RP Singh, the chairman of NIT, Patna, board of governors, at one of the classrooms in the computer centre on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Nov. 27: National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna, students no longer have to worry about faculty crunch or inadequate lectures. For, the institution today became the second tech cradle in the state to connect with the National Knowledge Network project of the Centre. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Patna, is the other institute in the city.

R.P. Singh, the chairman of NIT, Patna, board of governors, today inaugurated the project at the institute’s renovated computer centre building, built at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore.

Under the project, institutions can connect to other centres of excellence for live lectures or interviews for online campus placement. A brainchild of Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, the project aims at sharing knowledge, specialised resources and collaborative research among scientists, researchers and students from diverse fields across the country. Part of the Union government’s National Knowledge Commission, it ensures networking of premier colleges and universities, puts study material online and shares expertise of different institutes across the country.

For smooth functioning of the project, 190 computers have been installed at the NIT computer centre, where five classrooms have been constructed. These rooms are equipped with computers and a projector.

N.P. Singh, the faculty member in charge of the computer centre, said: “The institute has been connected with the National Knowledge Network and now 1GB per second Internet connection will be available round-the-clock.”

This connection with the network will help the students have live access to lectures in other institutes in the country, fitting well with the purpose of the project — to build quality institutions with state-of-the-art research facilities that would help create a pool of highly trained workforce.

Dipak Kumar, a final-year civil engineering student, said: “Studying in virtual classes is a different concept as we can now learn new topics that are being taught at IITs or Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.”

The students will now also have the opportunity to appear for online tests during campus interviews conducted by companies like Microsoft and L&T.