| Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar |
|
|---|---|
| Established | 2008 |
| Type | Education and research institution |
| Director | Madhusudan Chakraborty |
| Location | Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India |
| Campus | Spread over 935 acres (3.78 km2) |
| Acronym | IIT BBS |
| Website | http://www.iitbbs.ac.in |
The Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान भुवनेश्वर) is the third and one of the largest of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology established by the MHRD, Government of India in 2008-2009.[1] A bill for the addition of these eight IITs and the conversion of Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University to IIT[2] was passed in the Lok Sabha in March 24, 2011[3] and is still to be adopted by the Rajya Sabha.
The institute admits students into B. Tech, M. Tech and Ph.D programs. The classes are held in Bhubaneswar city. The academic session begins in july each year. Prof. Madhusudan Chakraborty is the director of IIT Bhubaneswar since 2009, succeeding acting director, Damodar Acharya.
Establishing an IIT in Orissa was a long standing demand for several decades. As the state ranked at the bottom in terms of terms of centrally funded academic and research institutions, there were strong allegations of Congress led central government neglect.[4][5] There were several incidents of protest, both locally in Orissa,[6][7][8][9][10][11] the National Students Union of India (NSUI),[12] and eminent nonresident Indian academics. An organization called Agamee Orissa was formed, that spearheaded mass agitation throughout the state.[10][11] There also have been stray incidents of violence related to the issue of Orissa's neglect.[13] Politicians including the chief minister of Orissa, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, cast this festering issue as a sign of severe neglect of the state by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi.[14][15][16][17][18][19] In May 2007, this became a major issue in the Indian parliament.[20][21][22][23] The opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) staged a walk-out in the Indian parliament, accusing the ruling UPA of neglecting the state's economic development.[24][25][26] Sections of the media reported that the Congress party led UPA government had been embarrassed by this issue.[27] Eventually, the HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh relented, leading to the inception of IIT Bhubaneswar.[28]
The birth of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, came on the 60th anniversary of the country’s Independence on 15 August 2007 when Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, made the announcement about the expansion of IIT system in the country. Further, the National Development Council of the Planning Commission, in its 54th meeting held on 19 December 2007, approved the proposal as part of the approval process of the 11th Five Year Plan (2007–12).
The actual birth of the institute was announced by the Minster of Human Resource Development Shri. Arjun Singh in a press conference on 28 March 2008. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education, Government of India, vide its Order dated 9 May 2008 decided that IIT Kharagpur would mentor the setting up of this new IIT for 2–3 years. It was further decided that the Director of the mentor IIT i.e. IIT Kharagpur, would be the mentor Director of the new IIT pending selection of regular Director and the Chairman, Board of Governors (BOG) of IIT Kharagpur would also be the Chairman of the BOG of this new mentored IIT.
The Union Cabinet, at its meeting held on 17 July 2008 approved setting up eight new IITs including IIT Bhubaneswar at a cost of Rs.760 crore per IIT. The Cabinet also approved creation of the post of Director and Registrar along with 30 Faculty per year for each of the new IITs. It was also decided that that pending amendment of the Institute of Technology Act,1961 for inclusion of IIT Bhubaneswar as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute would start functioning under aegis of Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar Society to be registered under the Societies’ Registration Act, 1860 (Act XXI of 1860).
Papers were filed on 19 July 2008 with the Registrar of Societies Orissa, Cuttack for registration of IIT Bhubaneswar Society and the society was registered on 22 July 2008.
IIT Bhubaneswar became the first amongst the eight new IITs to become operational with a sanctioned intake of 40 students each in the disciplines of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Classes for the first batch of students started from the campus of IIT Kharagpur at Kharagpur, the mentor Institute for IIT Bhubaneswar on 23 July 2008 with admission of 95 students.
The process of selection of Faculty and the Registrar were initiated through issue of advertisement on all India basis. Shri Bata Kishore Ray from MHRD Govt of India joined as the first employee and first Registrar of the Institute on 31 December 2008.
