Bhubaneswar, July 22: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar, today announced that it would shift its entire set-up to its permanent campus at Argul on the outskirts of the city by 2019.

IIT, Bhubaneswar, director Ranam Vadra Raja Kumar said during the 10th institute day today that the second phase of construction at the campus was going on in full swing with an investment of more than Rs 1,000 crore and it would be completed by March 2019.

Sources said the first phase work was already complete with an investment of Rs 760 crore while the second phase had begun with a total investment of Rs 1,110 crore. IIT administrators said they had shifted almost 90 per cent of its set-up to the permanent campus. The Union ministry of human resource development is funding construction of the new campus.

At present, the IIT functions from two sites in Bhubaneswar. While the administrative block functions from Toshali Bhavan at Satya Nagar, it has a also workshop at Samantpur. The hostel and other schools function from its permanent campus at Argul.

"Nine years ago, on this day, the first batch of students of IIT, Bhubaneswar, started their academic activities on the campus of IIT Kharagpur, our mentor institute. Over the years, the institute has grown and set a unique standard among other IITs of the country," the institute director said, adding that the aim was to set an international standard in education and the institute administrators were committed to it.

"We have already initiated a process to hire professors of foreign origin in our institute to impart quality education. They are adding to the international outlook of the institute," he said.

Additional secretary in the human resources development ministry, R. Subrahmanyam, said there was an urgent need to connect knowledge-economy with innovation and urged the students to take up the challenge.

"We are heading towards a digital India and it is evident that the young mass will play a vital role in the transformation. There is a need to take up student-driven technology solutions, which will prove to be a game changer in the life of the students as well as the country," said Subrahmanyam, asking students to be globally competitive yet locally relevant.

In another development, the institute also announced the introduction of a new course in MTech. Students can get enrolled in the five-year integrated programme in networking, cyber security and forensics and data analytics and machine intelligence programmes from July 2018.

"The senate of IIT, Bhubaneswar, has approved the start of the new course in computer science and engineering with sub-specialisations," said an IIT administrator, adding that it would add 90 more seats in masters courses.