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Berhampur University

Overview

Berhampur University is a state public university located in Bhanja Bihar, on the outskirts of Berhampur city in the Ganjam district of Odisha, India. Established in the late 1960s, it serves as the principal affiliating and teaching university for higher education in the southern districts of Odisha.

Type State public university
Location Bhanja Bihar, Berhampur, Ganjam district
State Odisha, India
Region served Southern Odisha
Campus name Bhanja Bihar

Background

The university was created to cater to the higher education needs of the southern region of Odisha, which had until then been served by Utkal University at Bhubaneswar. The campus is named Bhanja Bihar in honour of the seventeenth-century Odia poet Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, whose literary heritage is closely associated with the Ganjam region.

Academics

Berhampur University functions both as a teaching university, with postgraduate departments on its main campus, and as an affiliating university for a large number of undergraduate colleges spread across several districts of southern Odisha. It offers postgraduate programmes, M.Phil. and doctoral research across the faculties of arts, science, commerce, business administration, law and education.

Postgraduate departments on the campus typically include disciplines such as Odia, English, History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Geology, Marine Sciences, Statistics, Computer Science, Business Administration, Commerce and Law.

Campus

The Bhanja Bihar campus lies a few kilometres from the centre of Berhampur and houses academic departments, administrative buildings, the central library, hostels for men and women, residential quarters for faculty and staff, and sports facilities. The university's location near the Bay of Bengal coast has supported the development of marine and earth science studies.

Affiliation and recognition

The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and its programmes in professional fields are subject to the approval of the relevant national regulatory bodies. Affiliated colleges in the region offer undergraduate degrees under the university's curriculum and examinations.

Significance

As one of the older state universities of Odisha, Berhampur University has played a central role in expanding access to higher education in the Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kandhamal and Boudh areas. It has also contributed to research in regional history, Odia literature, and the natural sciences relevant to the eastern coastal belt.

References