To finalise the site for the permanent campus of IIT Bhubaneswar, the MHRD had set up a Site Identification Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Ashok Takhur, Additional Secretary to the Government of India which visited Orissa during December 24–25, 2008. After visiting four sites proposed by the Government of Orissa i.e. Banki, Ramdaspur in Cuttack district and Gayabandh and Jatni in Khordha district, the Committee recommended the site at Jatni. The recommendation of the Committee was approved by the Government of India on 13 January 2009. The Government of Orissa agreed to provide 936 acres (3.79 km2) of land free of cost out of which 518 acres (2.10 km2) had been given physical possession on 10 February 2009. The State Government also agreed to provide other facilities including a four-lane road from National Highway No.5 ( Kolkata-Chennai) to the IIT. Prof M Chakraborty, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur joined as the Director of IIT Bhubnaeswar on 19 May 2009. He took over the rein from Prof D Acharya, the earlier Director of the Institute. IIT Bhubaneswar became operational in the city of Bhubaneswar on 22 July 2009 with shifting 2008 batch of students from IIT Kharagpur and admission of 117 new students in 2009. The Institute started functioning at IIT Kharagpur's Extension Centre built in 1998 in Bhubaneswar.
The first meeting of the Board of Governors and that of the Finance Committee of the institute was held on 30 January 2009 in Tata Centre Kolkota under the chairmanship of Shri B Muthuraman while 2nd meeting of the governors was held on 12 February 2009 in Bhubaneswar. The Foundation Stone for the permanent campus of the Institute was laid on February 12, 2009. Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa graced the occasion as chief guest. IITBBS has been operating from multiple locations so far, while its permanent campus is coming up at Aragul village, near Jatni, on a 950 acre plot.[29]
The emblem of IIT, Bhubaneswar was designed by Junior Biswas the son of architect Mr Hiranmoy Biswas, the architect to the Taj in Mumbai. The two surrounding semicircle form the environment and ambit of IIT, while the open book inside represents knowledge and source of wisdom. The symmetric petals are symbolic of freshness and inspire growth for infinite knowledge.
The permanent IIT campus is being set up in Aragul, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.[30] The site near Jatni Railway Station on the East Coast Railway is 25 kilometres from Biju Patnaik Airport Bhubaneswar. The land is picturesque with Barunai Hill on one side and a reserve forest nearby. The ste is at 20° 10' N and 85° 42' E. A total of 935 acres (3.78 km2) of land has been allocated towards the self contained campus for 10,000 students and 1,100 faculty. A science park is being set up as a part of this institution to support industry oriented research activities.[31] The institute is expected to start operating in its new campus at Aragul by the end of 2013. The campus construction began on 14 August 2011, Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the IIT campus construction at Aragul village near Jatni.[32] [33]
IIT Bhubaneswar is the first IIT to set up a separate marine campus in 2011 for conducting research in rising sea levels, ecology, disaster management, marine ecosystems, fishery development, and other areas. This campus, which will be a part of the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment Sciences, will be set up near Chilka lake. It will have educational facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate students.[34]
Several other universities and research institutions are either present or being established in the vicinity, including NISER, XIMB, IIIT, one of the Indian government's proposed National Universities of international calibre,[35] an AIIMS-like medical institution, and the Institute of Physics. NISER's campus is 2 km away from the IIT. Other institutions, such as Sri Sri University as well as the world's biggest academic institution, Vedanta University, will be in the neighboring places of Cuttack and Puri respectively.[36][37] An advantage of this IIT is its location at Bhubaneswar, an emerging education hub, that is being promoted as an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) by the government.[38] A total of 40 km2 of land has been allocated for the purpose, out of which about 60% will be devoted to research and development.[39] An estimated 780 crore (US$148.2 million) will be invested by the Indian government within the next few years in order to develop the institute.
The Orissa state government is constructing a four-lane expressway directly from the National Highway No. 5 (a part of the Golden Quadrilateral) to this new IIT for increased connectivity. Khurda Rd railway station is 4 km away from the campus, and the Biju Patnaik airport is 25 km away. A new international airport is being constructed even closer to the IIT campus at a distance of 12 km. Thus, IIT Bhubaneswar is the best connected between all the upcoming IITs, and better than some existing ones.
Other advantages of IIT Bhubaneswar include the presence of major steel, power, petrochemical, and other heavy industries, major ports including the one at Paradip, as well as the emergence of Bhubaneswar as one of the IT hubs of the nation.[40] Major tourist attractions include the Konark temple, Puri sea beach, Chilka lagoon, gorges, a waterfalls.
The IIT has five functioning schools.[41] Other schools will be set up subsequently.
This is one of the school of IIT Bhubaneswar.[42] It encompasses the following subject areas in physics, chemistry, mathematics and the biosciences,
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering is a priority research area in IIT Bhubaneswar, and this is one of the schools that is being established.
