Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad Campus

Early days

The road leading up to the academic block from the main gate is called the Marine Drive by the students

BITS Pilani was established as an Intermediate College by Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla in 1929.

During World War II, the Government of India established a technical training centre at Pilani for the supply of technicians for defense services and industry. At the end of the war, in 1946, it was converted it into the Birla Engineering College with degree programmes in electrical and mechanical engineering.

In 1964, the Birla Colleges of Arts, Commerce, Engineering, Pharmacy and Science were merged to form the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS). In this period of inception (especially during 1964-1970), BITS Pilani received support from the Ford Foundation and the MIT.

BITS Pilani started to expand in India and abroad since 2000. New campuses were established in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2000) and Goa, India (2004)

This is the area right in front of the Academic Block

The Hyderabad Campus' foundation stone was laid in the presence of the then Chief Minister of the State Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on 27 April 2007.^[5] The institute became a functioning entity in 2008.

BITS also runs a virtual university and an extension centre in Bangalore, Chennai and several important cities of India to cater to the academic needs of Industry.^[6]

Expansion

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus is to eventually have ten centres in order to step up activities in research and development in pharmaceutics, mechanics, computer technology and construction engineering.

Out of all the campuses of the BITS Pilani university, the Hyderabad campus is the one which has taken charge of developing a course for Electronics and Communications Engineering. This is because of the campus's presence in Hyderabad, which is notable for a large talent pool in this area. The Goa campus started offering Electronics & Communication Engineering from the academic year 2017-18.^[7]

Admission

Since 2005, admission to the Undergraduate programmes to the Indian campuses of BITS has been offered to students based on their performance in the all-India Entrance Examination, called BITS Admission Test (BITSAT). BITS Pilani also has the policy of accepting State and National Board toppers from India. From 2015, the Institute also started accepting international students on the basis of performance in the SAT followed by an Interview. BITS does not implement any State-based or caste/religion based quotas during admission.^[12][13][8]

Dual degree system

All students admitted to M.Sc. programmes will be given an opportunity to work under the dual degree scheme for one of the B.E. programmes, assignment being made by competition on their performance at BITS at the end of first year, separately in Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. Normal duration for completion of both the degrees is five years.

Minors in finance

BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad has introduced this new programme for the non economics students to pursue the courses related to the field of finance under the guidance of Department of Economics and Department of Finance.

Programme transfers

The road leading to the hostels from the Academic Block

In addition to the dual degree system, there is also a vertical transfer system where a student can opt for the change of their stream based on merit.

Research and development projects

A panorama of the Academic Block

The college has many R&D projects under its departments. These projects take the form of research-based consultancy, sponsored projects or just independent R&D. Some collaborators include the Science and Engineering Research Council (DST-SERC), the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Programme for Micro and Smart System (NPMASS), AstraZeneca, etc. The funding for these projects runs into several crores.^[14] The culmination of some of this research has led to the granting of patents to professors.^[15]

Location

Rock Garden in front of Academic block

The campus is situated on the Rajiv Rahadari, Hyderabad-Karimnagar-Ramagundam Highway) near the Hakimpet Air Force Station. The campus is located at a distance of 5 km from Shamirpet junction of Outer Ring Road, Hyderabad. The campus is about 25 km away from the Secunderabad Central Railway station, on State Highway 1 (Telangana)(Hyderabad-Karimnagar-Ramagundam Highway(SH-1)) near Hakimpet Air Force station. The campus is in a serene atmosphere amidst scenic terrain with small hillocks and urban forest, near Shamirpet lake. The campus spreads across 275 acres of land. The Campus is situated in the vicinity of institutions like- Genome Valley, NALSAR University of Law, SP Bio-Tech Park etc.

Academic block

The A-block of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus in the evening

The central library and auditorium are part of this complex. The campus has laboratories for science and engineering. In front of the academic block is a rock garden that is the inspiration for the name of the college magazine, On The Rocks.

Central Library

The Central Library at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Housing more than 30,000 books along with thousands of e-journals, periodicals and e-books, the Central Library, located in the Academic Block, is a fully air-conditioned two-storey building with reading areas and Wi-fi facilitated internet connectivity for the use of students, faculty and staff of the BITS Pilani community and their immediate affiliates.

