Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, December 6
IT’S OFFICIAL: Bengal Engineering and Science University will become a central university from next year. It will be the first IIEST, or Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, at par with the IITs.
It was perfect birthday gift in the university’s 150th year. The elevation gives BESU a victory in its competition with Jadavpur University, the state’s other pride in terms of engineering education.
The Centre will inform the state of the decision in writing next week. HRD minister Arjun Singh, however, gave the assurance on Thursday, when he met university officials and state MPs in Delhi.
“It was decided to elevate BESU to the status of an Institute of National Importance (INI) from 2008-09. It will be called IIEST-Shibpur,” said V-C N.R. Banerjea.
An amendment to the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Act will introduce a special schedule to enable the elevation. “That doesn’t mean we will become an NIT,” the V-C clarified. Invocation of the NIT Act is a temporary step; an IIEST Act will be set up as more such institutes come up.
The new breed of institutes will serve two purposes. They will not only hold their own against IITs, but also save the government the cost of setting up new IITs. Others lined up for elevation include Osmania University and BHU’s Institute of Technology.
Students will be admitted through an all-India entrance. BESU will reserve half its seats for West Bengal students. Governance will be shared as per an agreement with the state.
Higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury welcomed the elevation. “If the Centre has given the state what it sought, we are happy. I only wonder why they delayed it,” he said.
Mou.Chakraborty@hindustantimes.com
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIs it again going in circles as it has been for the past few months? First, you people claiming that something solid has come from the Centre, then the media creating a hype and then everyone denying anything concrete has happened.
The rhetoric that Arjun Singh has said this and that has been going on for sometime. And true to being a politician, he goes back on all what he has said so far, in my opinion.
And you people as BESU contributes profusely to the confusion. Earlier there was talk that the Centre is proposing an amendment to the NIT Bill to include BESU and then you didn't agree to the proposal saying that you need a separate Act. Now you are saying you an amendment to NIT Bill is being enacted. So are we to understand you have come down from you earlier stand?
What is the reason for the Centre on sleeping so long on the proposal? What hinders them from issuing an order to the effect that all the proposed institutions are upgraded and then all the Institutions together would be able to plan and execute projects for combined development.
This has been going too long and without anything happening.
Many are getting fed up with the whole issue and at the attitude of these politicians.
Mathew
Finally the BESU college is upgraded to IIEST on 12th October 2010. The Idea is to upgrade this college at par IISc, Bangalore that is more than IIT's itself so that they can attract foreign students and do global research. From Now onwards State Government can divert the amount spent on BESU to other state government college like JEC- Jalpaiguri or UIT-Burdwan University for improving the infrastructure.
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