Director of IIT-Patna AK Bhowmick speaks at the orientation programme on the institute campus on Monday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, July 25: Newcomers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Patna, interacted with each other on campus today even though some felt the institute made little effort to welcome them.

Accompanied by parents, many of the students checked their respective departments, the library, hostels and canteens on the transit campus at Patliputra Colony where the institute has been functioning since its inception in 2008.

As most of the students are from other states, they reached the institute campus directly from the railway station and airport.

Akhil Sehrawat from Haryana told The Telegraph: “My IIT-JEE rank was 4,297 in the general category and IIT-Patna was my first choice among the new IITs.”

Sehrawat, who has taken admission in computer science, is happy to be here. He added: “Bihar is changing and the mindset of people on law and order in the state has changed a lot.”

The day started with an orientation programme for the students.

Around 126 students rushed for registration after the orientation programme. The new students are part of the fourth batch at IIT-Patna.

The director of the institute, A.K. Bhowmick, said: “Although the students are starting their IIT journey from the old campus, when they leave the institute after four years it would be from the new campus, which is bigger than the current set up.”

In April this year, IIT-Patna got its new campus at Bihta, around 40km from the existing campus. The new campus will be functional from 2013. Built on a sprawling 500 acres, the new Bihta campus will be on a par with the other IITs in the country.

Bhowmick added: “The students are fortunate to have got admission in IIT. Every year, lakhs of students take various competitive examinations for admission in engineering institutes. Only a few thousand get admission in IITs.”

The director added that IIT-Patna came up in 2008 with other IITs in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

He also said: “In the past three years, we at IIT-Patna have created a niche for ourselves despite our limitations like functioning from a transit campus. We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with various foreign universities, including University of Houston in Texas, Louisiana State University, University of New South Wales in Australia, University of Saskatchewan in Canada and others, for student exchange programmes and exchange of research work.”

IIT-Patna registrar Subash Pandey told The Telegraph: “From December, the students of IIT-Patna’s first batch will appear for placements. Many of them have already undergone training at several multinational companies, in the country and outside.”

Pandey also said from next year, IIT-Patna will introduce programmes, like MTech and PhD in all disciplines.