National Institutes of Technology

Allahabad
Bhopal
Calicut
Hamirpur
Goa
Jalandhar
Jamshedpur
Kurukshetra
Nagpur
Jaipur
Rourkela
Silchar
Surathkal
Warangal
Durgapur
Srinagar
Surat
Tiruchirappalli
Patna
Raipur
Agartala
Yupia
Delhi
Imphal
Shillong
Aizawl
Dimapur
Puducherry
Sikkim
Uttarakhand
Tadepalligudem
Location of NITs. 31 functioning NITs (green).
National Institutes of Technology
Type Public universities
Location 31 places in India
Nickname NIT or NITs
Website www.nitcouncil.org.in

The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India. They are governed by the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007, which declared them as institutions of national importance alongside Indian Institutes of Technology. These institutes of national importance receive special recognition from the Government of India. The NIT Council is the supreme governing body of India's National Institutes of Technology (NIT) system and all 31 NITs are funded by the Government of India. These institutes are among the top ranked engineering colleges in India and have one of the lowest acceptance rates for engineering institutes, of around 2 to 3 percent, second only to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in India. All NITs are autonomous which enables them to set up their own curriculum. The language of instruction is English at all these institutes.[1][2]

NITs offer degree courses at bachelors, masters, and doctorate levels in various branches of engineering, architecture, management and science. Admission to the under-graduate courses such as Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) and Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) programs in NITs are through the highly competitive Joint Entrance Examination (Main). Admission to postgraduate courses are through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering for Master of Technology (M.Tech.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) programs, Common Admission Test for Master of Business Administration (MBA) program and NIMCET for Master of Computer Applications (MCA) program.[3][4][5]

Since 2015, the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and Centralized Counselling for M.Tech/M.Arch and M.Plan conduct the admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate programs respectively in all NITs. As of 2017, the total number of seats for undergraduate programs is 19,000 and for post graduate programs is 8,050 in all 31 NITs.[6][7][8]

Institutes

NITs and locations, sorted by date of establishment[9]
Serial No Name Short Name Founded Established City/Town State/UT
1 NIT Allahabad MNNIT 1961 2001 AllahabadUttar Pradesh
2 NIT Bhopal MANIT 1960 2002 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh
3 NIT CalicutNITC 1961 2002 CalicutKerala
4 NIT Hamirpur NITH 1986 2002 Hamirpur Himachal Pradesh
5 NIT Jalandhar NITJ 1987 2002 Jalandhar Punjab
6 NIT Jamshedpur NITJSR 1960 2002 Jamshedpur Jharkhand
7 NIT Kurukshetra NITKKR 1963 2002 KurukshetraHaryana
8 NIT Nagpur VNIT 1960 2002 Nagpur Maharashtra
9 NIT Jaipur MNIT 1963 2002 Jaipur Rajasthan
10 NIT Rourkela NITRKL 1961 2002 Rourkela Odisha
11 NIT Silchar NITS 1967 2002 Silchar Assam
12 NIT Surathkal NITK 1960 2002 Mangalore Karnataka
13 NIT Warangal NITW 1959 2002 Warangal Telangana
14 NIT Durgapur NITDGP 1960 2003 DurgapurWest Bengal
15 NIT Srinagar NITSRI 1960 2003 Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir
16 NIT Surat SVNIT 1961 2003 Surat Gujarat
17 NIT Trichy NITT 1964 2003 Trichy Tamil Nadu
18 NIT Patna NITP 1886 2004 Patna Bihar
19 NIT RaipurNITRR 1956 2005 RaipurChhattisgarh
20 NIT Agartala NITA 1965 2006 Agartala Tripura
21 NIT Arunachal Pradesh NITAP 2010 2010 YupiaArunachal Pradesh
22 NIT Delhi NITD 2010 2010 New Delhi Delhi
23 NIT Goa NITG 2010 2010 FarmagudiGoa
24 NIT Manipur NITMN 2010 2010 Imphal Manipur
25 NIT Meghalaya NITM 2010 2010 Shillong Meghalaya
26 NIT Mizoram NITMZ 2010 2010 Aizawl Mizoram
27 NIT Nagaland NITN 2010 2010 Dimapur Nagaland
28 NIT Puducherry NITPY 2010 2010 Karaikal Puducherry
29 NIT Sikkim NITSKM 2010 2010 Ravangla Sikkim
30 NIT Uttarakhand NITUK 2011 2010 SrinagarUttarakhand
31 NIT Andhra Pradesh NITANP 2015 2015 TadepalligudemAndhra Pradesh

History

REC Allahabad was converted into NIT Allahabad in 2001.