Residential facilities

The campus presently has 8 hostel blocks (known as Bhawans) with more under construction. Each student is provided a separate room. Internet connectivity is provided round the clock to every student in their rooms. A common room on each floor has facilities such as televisions, carrom boards, table tennis tables and table football tables. Each hostel building also has a common subscription to major daily newspapers. There are two dining halls, one each near the boys' and girls' hostels respectively providing meals four times a day along with a night canteen which functions after dinner hours.

Student-elected bodies

All clubs, festivals and activities are managed by the students themselves with little outside help. Students elect a body for administration, the Students' Union (SU). The SU is elected during the fall semester in the month of September and is responsible for the set-up of the departments directly influencing fests, i.e. the departments of sponsorship and marketing, publicity, security and hospitality, etc. In addition to the SU, students also elect members for the Students' Mess Council (SMC), which is in charge of managing the two messes and the all-night canteen. Both these student bodies co-ordinate with the Students' Welfare Division (SWD) branch of the administration. These elections are also used for the election of students to other posts, i.e. Sports' Secretary, Hostel Representatives, etc.

Second phase of construction

The foundation stone for the second phase of campus development was laid by the IT Minister of Telangana, K. T. Rama Rao on 20 February 2016 and the state allocated additional 75 acres (30 hectares) to the institute to facilitate its phase-II expansion plans making it the largest physical campus of BITS Pilani.^[16] The architect for the campus is Hafeez Contractor.

Pearl

Dark Tranquility performing at Pearl 2011

Pearl is the official national annual culfest of the campus. The fest usually involves many enthralling events with music, dance, theatre and literary activities. The festival is wholly student run, right from getting the funding to the organisation. The Students' Union of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus is closely involved in the administration of the fest.

The festival started out as an intra-college event in 2009 and then went on to become a city level inter-college cultural festival in 2010, which saw several colleges from Hyderabad participating in more than 50 unique events encompassing the cultural diversity of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. 2011 saw it becoming a national level event with universities sending teams from many major cities in India.

Pearl is held in February and features competitions in quiz, music, dance and literary events. The first Pearl was held in 2010. The second edition of Pearl in February 2011 was headlined by the Swedish death metal band, Dark Tranquillity.^[17] Thurisaz, a metal band from Belgium, performed at Pearl 2012.^[18] In 2013, Pearl saw performances by Junkyard Groove, Amplifier and Nikhil Chinappa.^[19][20]

ATMOS

ATMOS is the Techno-Management Fest of the campus. The First edition was organized on 26 and 27 October 2012 and featured Paper presentations, Technical competitions and Workshops on various disciplines.^[21][22] The next edition was scheduled from 11 October to 13 October 2013.^[23] ATMOS aims at improving the technical culture among Indian colleges as well as providing a platform to showcase their abilities. In its sixth year now, ATMOS is growing rapidly with participation from students, academicians, entrepreneurs and speakers from all over India. Each year, a diverse range of challenging and educative Quizzes, Competitions, Case studies, Workshops and Conferences are held, along with interactive sessions with renowned speakers from across the Country.

The fest has also received patronage from the Government initiative Make in India. BITSMUN Hyderabad and Enigma-The National quiz are held during ATMOS and are few of the highlights. The newest addition, the Tech Expo witnessed wide participation from innovators and thinkers from all across the Country. Currently, the fest is in its 6th edition and is being held from 27 to 29 October 2017.

Arena

Arena is the national annual sports festival of the campus. The major tournaments it features are cricket, hockey football, throwball, basketball, badminton, table tennis, chess, carrom, athletics, tennis, volleyball and power lifting.^[3]

TEDxBITSHyderabad

The first edition of TEDxBITSHyderabad was held on 25 November 2012. There were a total of 12 speakers, including the four student speakers selected by a panel.^[24]

Verba Maximus

Two editions of the Literary fest, Verba Maximus, have taken place till now. The first was in 2012, the second in 2013. The fest offers a host of events, all literary in nature, as well as visits by authors and other notable literary figures. Verba Maximus 2013 saw a visit by bestselling author of the Shiva Trilogy, Amish Tripathi. The fest has traditionally ended with a comedy show. Both editions of Verba Maximus have featured Saurabh Pant.^[25][26]

While most of the fest is organised by ELAS, the 2014 version of the fest has seen ELAS collaborating with the Journal Club, the Photography Club, the Hindi Club, Brindavanam (Telugu Association) and the Quiz Club.^[27]

MUN

From BITSMUN 2011, the first college level Model United Nations Conference in the state BITSMUN 2013 grew into an international MUN conference with over 200 delegates shortlisted from 700 applications.^[28]