fingers crossed: National Institute of Technology, Patna

Patna, May 23: The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna, is keeping its fingers crossed for a Rs 10-crore grant from the World Bank, as part of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme.

Vidyasagar, registrar of NIT, said: “We have applied for the fund as the NIT fulfils all the criteria needed for the programme and the grant.”

Under the programme, an engineering college which fulfils the minimum criteria laid down by the Union ministry of human resource development, would receive a fund of Rs 10 crore for improving the infra-structure of the college. The main impetus of the programme is on enhancing employment prospects for the students.

Authorities at NIT, Patna, are upbeat about getting the grant. According to them, the fund, once granted, will be used for the purchase of equipment, providing improvised training to students and teachers and also for the purchase of more software for the college.

NIT, Patna, has applied for the funds under the programme for the first time. Earlier, it didn’t fulfil the criteria under the scheme.

Country’s top technical institutions such as IITs, IIMs and IISc qualify under the programme. The second tier of the programme includes top regional colleges.

Vidyasagar said the programme will help students and teachers get exposure, as colleges will be involved in exchange programmes with top engineering colleges within the country and outside. Not only that, research work between NIT and foreign universities will also get a boost.

The other advantage of the programme is that NIT, which is already facing space and resource crunch, will get well-equipped laboratories and library.

Sanjeev Sinha, the nodal officer of the programme at NIT, Patna, said the college would purchase state-of-the-art equipment and software for various branches, such as civil engineering, mechanical, electrical and others, from the fund. Advanced technical knowledge will be imparted to students by experts from the field. These experts will be invited as guest faculty by the college. Sinha said: “Apart from visiting faculties, teachers and professors from the college will also undergo training at the country’s top engineering colleges and at foreign universities.”

“Moreover, emphasis will on teaching students about the latest technologies such as remote sensing, digital computing, GIS, and others,” he added.

Students of NIT feel the fund will help the college strengthen its infrastructure. Chandan Kumar, a final-year student of electronics and communication engineering (ECE), said: “The college doesn’t have a proper lab facility. Moreover, in other NITs and engineering colleges, the students have the option to choose papers but in NIT, Patna, we have limited choice.”

The students also claim that the college is suffering from severe employee crunch and many of its branches are running with just half the strength of teachers. Kumar said: “In ECE, we have only six teachers while the required strength is around 15 to 20 teachers.” Other grievances of students include lack of qualified lab technician and e-library facilities.