During the second five-year plan (1956–60) in India, a number of industrial projects were contemplated. To ensure enough supply of trained personnel to meet the demand for these projects, a decision was taken to start the Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs), at the rate of one per each major state, which can churn out graduates with good engineering merit. Thus, seventeen RECs were established from 1959 onwards in each of the major states. Each college was a joint and cooperative enterprise of the central government and the concerned state government. The Government opened 8 RECs in 1960 two in each region, as follows:

Region Regional Engineering Colleges (REC)
Eastern Region Durgapur and Jamshedpur
Western Region Nagpur, Surat and Bhopal
Southern Region Warangal and Surathkal
Northern Region Srinagar and Allahabad

Later on 5 more were added by 1965. The early 14 Institutes were Srinagar, Warangal, Calicut, Durgapur, Kurukshetra, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Rourkela, Surathkal, Surat, Trichy, Bhopal, and Allahabad. It established one in Silchar in 1967 and added two others located at Hamirpur in 1986, and Jalandhar in 1987.

These were large-sized institutions judged by the standards then prevailing in the country. The considerations that weighed in this decision were :

A large-sized college would be more efficient than the equivalent small colleges, the proposed colleges have to meet the additional requirements of the country as a whole and for that purpose should have to function on an all-India basis. Therefore, the smaller they are in number and the larger in size, the better, and for the same reason their location is important from an all-India point of view.

The RECs were jointly operated by the central government and the concerned state government. Non-recurring expenditures and expenditures for post-graduate courses during the REC period were borne by the central government while recurring expenditure on undergraduate courses was shared equally by central and state governments.

The success of technology-based industry led to high demand for technical and scientific education. Due to the enormous costs and infrastructure involved in creating globally respected Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), in 2002 Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi decided to upgrade RECs to "National Institutes of Technology" (NITs) instead of creating IITs. The central government controls NITs and provides all funding. In 2002, all RECs became NITs.

Bihar Engineering College, Patna (estd. 1886), third oldest engineering college in India, was converted to NIT Patna in 2007.

The upgrade was designed along the lines of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) after it was concluded that RECs had potential as proven by the success of their alumni and their contributions in the field of technical education. Subsequently, funding and autonomy for NITs increased, and they award degrees which have raised their graduates' perceived value. These changes implemented recommendations of the "High Powered Review Committee" (HPRC).The HPRC, chaired by R.A. Mashelkar, submitted its report entitled "Strategic Road Map for Academic Excellence of Future RECs" in 1998.

In 2004, MHRD issued NIT status to three more colleges, located at Patna (Bihar Engineering College, a 110-year-old college), Raipur (Government Engineering College), and Agartala (Tripura Engineering College).Based on the request of state governments and feasibility, future NITs are either converted from existing institutes or can be freshly created. The 21st (and the first brand-new) NIT is planned for Imphal in the north-eastern state of Manipur at an initial cost of Rs. 500 crores. In 2010, the government announced setting up ten new NITs in the remaining states/territories. This would lead to every state in India having its own NIT.

With the technology based industry's continuing growth, the government decided to upgrade twenty National Institutes of Technology to full-fledged technical universities. Parliament passed enabling legislation, the National Institutes of Technology Act in 2007 and took effect on 15 August of that year. The target is to fulfill the need for quality manpower in the field of engineering, science, and technology and to provide consistent governance, fee structure, and rules across the NITs. The law designates each NIT an Institute of National Importance (INI).[10]

The Parliament of India on 1 August 2016 passed a bill to establish the prestigious NIT Andhra Pradesh, on a day members of parliament of the ruling Telugu Desam Party from the state staged a protest to demand special category status. The National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by Rajya Sabha by voice vote. The bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 21 July 2016.[11]

Organisational Structure

Organisational structure of the NITs

The President of India is the ex officio visitor of all the NITs. The NIT Council works directly under him and it includes the minister-in-charge of technical education in Central Government, the Chairmen and the Directors of all the NITs, the Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC), the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Directors of other selected central institutions of repute, members of Parliament, Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), nominees of the Central Government, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the Visitor.

