The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Kalyani is awaiting a permanent address even after a decade since its establishment, with students being provided accommodation in private buildings that lack facilities.
The institute, which was set up in 2014 under a private-public partnership (PPP) mode, offers BTech, MTech and PhD programmes. It operates from a temporary
campus at the IT Park of the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (Webel), which is one of the industry partners for IIIT Kalyani.
Students have to stay in private apartments, nearly 3km away from the temporary campus. The institute has arranged buses for the students who have to pay ₹6,600 per semester as transport charges. A two-bedroom flat is crammed with eight students, and nearly half of the bathrooms do not have geysers.
Several students and parents have written to the government and the institute about the dearth of facilities. A parent, who visited the institute recently, said two permanent hostels for boys and girls have already been built, but the students were not being accommodated there.
“The construction of the permanent infrastructure has been going on for the last 10 years at IIIT Kalyani. It speaks volumes about the pathetic state of affairs in the so- called ‘Institute of National Importance’,” the parent said.
A student said a BTech course would require one to pay ₹61,000 per semester for accommodation, mess and transport. “But if they stay as paying guests in buildings near the temporary campus, they will get better facilities by spending ₹5,000 a month,” the student said.
The parliamentary standing committee on education has flagged concerns about the dearth of facilities in the 20 IIITs set up in the PPP mode. The capital cost for each IIIT (PPP) is supposed to be borne in the ratio of 50:35:15 by the Centre, state and the industry partner, respectively.
“The approved capital cost for construction in 2010 has not been adjusted for inflation, affecting the IIITs where land allocation or campus construction has been delayed for reasons beyond their control. The total capital investment of ₹128 crore is insufficient for any institution to reach the economies of scale required for financial sustainability,” the panel said in its report in March 2025.
Rajeev Kumar, a retired faculty member of computer science at JNU, said the IIITs opened in the PPP mode suffered from locational disadvantages apart from faculty shortage.
“The IIITs have been set up in remote places, which fail to attract talented candidates. Many IIITs do not have adequate faculty members. Apparently, the sanctioned positions are few,” Kumar said.