IIPH G'nagar to seek university status

Apart from one-year programme in public health mgmt, IIPHG also plans to introduce more post graduate programmes, including emergency mgmt

With its new permanent campus set to be ready by 2014, the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar (IIPHG) is going to seek university status through the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) approval.

Confirming the move, Dileep Mavalankar, dean - academics at IIPHG and former faculty member at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said, "We are also looking to tie-up with the central government's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Academics for granting university equivalent degree. So far we couldn't grant degrees or apply for a university status since we didn't have our own campus. But by 2014, our permanent campus in Gandhinagar will be ready."

Spread across 19,000 sq metres of area, the new campus at Palaj in Gandhinagar will be located adjacent to the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn)'s upcoming permanent campus.

Since the institute is run on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, about Rs 25 crore of the total Rs 90 crore project cost of the new campus will be borne by the Government of Gujarat (GoG) while the rest will be borne by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), a body which aims to strengthen training, research and development in area of public health.

"The new campus will have a residing and studying capacity for 150 students. Once ready, we will also look to start a full masters programme post AICTE approval or through our tie-up with CSIR Academics," said Mavalankar.

Currently, functioning from a makeshift campus in Ahmedabad, IIPHG offers a one-year programme in public health management for government officials

The programme has around 25 candidates from the government sector, even as the institute is looking at increasing the seat capacity by inducting non-government candidates as well. Moreover, while the government candidates are sponsored through National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), IIPHG is looking for sponsors for funding non-government candidates.

The institute is in talks with certain NGOs and other institutions for funding additional participants from the non-government sector for the programme. For each participant, IIPHG is looking for Rs 2.25 lakh sponsorship and intend to induct additional 10-15 such candidates.

Apart from the one year programme in public health management, IIPHG is also planning to introduce more post graduate programmes, including emergency management.

With Gujarat already running the 108 emergency services successfully through EMRI, IIPHG intends to create more professionals skilled in emergency management.