Odisha HRD

IIT Bhubaneswar plans for the future; includes a 100 acre marine campus

March 16th, 2011

The following is from http://www.iitlc.org/INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BHUBANESWAR.pdf . 

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INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BHUBANESWAR

To meet the increasing demand for quality technical education in the country, eight new IITs have
been established by the Government of India and IIT Bhubaneswar is the first amongst these to
become operational.

The Institute began its journey from the campus of IIT Kharagpur, the mentor Institute of IIT
Bhubaneswar on 22 nd July 2008. The Institute started operating from its temporary campuses in the
heart of the city of Bhubaneswar from 22 nd July 2009 with 228 undergraduate students in the
disciplines of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and 6 Ph.D. scholars. Currently annual
UG intake capacity in each discipline is 40. Admission to Ph.D. programme is carried out in every
semester. The Institute envisages a growth path of 5000 students (UG, PG and Research) with 500
faculties in a decade.

For the permanent campus of IIT Bhubaneswar the Government of Orissa has allotted 936 acres of
land at Argul near Bhubaneswar, which is only 14 km from the Bhubaneswar airport. The architect
and project management consultant has already been appointed to put the project on fast track.

The Institute was born with the concept of schools rather than departments with its focus on
nourishing interdisciplinary environment. The existing schools are: 

• School of Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Bioscience, Mathematics)
• School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management
• School of Mechanical Sciences (Mechanical, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering,Aerospace Engineering)
• School of Infrastructure (Civil Engineering, Architecture, Urban design, Town Planning,Traffic and Transportation Engineering)
• School of Electrical Sciences (Electrical Engineering, Electronics & CommunicationEngineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Energy Engineering, Learning Sciences,Instrumentation)

The following schools are proposed to be set up in near future:

• School of Minerals and Materials Engineering – Materials, Metallurgy, Mining (relevant to the Rich resources of metals and minerals in the region)

• School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences (Relevant to the region keeping in view the vastcoast line, rich biodiversity, need for disaster management and mitigation arising out of flood,cyclone etc)
• School of Chemical Sciences (Chemical, biochemical, biomedical, biotechnology)
• School of Design and Creative Arts

As a part of the School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences, the Institute has already planned to set up an Innovative Centre for Climate Change near the coast line of Orissa to study various aspects of climate change such as rise in sea level in the Bay of Bengal, effect of climate change on the marine life, health of the people in this region, disaster mitigation and management etc. Government of Orissa has already allotted nearly 100 acres of land on sea coast near Puri – Konark stretch and Government of India has agreed to  support in creating the Centre.

The Institute has already started research and consultancy projects sponsored by DST, CSIR, DRDO and other funding agencies of the Government of India. With a view to significantly enhancing the activities in this direction, the faculty members are in the process of submitting large number of project proposals to government agencies and private sector industries. The Institute proposes to remain focused in the following broad areas for its research and development activities:

• Alternative Energy
• Bioscience and Bioengineering
• Environment and Climate Science
• Manufacturing
• Minerals and Materials Sciences

A Science Park shall be an integral part of the growth plan of IIT Bhubaneswar.

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I knew about the Marine campus plans and request for land, but did not know that the government of Orissa has already allotted land for it and the government of India has agreed to support it. This is great news.

This means, in addition to its regular progress, IIT Bhubaneswar has been able to make progress in two new initiatives:

1. A new School of Minerals and Materials Engineering that is helped by a 3 crore sponsored Chair by a private company. (See here and here.)
2. A new School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences with its own 100 acre campus near the ocean. (See here, here and here.)

Now if someone or some company or some MP can donate an initial amount (say 3-5 crores) for the other two proposed schools (School of Chemical Sciences and School of Design and Arts) then the establishment of those two can also be sped up. Note that a School of Design and Arts is almost like, or could be even better than, a National Institute of Design. In this earlier posting corporate partnership in establishing these schools is mentioned. Some initial steps towards establishing a School of Design has been made and mentioned here. I especially like the following quote in that report.

“We want IIT-Bhubaneswar to excel in product design and creation especially in auto and manufacturing sector,” the director said.

If IIT Bhubaneswar is able to have this school and is able to attract auto and other manufacturing companies, that would be wonderful.

Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),IIT Bhubaneswar,IITs, IISc, IISERs, NISER, IIMs