one of the three oldest Universities in Odisha, the other two beings Utkal University and Berhampur University. All these institutes of higher learning make Burla a top-tier destination for thousands of students every academic year. The Hirakud Dam, which is the longest earthen dam in the world, caters to the hydro-electric power generation needs of the State. Numerous civil and electrical engineers reside in Burla. The headquarters of the Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd. (a subsidiary of Coal India Limited) area located in Burla. Education Burla is a university town which is home to the Sambalpur University, the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla, besides numerous schools and colleges, thus the student population at the height of academic year is sizable. All three centres for higher learning have their own auditorium which are well equipped. Sambalpur University is one of the older universities in the State and has numerous colleges under its jurisdiction. The 'University' as it is popularly known in the region has a magnificent campus within the rolling hills and is a community in itself. The university is popularly known as Jyoti Vihar the main tag line of the university is "SA Vidya Ja Vimuktaye" the meaning of the sentence is "That is education which liberates". In 2010 opened an institute of information technology as an autonomous constituent of Sambalpur University, named Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology. The Government of Odisha funded 10 crores for the academic building while the Western Odisha Development Council funded the institute with a sum of 50 lakh rupees. It is designed in line with the institutes of information technology, offering two B.Tech degree courses in electronics and communications engineering and computer science engineering; three M.Sc degree courses in computer sciences, bioinformatics and electronics, MCA and two M.Tech degree courses in embedded systems and computer science. Presently functioning in the CCNA building of Sambalpur University, It has three fully-equipped computer science labs and one electronics and physics lab. The students were scheduled to move to a new academic building by August 2013. It is the brainchild of former Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University, Sri Arun K Pujari. VSS Medical College is one of the premier medical colleges of the state and is centrally located in the town. It houses the ICMR Malaria Research Centre. Govt.of Odisha has principally decided to give this