Below the NIT Council is each NIT's Board of Governors. The Board of Governors of each NIT consists of the following members:

The Director serves under the Board of Governors, and is the school's chief academic and executive officer. Academic policies are decided by its Senate, which is composed of some professors and other representatives. The Senate controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations, and results. Senate committees examine specific academic matters. The teaching, training, and research activities of various departments of the institute are periodically reviewed to maintain educational standards. The Director is the ex officio Chairman of the Senate. The Deputy Director is subordinate to the Director. Together they manage the Deans, Heads of Departments, Registrar, President of the Students' Council, and Chairman of the Hall Management Committee. Deans and Heads of Departments in NITs are administrative postings rather than career paths. Faculty members serve as Deans and Heads of Departments for limited periods, typically 2 to 3 years, then returning to regular faculty duties. The Registrar is the chief administrative officer and overviews day-to-day operations. Below the Head of Department (HOD), are the various faculty members (professors, assistant professors, and lecturers). The Warden serves under the Chairman of the Hall Management Committee.[12]

National Institutes of Technology Act

The National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research Act, 2007 was enacted by the Parliament of India to declare India's National Institutes of Technology as Institutes of National Importance. The Act received the assent of the President of India on 5 June 2007 and became effective on Independence Day, 2007. The National Institutes of Technology Act is the second law for technical education institutions after the Indian Institutes of Technology Act of 1961.[13][14]

NIT Council

The NIT Council is the supreme governing body of India's National Institutes of Technology (NIT) system. The NIT Council consists of chairmen, directors of all NITs along with the government nominees from various sectors with the Minister of Human Resource Development as the Chairman of the Council. The NIT Council is the highest decision making body in the NIT fraternity and is answerable only to the Government of India. The NIT Council is expected to meet regularly and take steps conducive for maximum growth of the NITs as whole in the near future.[15]

Education

Biju Patnaik Central Library, NIT Rourkela

The NITs along with the IITs receive comparatively higher grants than other engineering colleges in India. Average NIT funding increased to 100 crores ($15.4 million) by year 2011. On average, each NIT also receives 20-25 crore ($ 3-3.8 million) under World Bank funded Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP I and TEQIP II). Other sources of funds include student fees and research funding from industry and contributions from the alumni. The faculty-to-student ratio in the NITs is between 1:7 and 1:9. The cost borne by undergraduate students is around 125,000 ($ 1934) per annum.[16] After students from SC and ST categories, physically challenged students will now be the beneficiaries of fee waiver at the NITs in India.

The various NITs function autonomously, and their special status as Institutes of National Importance facilitates the smooth running of NITs, virtually free from both regional as well as student politics. Such autonomy means that NITs can create their own curricula and adapt rapidly to the changes in educational requirements, free from bureaucratic hurdles. The medium of instruction in all NITs is English. The classes are usually held between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm, though there are some variations within each NIT. All the NITs have public libraries for the use of their students. In addition to a collection of prescribed books, the libraries have sections for fiction and other literary genres. Electronic libraries allow students access to online journals and other periodicals through the AICTE-INDEST consortium, an initiative by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.[17] Students also have access to IEEE documents and journals.

Central Library, NIT Trichy

The academic policies of each NIT are decided by its Senate. This comprises all professors of the NIT and student representatives. Unlike many western universities that have an elected senate, the NITs have an academic senate. It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and results, and appoints committees to look into specific academic matters. The teaching, training and research activities of the institute are periodically reviewed by the senate to maintain educational standards. The Director of NIT is the ex-officio Chairman of the Senate.

Stringent faculty recruitment and industry collaboration also contribute to NIT success. Faculty other than lecturers must have a Ph.D. and relevant teaching and industry experience. Existing faculty who do not meet these criteria enroll under a Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) at IITs and IISc.

