The Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) has moved a few notches closer to the Institute of National Importance (INI) status.

With the Union minister for human resource development (HRD) Arjun Singh going on record about Besu’s upgrade, the mood on the sprawling Shibpur campus has turned bullish.

“We have decided, in principle, to provide assistance for the upgrade of five engineering colleges to the level of IIT, and name them as Indian Institutes of Science and Engineering Technology,” Singh said, giving a fresh lease of life to Besu’s INI status dream.

But the INI tag is eluding Besu since Anandakrishnan Committee submitted its report recommending the institute’s upgrade in February 2006.

According to the report, the university, which was compared with seven other institutes earmarked for the status, had ranked first on various parameters.

Though the Union minister’s promise to pursue the upgrade during the 11th five-year plan has come as a relief, the authorities are not celebrating.

“We have done our best to push for the upgrade… Now, it is up to the state government to comment on the issue,” said Besu vice-chancellor, N.R. Banerjea.

His comments can be linked to the rider in Singh’s statement, which has put the ball in the state government’s court.

“The upgrade is subject to the concurrence of the concerned state governments to hand them over to central government for declaring them as INIs,” said Singh.

As chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has taken interest in the upgrade and written to the Prime Minister, a section of the teachers feel that the prospect of the state government relinquishing its control over the university has gone up.

Last month, a Besu delegation — led by Banerjea and teachers’ association secretary Sujay Mukherjea — went to Delhi and met government officials to press for the upgrade demand.

“The human resource development secretary assured us that the upgrade was on track and that they would soon write to the state education minister on the issue of handing over governance of the institute to the central government for the upgrade… We hope it will happen soon,” summed up Mukherjea.