Indian School of Mines

Coordinates: 23°48′48″N 86°26′31″E / 23.81333°N 86.44194°E / 23.81333; 86.44194

Indian School of Mines Dhanbad

Motto	उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत Uttitishthat Jagrat Prapya Varannibhodhat
Motto in English	"Arise, Awake, strive for the highest and be in the light"
Type	Public university
Established	1926
Director	Prof. D C Panigrahi[1]
Academic staff	271
Undergraduates	3,640
Postgraduates	2,066
Location	Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Campus	Urban
Affiliations	Government of India
Website	www.ismdhanbad.ac.in

The Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad is an educational institute of India. It is located in the mineral-rich region of India, in the city of Dhanbad. It was established by British Indian Government on the lines of the Royal School of Mines - London, and was formally opened on 9 December 1926 by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India.^[2] It started as an institution to impart mining education, and has grown into a technical institution with various departments. ISM admits its undergraduate students through Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced), previously IIT-JEE.^[3][4]

Indian School of Mines has 18 academic departments covering Engineering, Applied Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences and Management programs. The school has produced many pioneers of the mining and oil industry, including Padma Bhushan awardees.

The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget speech in Parliament on 28 February 2015, had proposed to convert ISM Dhanbad into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).^[5][6]

History

Main building of ISM Dhanbad

The Indian National Congress at its XVII Session of December 1901 passed a resolution stating that: ^[7]

The McPherson Committee formed by Government of British India, recommended the establishment of an institution for imparting education in the fields of mining and geology, whose report, submitted in 1920, formed the main basis for establishment of the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad, on 9 December 1926.^[2]

The institute offered courses in Mining Engineering, Applied Geology, Applied Physics, Applied Chemistry and Applied Mathematics when it opened. In 1957, the institute began offering Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics. Up to 1967 it was a pure government institute where the faculties were recruited through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The school was granted university status by the University Grants Commission under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 in 1967. Later courses in Mining Machinery Engineering and Mineral Engineering were started in 1975 and 1976 respectively. It was among the few institutes to start courses in Industrial Engineering and Management (in 1977), to cater to the needs of industries like metallurgy, mining and manufacturing.

From 1996-97 the school came directly under the financial and administrative controls of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India with pay scales and perks to its employees at par with that of Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management. In 1997, the institute began admitting students through the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) conducted jointly by the Indian Institutes of Technology. In 1998 courses for Electronics Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering were introduced and in 1999, the institute started a bachelor of technology course in Mechanical Engineering.

In 2006, ISM added 14 new courses, prominent among them being Electrical Engineering and a course in Environmental Engineering in the undergraduate curriculum. From 2006, ISM also started offering Integrated Master of Science (Int. M.Sc) in Applied Physics, Applied Chemistry and Mathematics & Computing, and Integrated Master of Science and Technology (Int. M.Sc Tech) courses for Applied Geology and Applied Geophysics. In 2011 ISM offered a B.Tech programme in Chemical Engineering. The institute introduced Civil Engineering in 2013 and Engineering Physics in 2014.

Location

ISM is located in Dhanbad, the most populated city in the state of Jharkhand.^[8] ISM is located 3 km from the Dhanbad Junction railway station, which lies on the Kolkata (Howrah) - Delhi railway line. Besides rail, Dhanbad is also connected with Kolkata by NH-2 (Grand Trunk Road). The major airports nearby are the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (at Durgapur),

Birsa Munda Airport (at Ranchi) and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (at Kolkata).

Departments and centres

ISM has the following departments and centres:^[9]

• Engineering

  • Department of Chemical Engineering
  • Department of Civil Engineering
  • Department of Computer Science and Engineering
  • Department of Electrical Engineering
  • Department of Electronics Engineering
  • Department of Environmental Engineering
  • Department of Fuel and Mineral Engineering
  • Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Department of Mining Engineering
  • Department of Mining Machinery Engineering
  • Department of Petroleum Engineering

• Applied Sciences

  • Department of Applied Chemistry
  • Department of Applied Geology
  • Department of Applied Geophysics
  • Department of Applied Mathematics
  • Department of Applied Physics

  Social Sciences

  • Department of Humanities and Social Science

  Business

  • Department of Management Studies (Formerly Industrial Engineering & Management)

