"SOA is a complete book, few chapters yet to be written": Guests shower praises on SOA's Foundation Day

Several eminent academicians on Wednesday, July 17, 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 programme of the university held in Bhubaneswar, stated a press release from the institute.

Besides Prof Karmalkar, Member of the Legislative Assembly 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 can affect 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.

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.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (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,” he said.

“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 programme and proposed the vote of thanks.