Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar

Establishing an IIT in Odisha was a long-standing demand for several decades. As the state ranked at the bottom in terms of centrally funded academic and research institutions, there were strong allegations of Congress led central government neglect.[7][8] There were several incidents of protest, both locally in Odisha,[9][10][11][12][13][14] the National Students Union of India (NSUI),[15] and eminent nonresident Indian academics. An organization called Agamee Odisha was formed, that spearheaded mass agitation throughout the state.[13][14] There also have been stray incidents of violence related to the issue of Odisha's neglect.[16] Politicians including the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, cast this festering issue as a sign of severe neglect of the state by the UPA government in New Delhi.[17][18][19][20][21][22] In May 2007, this became a major issue in the Indian parliament.[23][24][25][26] The opposition NDA staged a walk-out in the Indian parliament, accusing the ruling UPA of neglecting the state's economic development.[27][28][29] Sections of the media reported that the Congress party led UPA government had been embarrassed by this issue.[30] Eventually, the HRD minister Mr. Arjun Singh relented, leading to the inception of IIT Bhubaneswar.[31]

The birth of the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, came on the 60th anniversary of the country's Independence on 15 August 2007 when Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India at that time, made the announcement about the expansion of IIT system in the country.[32][33] Further, the National Development Council of the Planning Commission, in its 54th meeting held on 19 December 2007, approved the proposal as part of the approval process of the 11th Five Year Plan (2007–12).[34][35][36]

The actual birth of the Institute was announced by the Minister of Human Resource Development Shri. Arjun Singh in a press conference on 28 March 2008.[37] The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education, Government of India, vide its Order dated 9 May 2008 decided that IIT Kharagpur would mentor the setting up of this new IIT for 2–3 years.[38] It was further decided that the Director of the mentor IIT i.e. IIT Kharagpur, would be the mentor Director of the new IIT[39] pending selection of regular Director and the Chairman, Board of Governors (BOG) of IIT Kharagpur would also be the Chairman of the BOG of this new mentored IIT Bhubaneswar.

The Union Cabinet, at its meeting held on 17 July 2008 approved setting up eight new IITs including IIT Bhubaneswar at a cost of ₹760 crore (US$110 million) per IIT.[40] The Cabinet also approved creation of the post of Director and Registrar along with 30 Faculty per year for each of the new IITs. It was also decided that pending amendment of the Institute of Technology Act, 1961 for inclusion of IIT Bhubaneswar as an Institute of National Importance,[41] the Institute would start functioning under aegis of Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar Society to be registered under the Societies' Registration Act, 1860 (Act XXI of 1860).[42]

Papers were filed on 19 July 2008 with the Registrar of Societies Odisha, Cuttack for registration of IIT Bhubaneswar Society and the society was registered on 22 July 2008.[43]

IIT Bhubaneswar became the first amongst the eight new IITs to become operational with a sanctioned intake of 40 students each in the disciplines of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Classes for the first batch of students started from the campus of IIT Kharagpur at Kharagpur, the mentor Institute for IIT Bhubaneswar on 23 July 2008 with admission of 95 students.[44] IIT BHUBANESWAR became an Institute of National Importance from 29 June 2012 with notification of Amendment in the Institutes' of Technology Act, 1961 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, (Department of Higher Education)Government of India published in the Gazette of India dated 2 July 2012.

The process of selection of Faculty and the Registrar were initiated through an issue of advertisement on all India basis. Shri Bata Kishore Ray from MHRD Govt. of India joined as the first employee and first Registrar of the Institute on 31 December 2008.[45][46]

To finalise the site for the permanent campus of IIT Bhubaneswar, the MHRD had set up a Site Identification Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Ashok Takhur, Additional Secretary to the Government of India which visited Odisha during 24–25 December 2008.[47] After visiting four sites proposed by the Government of Odisha i.e. Banki, Ramdaspur in Cuttack district and Gayabandh and Jatni in Khordha district, the Committee recommended the site at Jatni.[48] The recommendation of the Committee was approved by the Government of India on 13 January 2009. The Government of Odisha agreed to provide 936 acres (3.79 km²)[49] of land free of cost out of which 518 acres (2.10 km²) had been given physical possession on 10 February 2009.[50] The State Government also agreed to provide other facilities including a four-lane road from National Highway No.5 ( Kolkata-Chennai) to the IIT.[51][52][53][54] Prof M Chakraborty, Deputy Director, IIT Kharagpur joined as the Director of IIT Bhubaneswar on 19 May 2009. He took over the rein from Prof D. Acharya, the earlier Director of the Institute. IIT Bhubaneswar became operational in the city of Bhubaneswar on 22 July 2009 with shifting 2008 batch of students from IIT Kharagpur and admission of 117 new students in 2009. The Institute started functioning at IIT Kharagpur's Extension Centre built in 1998 in Bhubaneswar.[55]

The Government of Odisha has allotted about 936 acres of Government land for permanent campus of the institute. In addition, the State Government is acquiring about 16 acres of private land at its own cost to make the land contiguous. The Foundation Stone of the permanent campus at Arugul, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar was laid on 12 February 2009. Construction of 4-lane access road from the National Highway 5 and provision of water and electric supply to the campus by the State Government have made considerable progress. The Government of Odisha has also agreed to provide 75 acres of land along the Puri-Konark coastline to set up an Innovation Centre for Climate Change.