All the NITs follow the credits system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of courses based on their importance. The total marks (usually out of 100) form the basis of grades, with a grade value (out of 10) assigned to a range of marks. Sometimes, relative grading is done considering the overall performance of the whole class. For each semester, the students are graded on a scale of 0 to 10 based on their performance, by taking a weighted average of the grade points from all the courses, with their respective credit points. Each semester evaluation is done independently and then the weighted average over all semesters is used to calculate the cumulative grade point average (CGPA).

Undergraduate education

The Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree is the most common undergraduate degree in the NITs in terms of student enrollment. The BTech course is based on a 4-year program with eight semesters, while the Dual Degree and Integrated courses are 5-year programs with ten semesters. In all NITs, the first year of BTech and Dual Degree courses are marked by a common course structure for all the students, though in some NITs, a single department introduction related course is also included. The common courses include the basics from most of the departments like Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Electrical and Physics. At the end of first year, some NITs offer an option to the meritorious students to change departments on the basis of their performance in the first two semesters.[18] Few such changes ultimately take place as the criteria for them are usually strict, limited to the most meritorious students. Few NITs also offer 5-year Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) and 4-year Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees.

From the second year onwards, the students study subjects exclusively from their respective departments. In addition to these, the students have to take compulsory advanced courses from other departments in order to broaden their education. Separate compulsory courses from humanities and social sciences department, and sometimes management courses are also enforced. In the last year of their studies, most of the students are placed into industries and organisations via the placement process of the respective NIT, though some students opt out of this either when going for higher studies or when they take up jobs by applying to the companies directly.

Postgraduate and doctoral education

Master Degrees

The NITs offer a number of postgraduate programs including Master of Technology (MTech), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Science (MSc) and Master of Computer Applications (MCA). Some of the NITs offer an M.S. (by research) program; the MTech and M.S. are similar to the US universities' non-thesis (course based) and thesis (research based) masters programs respectively. Admissions to masters programs in engineering are made using scores of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), while those to masters programs in science are made using scores of the Joint Admission Test to MSc (JAM).

Two NITs, NIT Trichy and NIT Rourkela have schools of management offering master's degrees in management or business administration.[19][20]

Bachelors-Masters dual degrees

The NITs also offer an unconventional BTech and MTech integrated educational program called "Dual Degree". It integrates undergraduate and postgraduate studies in selected areas of specialisation. It is completed in five years as against six years in conventional BTech (four years) followed by an MTech (two years). Integrated Master of Science programs are also offered at few NITs which integrates the Undergraduate and Postgraduate studies in Science streams in a single degree program against the conventional University system. These programs were started to allow NITians to complete postgraduate studies from NIT rather than having to go to another institute. NIT Rourkela has such system.

Doctoral degrees

The NITs also offer the Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) as part of their doctoral education programme. In it, the candidates are given a topic of academic interest by the professor or have to work on a consultancy project given by the industries. The duration of the program is usually unspecified and depends on the specific discipline. PhD candidates have to submit a dissertation as well as provide an oral defence for their thesis. Teaching Assistantships (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA) are often provided. The NITs, along with IITs and IISc, account for nearly 80% of all engineering PhDs in India.[21]

Educational Rankings

In 2017, National Institutional Ranking Framework ranked sixteen NITs in the top 100 in engineering category and they are the following:[22]

Serial No NIT NIRF Ranking
1 NIT Trichy 11
2 NIT Rourkela 12
3 NIT Surathkal 22
4 NIT Warangal 34
5 NIT Allahabad 41
6 NIT Nagpur 42
7 NIT Calicut 44
8 NIT Surat 50
9 NIT Silchar 53
10 NIT Durgapur 55
11 NIT Hamirpur 59
12 NIT Kurukshetra 60
13 NIT Bhopal 61
14 NIT Jaipur 70
15 NIT Manipur 87
16 NIT Meghalaya 100

Student life

Campus life

Guest house at NIT Silchar, Assam

NITs provide on-campus housing to students, research scholars, and faculty members. Students live in hostels, also known as halls, throughout their college life. Most have single accommodation but many live in double or triple rooms during their initial years. Every hostel has a recreation room equipped with cable television, magazines, newspapers, and indoor games and in-room Internet connectivity. Every hall has its own cafeteria managed by the college or by a local private organization. NITs also have a common cafeteria for students and a separate cafeteria for professors. During vacations, hostel dining is generally closed and the common cafeterias serve students who stay on campus. All the NITs have an athletic ground and facilities for field, indoor and aquatic events. Many of the NITs have guest houses too.

