Dhanbad, Aug. 21: The premier mining institute of the country is planning big for the future.

Pledging to bring it on par with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)s and compete with the best in the world, the authorities of Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad, have decided to launch new courses and swell its rolls.

With Vision 2020 in mind, ISM will acquire 50 acres of land lying next to its campus. The district authorities have already given their green signal for the acquisition.

The courses that will come up include the B.Tech dual degree programme (electrical and chemical) and executive management, besides 21 postgraduate M.Phil and M.Tech programmes.

As a result of the introduction of the new courses, the number of students is expected to rise from 1,200 to 4,000 in the coming years.

Sources in the institute said 50 students will be taken in for B.Tech (electrical) in the next academic session. The same number of students will join the B.Tech (chemical) course in 2007. These will be followed by M.Phil and M.Tech programmes in mining, minerals, geophysics, electronics, information technology and applied geology.

The fully residential institute will also have a new building for fuel engineering, a 400-seater hostel for boys (under construction) and a 100-seater one for girls, besides a lecture hall complex.

There is more good news. The institute will provide Internet facility in every hostel room and teachers? quarters, upgrading the bandwidth for faster connectivity at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.

Taking a cue from IIT, Mumbai, the ISM library will go high-tech with the introduction of barcode-based circulation of books and an electronic security system to prevent thefts.

On the non-academic front, the institute will soon have a quality swimming pool and a sports complex to help the students keep in good shape.

?More grants will be given for research work and empirical studies. We will also lay emphasis on students? amenities and accommodation, besides providing the latest and better reading material,? a senior official told The Telegraph.

Tarkeshwar Kumar, the chief of the institute, said: ?My target is to raise the strength of students from 1,200 to 4,000 by increasing the number of seats in each subject in the coming 10-15 years.?

?ISM can compete with any other institute of the world as it is adopting the latest technologies and making infrastructural changes. The aim is to make the students feel that they are getting the best here.

?Known as the best mining college in the country, as all 41 students of the mining engineering wing got placed in bluechip companies in this year?s campus selection, the day is not far when ISM will be a major force to reckon with in disciplines such as information technology, fuel engineering, geophysics and other branches of engineering,? the permanent director said in an exclusive interview.