Permanent Campus View of IIT Bhubaneswar

[56] The site near Jatni Railway Station on the East Coast Railway is 25 kilometres from Biju Patnaik Airport Bhubaneswar. The land is picturesque with Barunai Hill on one side and a reserve forest nearby. The site is at 20° 10' N and 85° 42' E. A total of 936 acres (3.79 km²) of land has been allocated towards the self-contained campus for nearly 10,000 students and 1,100 faculty. A science park is being set up as a part of this institution to support industry oriented research activities.[57] The institute has started operating in its new campus at Arugul from academic year 2015–16. The campus construction began on 14 August 2011, Chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the IIT campus at Aragul village near Jatni.[58] The campus master plan has been prepared by Vastunidhi Architects, Noida.

[59]

Master Plan of IIT Bhubaneswar Main Building

IIT Bhubaneswar is the first IIT to set up a separate marine campus in 2011 for conducting research in rising sea levels, ecology, disaster management, marine ecosystems, fishery development, and other areas. This campus, which will be a part of the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment Sciences, will be set up near Chilka lake. It will have educational facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate students.[60][61][62][63]

Several other universities and research institutions are either present or being established in the vicinity, including AIIMS Bhubaneswar, NISER, IIIT, XIMB, one of the Indian government's proposed National Universities of international calibre, and the Institute of Physics. NISER's campus is 2 km away from the IIT. Other institutions, such as Sri Sri University, premier law school National Law University Odisha, as well as the world's biggest academic institution, Vedanta University, will be in the neighboring places of Cuttack and Puri respectively.[64][65] An advantage of this IIT is its location at Bhubaneswar, an emerging education hub, that is being promoted as an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) by the government.[66] A total of 40 km² of land has been allocated for the purpose, out of which about 60% will be devoted to research and development.[67] An estimated ₹780 crore (US$110 million) will be invested by the Indian government within the next few years in order to develop the institute.

The Odisha state government is constructing a four-lane expressway directly from the National Highway No. 5 (a part of the Golden Quadrilateral) to this new IIT for increased connectivity. Khurda Rd railway station is 4 km away from the campus, and the Biju Patnaik airport is 25 km away. A new international airport is being constructed even closer to the IIT campus at a distance of 12 km.[68]

• 
  Structure of IITs

The academic programmes of Institute include BTech (Hons.) in Computer Science, Civil, Electrical, ECE and Mechanical Engineering with an intake capacity of 50 each at the undergraduate level. BTech (Hons.) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering is with intake capacity of 20. The institute also started Dual degree courses in Mechanical and Civil with intake of 10 from academic year 2016–17. The Institute started the Doctoral programme from the academic session 2009-2010 and will offer admission to the joint MTech-PhD Programme from July 2012. The Institute has broadly adopted the course curricula, syllabi and other academic regulations of IIT Kharagpur, the mentor institute.

The Institute has adopted the concept of Schools rather than Departments for promoting inter-disciplinary research. At present the following Schools offer academic programmes:[75]

• School of Basic Sciences
• School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management
• School of Mechanical Sciences
• School of Infrastructure
• School of Electrical Sciences
• School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
• School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences

The central library, which started functioning in January 2010, is a 300 square feet (28 m²) room with a collection of 23000, text books. In addition, the mentor institute, IIT Kharagpur, provides IIT Bhubaneswar with access to its online resources such as e-databases, e-journals and abstract indexing services.[76]

The institute used to operate from a number of locations within the city of Bhubaneswar which included Extension Centre of IIT Kharagpur, Toshali Bhawan and Workshop cum Laboratory Complex near IIT Kharagpur Extension Centre for laboratory facilities, particularly of 3rd and 4th year students. Besides, the Institute had also received tremendous support from other institutes viz. Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Central Tool Room & Training Centre for laboratory and workshop facilities, respectively.

Hostel facilities to students have been provided through a 200 capacity Dr. A. N. Khosla Hall of Residence of IIT Kharagpur near its Extension Center. In addition, the Institute has two hostels (started in July 2015) at its permanent campus, Mahanadi Hall of residence(MHR) of 800 capacity for boys and Subarnarekha Hall of Residence(SHR) for girls of 200 capacity. The Institute has also provided housing facility for the Faculty members and the staff members at its campus, Faculty Quarter(FQ) and Staff Quarter(SQ).

