Gangadhar Meher University is an inspiring example of how an institution of higher learning evolves over the years, almost like a living community. When there was no college in the undivided Sambalpur district, it originated as Sambalpur college; when the people of the region felt that a poet as eminent as Gangadhar Meher needed to be remembered institutionally, it became Gangadhar Meher College; when there were enough graduates asking for further progression to their careers, it opened postgraduate departments; when the nation set the whole higher education department on a mission mode to increase the gross enrolment ratio, it has become a university, duly decreed by an act of state assembly. It indeed is a storied movement forward, almost parallelly with growing aspirations of Independent India.

Students grew in numbers, from 194 in 1944 to more than 6400 currently; subjects grew from a few initially to 26 schools of postgraduate schools of instruction and more than 200 doctoral students, Sanctioned faculty numbers of 144, not to speak of more than 100 contractual and guest faculties, will possibly grow into more than 200. Infrastructural growth too has been equally remarkable, from additional classrooms, computer labs, auditorium and utilities to a second campus in the verdant Basantpur area, all making it up into a twenty-first century campus History too has accumulated alongside, proverbially like a moss round a big stone. Historical figures like Mehatab coming and laying foundations stone for a hostel, Dhyan Chand coming and inaugurating a hockey tournament, Housing the state secretariat at a critical juncture, students of earlier batches shining like stars in the political, bureaucratic and scientific establishment, hard to find more glittering examples. One couldn’t ask for more, as it were.

But education as an emancipatory project and cultural ideal is such no institution embodying it could sit on its past laurels, nor complacently on its large established boundaries. As knowledge generation and social progress is a continuous phenomenon with infinite possibilities, so are the calls for a higher educational institution to reimagine itself to meet such challenges which, with the implementation of new education policy, lie in developing new pedagogies, establishing a relevant research ecosystem, offering opportune skill sets and allowing for enriching community engagements.

The student community has been largely very receptive and responsive; faculty members have been rising to the new challenges and the administrative staff has been equally supportive. In fact, the whole community including the ever loyal alumni and the conscious civil society has been academically enthusiastic and hopeful. So, the future can only be bright. Let us all wish Gangadhar Meher University the very best.