IIT Bhubaneswar plans to increase student strength

BHUBANESWAR: IIT Bhubaneswar is planning to increase its student strength from existing 1765 to 3000 within four years. Institute's director R V Rajakumar said this at the 7th annual convocation of the IIT Bhubaneswar organised at Argul on Saturday.
The institute has 1101 B Tech, 266 M Tech, 142 M Sc and 256 PhD students. "To accommodate these students, the institute is working on phase-II expansion to construct three school buildings, four hostels and other infrastructure under its phase-II expansion programme," said Rajakumar.
He said it is a second generation IIT.It has emerged as the second largest IIT in terms of student intake among new ones after IIT Hyderabad. "We will be in a better position after the expansion work of Rs 850 crore is over," he added.
Ashutosh Sharma, secretary of department of science and technology, said the institute has received more than 100 sponsored and consultancy projects in its 10th year of existence. It has filed 30 patents for its invention within this period. The institute has also opened centres of excellence to conduct research on different problems faced by the world.
A total of 332 students, including 162 B Tech, 91 M Tech, 69 M Sc and 10 Ph D scholars, received degrees during the convocation. The President of India Gold Medal has been awarded to Nanduri Divakar of mechanical sciences branch for his best academic performance among the entire outgoing B Tech students. He also received Institute Silver medal and Best Male Graduate award for his success.
Debaleena Mukherjee from M Tech batch and Sayan Ray from M Sc batch received Director's Gold Medal for their best academic performance among their batch mates. They also won Institute Silver medals for topping their respective schools. Besides, 12 others got Institute Silver medals.
Among others, IIT board of governors chairman Pankaj Ramanbhai Patel, registrar-in-charge Debaraj Rath, teachers and parents of the students attended the function.
The IIT was started functioning in 2008 from a temporary campus in the city. Later it was shifted to its permanent campus spread over 936 acres at the foot of historical Barunei hill in Khurda district. It has seven schools.