The academic year is divided into two semesters, a spring semester and an autumn semester. Between these two regular semesters, the academic year also includes a shorter summer quarter, during which some courses are offered. The institution follows the credit-based system of performance evaluation. The credits allocated to each course depends on the total number of contact hours, including lectures, tutorials and laboratory sessions. Each course is usually worth three credits. The typical course load per semester is 21-24 credits for undergraduate students.

IIT Bhubaneswar offers undergraduate degrees in six technical disciplines and integrated five-year programs for undergraduate students leading to MTech degrees.

Admission to these programs is through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), taken by students seeking admission into the IITs after completing 12 years of schooling. As of 2016, the total undergraduate student intake every year is 260, with 40 students in each of the above-mentioned disciplines and 20 in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.Each Dual degree courses has an intake of 10 students. The plan is to have 2,500 students within 3–4 years, which will expand to 10,000 students within 15 years.[77]

The BTech degree is based on a four-year program comprising eight semesters. The first year of the BTech curriculum has comm

on courses from various departments. At the end of the first year, an option to change departments is given to meritorious students on the basis of their performance in the first two semesters. From the second year onwards, the students take courses offered exclusively by their departments that are known as "electives". In addition to these, the students takes inter-disciplinary courses known as "Lateral courses" and breadth courses for courses in humanities and social sciences, and management and information technology. During the 7th semester, undergraduate students undergo co-curricular practical training in Indian industry.

Research is included as a component in the MTech level, while doctoral degrees are based on research.

Institute offers Joint MTech — PhD programs in all its schools except for the Schools of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Social Sciences & Management.

Institute has been admitting students into PhD programs since 2009.

• Alma Fiesta: Alma Fiesta is the annual socio-cultural festival of Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar. It is one of the flagship cultural events of the eastern India; a three-day extravaganza that aims to both entertain and enlighten the masses. Usually launched during the mid weeks of January. Alma Fiesta has impressed the spectators and the audience with its unique plethora of events that range from cultural performances like Odissi, Gotipua to clay modeling workshops, Euphony (War of rock bands), Spotlight (Stage play competition) and many more. The events organized also include modern dance forms like hip-hop, vocals, duets, karaoke, single minute extempore, spelling bee, pencil sketching as well as a youth marathon. Many renowned personalities have graced Alma Fiesta with their inspiring presence, like Mr. Sudarsan Pattnaik, the world-famous sand artist from Odisha. Alma Fiesta also strives to spread awareness in our society under its social drive Prayatna. With its motto of Redefining Festivity, it suffices to say that Alma Fiesta is truly living up to its aim and doing more.
• Wissenaire: Wissenaire is the annual techno-management festival of Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar which is held in its permanent campus located in Argul, Odisha. It is one of the most awaited techno-management festivals of East India. It is a three-day- long event usually held in the month of January every year. The word 'Wissenaire' is derived from the German word 'Wissen' meaning knowledge and 'aire' meaning free. Thus it is justified by its tagline 'knowledge runs free'. Wissenaire encompasses various sectors of technology, science and management. These include quizzing, coding, designing, robotics, planning and testing the creativity and innovative spirit of the young, intelligent minds. Wissenaire has reached to a remarkable stage of what an established fest offers. It maintains the vibrancy and innovativeness of an upcoming tech fest. Wissenaire boasts the presence of some of the sharpest brains in the country, thus paving way for all the intellectual talent of the nation, go in the right direction.
• Entrepreneurship Summit: E-Summit, organized by the Centre for Entrepreneurship, IIT Bhubaneswar, is a unique platform for the students to get involved in the world of entrepreneurship and get enriched with innovative ideas. E-Summit'16 was held in the month of January, with the theme "INDUSTRY 4.0" and focused on promoting the MAKE IN INDIA campaign by infusing IT into manufacturing processes. The Summit hosts a number of panel discussions, workshops, competitions, and start-ups with the presence of glittering personalities from industries, academia, and government. Thus the Summit provides a perfect venue for entrepreneurship aspirants to get fresh ideas and give life to them. Facebook page:centre for entrepreneurship, IIT Bhubaneswar[78]

The student societies are:

• Astronomy Society.(Nakshatra)
• Programming Society. (Neuromancers)
• Dance Society.(D-Gang)
• Dramatics Society. (The Fourth Wall)
• Entrepreneurship Cell.(E-Cell)
• Film Making Society. (Cinewave)
• Fine Arts Society. (Kalakriti)
• Literary Societies. (Panacea and Abhivyakti)
• Music Society.(Aaroh)
• Photography Society. (Clix)
• Robotics Society.(R.I.S.C)
• Social Welfare Society. (Souls for Solace)
• Web and Design Society.