'We plan to provide seed money to researchers'

Santosh Kumar Tripathy, vice-chancellor of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, Baripada, and Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, speaks to Hemanta Pradhan about various aspects related to the two universities.
How is MSCB University gearing up to welcome President Droupadi Murmu?
The President will attend our convocation on May 6 and address the students. Within a short time we have managed to finish many arrangements related to the convocation. We have to give 123 gold medals, but we will try to follow the timeline strictly.
Recently, the MSCB got A grade from NAAC...
We had tried very hard to do well in all aspects of NAAC assessment. We had focussed on research, performance of teachers, students progression in higher studies and employment, social outreach programmes to preserve tribal culture and tradition in Mayurbhanj and education in Santali language. We have a Tribal Museum there and a biodiversity park with around 10,000 endangered trees. The biotechnology, anthropology, biodiversity and computer science departments are doing very good research work. Our students are also getting support from Startup Odisha. These have paid off and we got the A grade.
Any plans to launch new courses in MSCB University?
We have written to the state government regarding opening of new courses at the university. Even the NAAC team had suggested that we launch courses related to social sciences. We are opening six courses including history, psychology, political science and English.
What is your plan to improve research work in the two universities?
We have started a programme to provide seed money to young researchers of FM University. Our monetary help of around Rs 2 lakh can assist them in their endeavour. They can try to pitch their ideas to get funds from agencies like the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the Odisha University Research and Innovation Incentivization Plan (OURIIP). At FM University, we have taken a decision to give a nominal fellowship to a student who has cleared the national eligibility test (NET) to become an assistant professor. Some students who get NET and fail to get junior research fellowship (JRF) by a whisker will get our support to pursue research work.