  Centres

  • Centre of Mining Environment
  • Computer Centre
  • Center for Renewable Energy
  • Center of Societal Mission

  Research centres

An eight storey Central Research Facility is being set up at ISM as a Centre of National Importance.^[10][11] ISM works as a think-tank for eleven ministries of the Govt. of India.^[12]

• Industry Institute Interaction Facility, Kolkata

An Industry Institute Interaction Facility, Kolkata has been established in Kolkata, for hosting campus interviews and international conferences, etc.^[13] Another Industry Institute Interaction Facility is being set up in Delhi, and will be ready by 2016.^[14]

Academic programmes

ISM offers courses in engineering, pure sciences, management and humanities with a focus on engineering. The programs and courses offered at ISM are changing as the school evolving into a full-fledged engineering university from the earlier focus on mining and earth sciences. The institute has 18 departments and five inter-disciplinary centres. The Department of Mining Engineering has been accorded the status of “Centre of Advanced Studies” by the University Grants Commission.

Admission to the courses of B.Tech, Dual Degree and Integrated courses are done from IIT-JEE Advanced qualified students. Admission to the M.Tech courses are done either through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) or through a special examination conducted by the institute. Admissions to the MBA program is done through the Common Admission Test (CAT). Admission to the M.Sc.Tech. and PhD courses are done through exams conducted by the institute.

Campus

The ISM campus is surrounded by offices related to mining such as the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, and the headquarters of DGMS and of Bharat Coking Coal Limited. The ISM campus comprises academic buildings, student hostels with a 100% residential facilities for faculty, staff and students. The Health Centre provides medical care to students, teachers, staff and their family members.

ISM is home to the Geological Museum, the Seismic Observatory, a Data Processing Laboratory, the Long Wall Mine Gallery and the Remote Sensing Laboratory.

The Central Library is automated and provides services seven days a week, catering to more than 5500 users belonging to 17 departments and centers. The library houses 80,000 books, 8000 Ph.D. thesis and dissertations, 35,000 bound volumes of journals etc.^[15]

There is a campus-wide fiber optic internet connection and Wi-Fi network, which covers all the departments, teachers' quarters, and students' hostels. There is a central computer lab, and computer labs in each of the Departments.

Being a fully residential campus, ISM has 10 hostels - seven for boys and three for girls. All hostels have a mess, canteen, badminton courts and common halls (having TV and pool tables). The newly constructed hostels of boys and girls also have gyms in their compound, which are in addition to the main gym that is for all ISM students. The hostels are named after gemstones.

In 2011 the state government approved ISM's acquisition of up to 240 acres of land adjacent to the present campus.^[16] Massive construction activities are ongoing in the existing ISM campus, which when complete will nearly double in size.

Student life

The campus has outdoor and indoor facilities for sports like athletics, cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, squash and table tennis. Interested students are also trained in combat sports such karate and boxing. Students choose between National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), National Sports Organisation (NSO) and yoga for an extra curricular activity.

The Student Activity Centre (SAC) has a swimming pool, gym, food cafe, and music club. There are various clubs related to dramatics, dance, music, quizzing, literary, photography, robotics, etc. There is a students society by the name of ISM Students Society (ISS).^[17]

Students of the college also take part in social activities and causes of social uplift. Kartavya and Fast Forward India (FFI) are two such initiatives to help the underprivileged children around the college campus.^[18][19] Mailer Daemon is a monthly campus newspaper, published by ISM students.

GENESIS is the entrepreneurship cell of ISM. It motivates and provides resources to the students to start-up their own enterprises.^[20]

Srijan is the annual inter-college cultural festival of ISM. Concetto is the annual techno-management fest and Parakram is the annual sports fest.

Notable alumni

Throughout ISM's history, many of its alumni have excelled in their fields. At least five of them have received the Padma awards - India's highest civilian awards, from the President of India. They are:

• Waman Bapuji Metre- Received Padma Bhushan in 1968. Considered Pioneer of the Indian oil industry. Played a major role in establishment of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Belonged to 1st batch of ISM (1930).
• Gulshan Lal Tandon- Received Padma Bhushan in 1986. Former CMD of Coal India.^[21]
• Dr. Harsh Gupta- Received Padma Shri in 2006. Former Member of National Disaster Management Authority -having rank of Union Minister of State. Former Secretary to Govt of India.^[22][23]
• Dr. Rabi Bastia- Received Padma Shri in 2007. Discovered the Krishna Godavari Basin. Serves as Adjunct Professor at ISM.^[24]
• Dr. Vijay Prasad Dimri- Received Padma Shri in 2010. Earth scientist.^[25]

