All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has okayed opening six new engineering colleges and 10 new polytechnic institutes in the state.
The science and technology department received the technical education regulator's approval letter on Sunday. With the opening of the new colleges, the number of state-run engineering colleges goes up to 13 polytechnics to 32.
The new institutes are: Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar Engineering College (Begusarai), BP Mandal Engineering College (Madhepura), Shershah Engineering College (Sasaram), Katihar Engineering College (Katihar), Sitamarhi Institute of Technology (Sitamarhi), and Bakhtiyarpur Engineering College (Bakhtiyarpur). The new colleges will run from temporary campuses to start with.
The state science and technology department had in November last year submitted a proposal to the AICTE for setting up the colleges.
The AICTE, after going through the availability of land and other infrastructure facilities for these technical institutions, gave its consent to the proposal.
"Chief minister Nitish Kumar as part of his seven resolves has a vision of opening up engineering colleges in every district and with six new colleges we are moving forward in the desired direction," an elated state science and technology minister Jai Kumar Singh said on Monday.
With the opening up of the six new colleges, the total number of engineering seats in the states has gone up from 1,643 to 3,002.
"The academic session in these colleges will begin from August this year and the admission in these colleges will be carried out on the basis of Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB) score," said Atul Sinha, director (technical education), science and technology department.
The first round of the BCECEB examination (preliminary test) was held on April 17; the results were declared last week. The main test will be held on May 15.
The new colleges will offer courses in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electronics engineering and electrical engineering, with the new colleges absorbing nearly 60 students in each course.
Every year thousands of students from Bihar take admission at government as well as private engineering colleges across India. Aspiring engineers were excited with the new colleges news.
"The state government decision is a welcome move as it will check the brain drain of students from Bihar to other states for pursuing engineering courses," said Ankit Anand, a student.
While the state government decision to set up new engineering colleges may have enthused students, but the already existing colleges suffer from acute shortage of teachers and necessary infrastructure. According to science and technology department sources, in seven engineering colleges there are just about 85 teachers. To fill up vacancies of teachers at engineering colleges, the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is carrying out the recruitment process for 407 assistant professors.
The first engineering college in Bihar was set up as a survey training school in 1884 in Patna, which was renamed as Bihar College of Engineering in 1932 and later upgraded to National Institute of Technology in 2004. Post-Independence two new engineering colleges were set up - Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology in 1954 and Bhagalpur College of Engineering in 1960. Till 1975, the engineering colleges were under the industries department.
In 1975, a separate department of science and technology was formed and till last year five more engineering colleges were set up, the latest being the Loknayak Jai Prakash Institute of Technology at Chhapra in 2012.
In 2008, with the establishment of Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU), all technical as well as professional courses were brought under the AKU's ambit.
