Jamshedpur, June 10: The Adityapur-based National Institute of Technology (NIT) will increase the batch size of students in its bachelor of engineering (BE) course from the current academic session.
The decision comes following a nod from the Union ministry of human resource development (HRD). The ministry has granted permission to the institute to increase the student strength from the existing 280 to 390 ? an addition of 110 students.
?Except for production engineering, the number of students will be increased in all the other engineering streams including mechanical, civil, metallurgical, electrical, electronics and computer science,? said R.J. Singh, dean (academics) of the institute.
?The batch size has been increased for the first time since the institute was elevated to the status of NIT in 2002. It will be effective from the current academic session commencing in July,? he added.
Singh said besides increasing the student strength, the institute has also got a nod from the Union ministry to recruit 28 teachers including 19 assistant professors and nine professors in the sanctioned posts. For the time being the institute does not have any plan to appoint lecturers.
For quite some time, NIT has been contemplating to increase the batch size keeping in view the demand from students over the last few years.
NIT officials said they have sufficient infrastructure facilities including classrooms, laboratories, hostel and library to accommodate the additional number of students. The institute recently completed a 300-bed hostel for boys while work is in progress for the construction of about 25 staff quarters on the campus.
Sources in NIT said a five-member team from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which grants affiliation for various engineering courses to a technical institute across the country, visited the NIT campus in April this year to inspect the infrastructure facilities. The AICTE team was satisfied with the inspection. However, the AICTE had asked NIT authorities to review the student-teacher ratio that was not up to the mark.
According to AICTE norms, the ratio between students and teachers has to be 15:1.
