Young IIT Patna takes the Cudgel to lead

Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, one of the new IITs seems to have stood the test of the times, after being mentioned at 10th on the NIRF rank list brought out by the Ministry of Human resource development – India.

The NIRF had provided the ranking of institutions in the first week of April 2016. The rankings given were given under five broad generic parameters

• Teaching, Learning, and Resources
• Research, Consulting and Collaborative Performance
• Graduation Outcome
• Outreach and Inclusivity
• Perception.

The lush green campus of the Indian Institute of Technology – Patna is reached by driving a distance of 40 km. Entering through the gates of the 501 acres campus at the village of Amhara, in the town of Bihta – about 35 km away from the outskirts of Patna circle can send one in a completely different world.

This lush green new campus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Patna (IIT-P) was inaugurated by the PM Narendra Modi, on July 25, 2015. The arch-shaped admin building, 3 academic blocks for the different departments, a building for a tutorial, comprising of the classrooms and a separate civil, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering workshops welcome one from the front rear.

The construction work of only phase-II of the project is inside the campus is going on. The 4 blocks of the boy’s hostel with 940 single seater rooms apart from a common room, a mess and a music room adorn the campus while providing the students with necessary facilities. The entire campus is equipped with Wi-Fi & fire-safety devices, and almost all the buildings have been painted in eye soothing colours beige and cream.

Interacting with the students of Indian Institute of Technology - Patna would make someone understand that, the students give full marks to the institute citing well experienced, eminent faculty members, good placements, and high technological exposure. The Indian Institute of Technology Patna is growing leaps and bounds every day.

The college today, boasts of the finest of the fine laboratories with a lot of important research work going on. Also, innovation labs for the upcoming research in the field of 5G technology are underway.

On being ranked 10th on the NIRF list, the director of the college Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharyya expressed his happiness and said that it is the result of the combined and persisting efforts of the students, teachers, and all the other staffs at IIT Patna. He also hoped that the good work is kept up in the coming times. Dr. Bhattacharyya had been appointed the director of Indian Institute of Technology almost a year ago i.e April 2015 and prior to this was a professor at Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay.

Highlights of the Indian Institute of Technology - Patna

• The placements of the students with hefty amounts of pay-packages.
• Well experienced faculty members
• A phenomenal research environment
• Good peer environment
• Active technical clubs
• Environment for extra-curricular activities

The students are attracted to the IITP like bees are to honey not only for the brand of an Indian Institute of Technology but also to avail the best of the opportunities that the IIT has to offer to its future students.

The landscape of the engineering education in the state is deeply contrasted when we look at the other engineering colleges under the various state universities. Not to mention, the only college which can stand up at the level of the IIT Patna in the state is National Institute of Technology, Patna which was formerly known as Bihar Engineering College.

The college has the potential to match up with the level of IIT Patna but still has a long way to go, to be in that position. The National Institute of Technology, Patna is 87th at the rank list of the NIRF, owing a great deal to the slow process of development of the institute. The college is yet to shift in its original campus near Bihta, also, the college is suffering from a major space crunch. The administration of NIT Patna has been waiting for years now to shift into its new campus in order to introduce post - graduate courses like MBA.

A third-year student of NIT Patna said that the college administration had to rent the hostels for the girls, in ‘Kurji’ that is far from NIT Patna. Travelling to the campus from Kurji claims a lot of time of the day, leaving very less time for other activities apart from academics.

The other colleges, whether be government or private, are helping the students very less in terms of placements and acquiring required skill sets, due to the lack of experienced faculty and low industry exposure to the city of Patna, thus, the state of Bihar still has a considerable volume of students going outside in order to pursue higher studies, the reason being the highly competitive nature of exams.

While, the Indian Institute of Technology – Patna has been providing the students and the city of Patna with an environment to look up to, the college doesn’t seem to be helping much in reducing the migration of the students to the other states for higher studies.

Source: Shreya Shikha, City Journalist - Patna, CollegeDekho