for global collaborations to take up inter-disciplinary research in diverse fields, its Vice-Chancellor Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda said on Monday.

“We are collaborating with foreign and national universities while strengthening our innovation eco-system. SOA has already signed 112 MoUs with foreign and Indian universities and industries of which 39 are foreign collaborations,” Prof Nanda said while speaking at the university’s 16th foundation day celebration here.

SOA was conferred the status of a Deemed to be University by the Education Ministry on July 17, 2007.

Also read: 36 international students graduate from SOA

Prof Nanda said the Atal Incubation Mission (AIM) had approved an Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) for SOA which was meant to nurture innovative startups into sustainable business ventures. The AIC at SOA would focus on the fields of engineering, health science, agricultural science, environment and climate, he said.

The celebration was attended by several top academicians of the state including Prof Pravat Kumar Roul, vice-chancellor of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Prof Amiya Kumar Rath, vice-chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) and Prof Bibhuti Bhushan Biswal, vice-chancellor of Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR).

The programme was compered by Prof Jyoti Ranjan Das, dean (Students’ Welfare) while Prof Neeta Mohanty, dean, Institute of Dental Sciences, proposed the vote of thanks.