Berhampur University is a university near Berhampur

Berhampur

Brahmapur , nicknamed "The Silk City", is a city located in the eastern coastline of Ganjam district of the Indian state of Orissa, about south to state capital, Bhubaneswar.It is also dubbed as "The Dance City" of Orissa after Prince Dance Group and Harihar Das made the state famous in India's...

, Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is one of the oldest and major universities of Orissa, the others being Utkal

Utkal University

Utkal University, Bhubaneswar is the oldest university in Orissa and the 17th oldest university in India. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university that has produced some of the best brains in Orissa. There are at 26 post-graduate departments at the university campus for studies and research in...

 at Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...

 and Sambalpur University

Sambalpur University

Sambalpur University is located at Sambalpur, India in the Indian state of Orissa. Popularly known as Jyoti Vihar. It offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Governor of Orissa is the Chancellor of the university...

.

History

The university came into existence on 2 January 1967, after a bill was passed in the Orissa Legislative Assembly and was inaugurated by Ayodhya Nath Khosla, the then Governor of Orissa and the first Chancellor of the University.

The first Vice Chancellor, Justice Lingaraj Panigrahi was a jurist, educationist and educational administrator from Berhampur town. His tenure was brief and the task of establishing the infant university then fell to Raghunath Prasad Padhi.

Padhi appointed distinguished scholars to senior positions in the university. In Botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

, the first Head of Department was Harihar Pattnaik, who later became the Vice Chancellor of the university and was also the Chairman of the Regional Railway Recruiting Board. U. N. Biswal later became Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University

Sambalpur University

Sambalpur University is located at Sambalpur, India in the Indian state of Orissa. Popularly known as Jyoti Vihar. It offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Governor of Orissa is the Chancellor of the university...

. Chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 was the only visible research school of the university in the initial years. In History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 the archaeologist Krushna Chandra Panigrahi

Krushna Chandra Panigrahi

Krushna Chandra Panigrahi was born in 1909 in a village known as Khiching in the district of Mayurbhanj in Orissa state of India.He grew up in a poor family and lost his parents at an early age....

 was Head of Department.

The Head of Department of Physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 was S. N. Behera. Behera left for the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar

Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar

Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar is an autonomous research institution of the Department of Atomic Energy , Government of India. The Institute was established in 1972 by the Government of Orissa, under the founding director Dr. Trilochan Pradhan, when the Institute started theoretical research...

, where he became Director later. He rejoined Berhampur University again in 2002 as the Vice Chancellor. Members of the faculty of Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 included J. K. Baral, who later served as the Vice Chancellor of the university and completed a full term and S. Nanda, who later became the Vice Chancellor of the newly created Fakir Mohan University

Fakir Mohan University

Fakir Mohan University is a university situated in Balasore, Orissa, India. It was carved out of the Utkal University in 1999 and acts as an affiliating university...

, Balasore

Balasore

Balasore is a strategically located city in the state of Orissa, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It is best known for Chandipur beach. It is also the site of the Indian Ballistic Missile Defense...

. The Head of Department of Zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

, C. C. Das, was the sectional president for Zoology in the Indian Science Congress, 1975.

The decade from 1974 to 1984 witnessed a phenomenal rise in research activities in the university. The university opened new courses in Commerce, English, Home Science, Linguistics, Marine Sciences, Journalism and Mass Communication. In the 1980s and 1990s new departments were opened including Business Administration, Computer Science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

, Electronic Science and Home Science.

Several faculty members went abroad for postdoctoral research, to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, the USA, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. Many faculty were awarded Commonwealth Academic Staff fellowships, while many visited the USA, UK, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Japan on short term visits.

Campus

The present campus is known as Bhanja Bihar, named after one of the greatest poets of Orissa, Kabisamrat Upendra Bhanja. Spread over an area of about 250 acres (1 km²), the university is about twelve kilometres away from the city of Berhampur and about six kilometres from Gopalpur

Gopalpur

Gopalpur is a census town under Ranaghat police station of Ranaghat subdivision in Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Geography:...

beach.

Self-financing courses

The university has recently started self-financing courses in professional programmes such as Pharmacy (degree-M. Pharma), M. Tech. in Electronic and Computer Sciences and Master of Finance and Control and M. Sc. in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.

Distance learning

The university offers courses, both traditional and professional, in the distance education mode to make educational facilities available to working people at modest fees.

Faculties

• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Business
• Faculty of Law