NIT campuses across India arrange official welcome parties and interaction sessions to acquaint newcomers with senior students and professors. Faculties and researchers from IITs, ISM and IISc organize occasional technical seminars and research labs.

Student government

Some NITs individually conduct elections to elect student body a general secretary and vice president. These representatives are generally responsible for communicating with the college management and media, organising festivals, and also for various development programmes in their college. Some NITs (such as NIT Rourkela, NIT Surat and NIT Nagpur) have recently adopted online voting process. The committee which monitors the flow of funds has a student body representative. This committee also includes the chairman of board, an MHRD representative, and NIT professors. But due to some disturbance in voting process, there have been no elections since 2008 in SVNIT, Surat.

Disciplinary committee

The Disciplinary Committee (DISCO) consists of the Director, the student affairs officer, and professors. and reports to MHRD. DISCO regulates student activities and combats student harassment and illegitimate student politics. After a series of harassment incidents, all NITs took strict measures especially to protect first year students.

Extra-curricular activities

Incubation centre at NIT Warangal

Popular extra curricular activities include National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), and annual college festivities. Students at NITs run hobby clubs such as Linux User Groups (LUGs), music clubs, debate clubs, literary clubs, and web design teams. Students also publish campus magazines which showcase student creativity and journalism. The first Linux User group in India, Bharat Linux User Group, was formed in early 1997 at NIT Surat (SVNIT). Students conduct regular quizzes and cultural programs. They also present research papers and participate in national level technical festivals at IITs, ISM, IISc and NITs. Most NITs promote entrepreneurship by creating on-campus incubation centers under the STEP program.

Inter-NIT sports

NITs compete annually in an Inter-NIT sports meeting, which rotates among schools. Winners get cash prizes and trophies. Boys and girls compete separately. During February and March, NITs conduct annual sports contests in their respective locations. However, since 2007-2008, Inter NIT meetings have not been held during the academic calendar, to facilitate participation of more NITs and to avoid students missing class.

Alumni

Many NIT alumni have achieved leading positions in corporations, such as:

NIT alumni have also pursued careers in public service; for example:

Many alumni have gained recognition in academics and research:

See also

References

  1. "National Institutes of Technology | Technical Education | Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development". mhrd.gov.in. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  2. "National Institutes of Technology | AICTE". www.aicte-india.org. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  3. "http://jeemain.nic.in/webinfo/Public/Home.aspx". jeemain.nic.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01. External link in |title= (help)
  4. "GATE 2017 Official Website". www.gate.iitr.ernet.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  5. "CAT 2016". iimcat.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  6. "More seats in new IITs 387 additional BTech berths on offer this year".
  7. "Seat Information - JoSAA". josaa.nic.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  8. "http://ccmt.nic.in/CCMTRegistration/Root/SeatMatrixForm.aspx". ccmt.nic.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01. External link in |title= (help)
  9. "National Institutes of Technology | Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development". mhrd.gov.in. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  10. "About NITs | Council of NITs". nitcouncil.org.in. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  11. "Andhra Pradesh to get NIT, Parliament passes bill". The Indian Express. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  12. "Standing Committee | Council of NITs". nitcouncil.org.in. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  13. "National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007" (PDF).
  14. "Gazette Notification NIT (Amendment) Act 2012" (PDF).
  15. "About NIT Council | Council of NITs". nitcouncil.org.in. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  16. PTI. "NITs to hike fees for new students". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  17. "INDEST-AICTE Consortium | ICOLC Website". icolc.net. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  18. Sowailem, Ansonika &. "2nd year B.Tech. Branch Change Information | National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal". www.nitk.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  19. ":: Welcome to DoMS-NIT Trichy Home Page ::". www.domsnitt.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  20. Management, NIT. "NIT Rourkela". nitrkl.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  21. Natarajan, R. "The Evolution of Postgraduate Engineering Education and Research in India" (PDF). CAGS 2005 Conference. Canadian Association for Graduate Studies. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2005.
  22. "MHRD, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)". www.nirfindia.org. Retrieved 2017-07-03.

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