Topics of research addressed by this school include the following areas,
|
|
The school offers a Ph.D. degree.
The focus of this school is:
|
|
The school admits students into a doctoral degree program.
This school is focussed on research in the following fields:
|
|
The school of infrastructure admits doctoral students.
This school is being set up to take advantage of Orissa's mineral wealth.
This school deals with the following research areas,
|
|
The School of Materials and Minerals Engineering is among the five schools that runs a Ph.D. program.
This school intends to concentrate on studies in ocean sciences, environmental sciences ,Geo Physics and disaster management. Recently Renowned Indian scientist Prem Chand Pandey joined as a faculty in the School of Earth,Ocean and Climate Sciences . [43]
A central library is currently functioning in the premises of Toshali Plaza. There is a reading room attached within fully equipped with 3 computers having LAN connection. There is also provision for LAN ports where students can plug-in their individual laptops.
Students are housed at a location which is 20 minutes from the temporary institute, in flats with full dining, medical, and recreational facilities as well as with 24 hrs internet access. The institute provides free daily bus shuttle service for the students.In addition to permanent student residences, the institute is setting up a student counselling centre to assist students, parents/guardians and provide information pertaining to accommodation, admissions and examinations. A training and placement center will function as a catalyst in the placement process of graduating students. It will arrange for campus interviews and will dedicate itself to helping the students gain suitable employment. IIT Bhubaneswar will also have a student welfare centre.
A well equipped healthcare facility for faculty and students is under construction.
The institute has 48 faculty members and is recruiting many more. As an incentive faculty can join the institute with their own research scholars. The institution provides up to 5 lakh (US$9,500) start-up funds to each faculty to carry out their research.[44]
Faculty at the institute are strongly encouraged to engage in pure and applied research. As an incentive, IIT Bhubaneswar provides its faculty with money for international travel and memberships in national and international professional societies. Those who are well established in their fields receive an honorarium of 15,000 (US$285) in addition to their salaries.
IIT Bhubaneswar plans to interact with the industry. It encourages its faculty to provide paid technical consulting services to industry. As Orissa ranks among the top two states in India in receiving private investment, the state is poised for rapid industrial growth, creating a strong need for such partnership with research institutions. IIT Bhubaneswar is also trying to establish long-term tie-up with industries which could work with its students in institute’s facility centre. WMG, University of Warwick will help IIT-Bhubaneswar set up high-end research laboratories on its main campus. IIT-Kharagpur, the mentoring institute of IIT-Bhubaneswar, recently entered into a joint venture with the university in this regard.[45]
The academic year is divided into two semesters, a spring semester and an autumn semester. Between these two regular semesters, the academic year also includes a shorter summer quarter, during which some courses are offered. The institution follows the credit-based system of performance evaluation. The credits allocated to each course depends on the total number of contact hours, including lectures, tutorials and laboratory sessions. Each course is usually worth three credits. The typical course load per semester is 21-24 credits for undergraduate students.
IIT Bhubaneswar presently offers undergraduate degrees in three technical disciplines.
Undergraduate programs leading to the following degrees are being offered,
Integrated five year programs for undergraduate students leading to M. Tech degrees will be offered by IIT Bhubaneswar in the near future.
Admission to these programmes is through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), taken by students seeking admission into the IITs after completing 12 years of schooling. As of 2010, the total undergraduate student intake every year is 120, with 40 students in each of the above disciplines. The plan is to have 2,500 students within 3–4 years, which will expand to 10,000 students within 15 years.[42]
The B. Tech. degree is based on a four-year program comprising eight semesters. The first year of the B.Tech. curriculum has common courses from various departments. At the end of the first year, an option to change departments is given to meritorious students on the basis of their performance in the first two semesters. From the second year onwards, the students take courses offered exclusively by their departments that are known as depth courses. In addition to these, the students takes inter-disciplinary courses known as breadth courses, including courses in humanities and social sciences, and management and information technology. During the 7th semester, undergraduate students undergo co-curricular practical training in Indian industry.
Research is included as a component in the M. Tech level, while doctoral degrees are based on research.
Institute has been admitting students into Ph.D. programs since 2009.[46]
The following five schools admit Ph.D. students
The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is a prerequisite for admission into the M. Tech program. Requirements for admission into the Ph.D. programs include a Masters degree and significant prior scholastic success. Students are interviewed before gaining admission.
The seven student societies are:
|
||||||||||||||||||||