Rs.2.5 crore sanctioned to university for upgrading CERS

Bharathidasan University has been sanctioned Rs.2.5 crore by the State government for upgrading its Centre for Remote Sensing (CERS) into a Centre of Excellence (CoE), Vice Chancellor K.Meena said on Friday.

Presiding over the inaugural session of alumni-student interaction meet at CERS, Dr.Meena informed that the Centre has, since its start in 1989, has been awarded projects to the tune of Rs.11.5 crore by various funding agencies, including the University Grants Commission, Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB), Department of Science and Technology, and National Remote Sensing Agency.

The Vice-Chancellor saw significance in active involvement of alumni in university activities in the run up to the university’s re-accreditation by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) from September 3 to 5. In a year-long exercise, self-assessment reports submitted by department heads have been compiled and the supplementary report was also ready.

Seventy per cent of the nearly 200 CERS alumni were in industry and the rest in academia and research. Skill orientation for students was attuned to Chief Minister’s Vision 2023

She sought alumni support in the forms of expertise sharing through lectures as visiting faculty; creating e-content and uploading them by creating a separate link in the university website; assisting students in securing fellowship; constituting awards and endowments; membership in Board of Studies, and by enabling CERS to have international collaborations.

Recounting his experiences for over two decades as the Founder Director of the CERS, the Vice-Chancellor of Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University, in a special address, SM.Ramasamy, said the Centre had been witnessing a systematic growth from a humble beginning. While the first project was worth Rs.40, 000, one of the recent projects granted by the OIDB was to the value of Rs.5 crore.

The project is titled ‘RES-OIL-Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies for targeting Hydrocarbon Locales from Soil tonal and Geochemical anomalies related to Oil and Gas seepage in selected frontier basins of India’.

The CERS was the pioneer in integrating Remote Sensing in academic curriculum in institutions of higher learning across the country by imparting training to as many as 600 teachers with UGC support. Teachers, he emphasised, ought to mould young brains, and create infrastructure in the university system.

Dr.Ramasamy saw wide scope for carrying out projects in three-dimensional mode by deploying latest technology in the areas of mineral and mineral aggregates, nano-materials recovery from mines, landslide forecasting, flood assessment, analysing river course, impact of flora on water, sand mining, tapping geothermal energy, mapping of radiation potential, and several other emerging fields.