Many prominent persons have also received honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from ISM. These include Dr. Manmohan Singh, who later became Prime Minister of India.^[26]

Ranking

ISM has been ranked as the 7th best Engineering College of India in the Edu-Rand Rankings of 2015.^[27] The survey was done jointly by Edu, an Indian company and Rand Corporation, a non-profit American thinktank.^[28]

ISM was consistently ranked as the 11th best engineering college in India in Outlook magazine's surveys of 2011, 2012 and 2013,^[29][30] but fell to 22nd place in the 2014 survey.^[31] It did not participate in Outlook's 2015 survey.^[32]

From ISM to IIT Dhanbad: history

The proposal for conversion of ISM into an IIT had been strongly recommended in 1994 by a Government Committee, headed by Prof. S. Sampath (former Director of IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras). However, no action was taken by the Government over this proposal.

Several years later, in 2007-08, several new Indian Institutes of Technologys (IITs) were set up without even having a campus, while ISM was not converted into IIT. This was despite the fact that ISM was from many years taking in IIT-JEE qualified students (along with the 7 older IIT's and IT-BHU). After the conversion of IT-BHU to IIT-BHU in June 2012, ISM was the only non-IIT institute which admitted IIT-JEE (now called IIT-JEE Advanced) qualified students to its various undergraduate and dual degree programmes. Once admitted into ISM or an IIT through IIT-JEE (Advanced) exam, a student was not permitted to appear in the exam again, and hence could not take admission in an IIT next year (as per rules of the JEE exam). In this respect, Govt of India treated ISM at par with IITs.

In 2009, ISM got the approval of its Finance Committee, Executive Board and General Council, proposing its conversion to an IIT. This was forwarded to Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India in early 2010. There was significant progress here onwards.

The proposal to convert ISM to IIT became a part of the new 5-Year Plan after its passage by the National Development Council (NDC), on 27 December 2012.^[33] It is worth mentioning that ISM was the only institute of India selected by NDC to be converted into an IIT in the 12th Five Year Plan.

The Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, during his budget speech in Parliament on 28 February 2015, proposed to upgrade ISM Dhanbad into an IIT.^[5][6]

International research collaborations

Collaboration with foreign universities

Indian School of Mines has international collaboration with several foreign universities for conducting joint research. Some such universities are- Imperial College London in UK, University of South Florida in US, Texas A&M University in US, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany, Technische Universität in Germany, Braunschweig University of Technology in Germany, Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University in Paris, AGH University of Science and Technology in Poland, Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, Technical University of Crete in Greece, China University of Mining and Technology, Technical University of Košice in Slovakia, Kōchi University in Japan, University of Lyon in France, FernUniversitaet Hagen in Germany,^[34] Pennsylvania State University in US, Camborne School of Mines in UK, CNR Frascati in Italy, University of Leeds in UK, KIT Japan, Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan, Photon Factory in Japan, and European Commission.^[35]

Collaborations of ISM are also with Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo in Brazil, ENSIT in Tunisia, National United University in Taiwan,^[36] Eindhoven University of Technology in Netherlands, International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy, Colorado School of Mines in US, Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Jazan University in Saudi Arabia, University of Baghdad in Iraq, Wenzhou University in China, University of Perugia in Italy, Auburn University in US, Yazd University in Iran, University of Ostrava in Czech Republic, Saint Petersburg State University in Russia, Romanian Academy in Romania, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, and University of New South Wales in Australia.^[37]

Other foreign collaborations

ISM is a partner university under the Erasmus Mundus programme of the European Union.^[38] ISM is the mentor university for setting up Afghan National Institute of Mines, through an agreement between Government of India and Government of Afghanistan.^[39] ISM conducts classes for students of other countries like Afghanistan, Ghana and Tanzania.^[40]

Statement by Indian and Australian Prime Ministers

On 18 November 2014, "Prime Minister Abbott and Prime Minister Modi welcomed the intention to explore opportunities for partnership between Australian institutions and the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad." ^[41]

See also

• Indian Institutes of Technology

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian School of Mines.

• Official Website

References