In a landmark development for higher education in North Bengal, the Darjeeling Hills will soon have its first engineering college at Takdah. The Darjeeling Hill Institute of Technology and Management (DHITM) is set to be inaugurated on August 27, a senior official from the state education department confirmed on Monday, as per PTI reports.
Affiliated with the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) and approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the institute has been established by the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) with support from the state education department. The project is funded by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) under its CSR initiative and will be managed by the Odisha Child Welfare and Education Trust (OCWET).
The college will offer undergraduate programmes in Computer Science, Mechanical, Civil, and Electrical Engineering, along with a special paper on Artificial Intelligence. Keeping pace with the National Education Policy (NEP), it will also introduce courses in Hotel Management and Culinary Technology.
GTA chief executive Anit Thapa highlighted that the smart campus will house a dedicated placement cell to ensure “100 per cent placement of students,” while also aiming to boost the region’s economic growth by equipping youth with both technical and management skills.
The inauguration ceremony will be attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Education) Dushyant Nariala, MAKAUT vice-chancellor Tapas Chakraborty, Anit Thapa, and senior officials of GTA, NHPC, and OCWET.