Centre gifts 5 NITs to region | ||
| A STAFF REPORTER | ||
Guwahati, Sept. 17: Technical education in Northeast got a big boost today with the Centre approving the setting up of a National Institute of Technology (NITs) each in five states — Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. The Northeast has two NITs at present — one in Agartala (Tripura) and the other at Silchar in Assam. The new IITs, approved by the Union cabinet today, will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore. These institutes will be covered under the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007, making them institutions of national importance. This will help the region join the mainstream of technical education as these states have few national-level technical institutions. The process for setting up the NITs will start in 2009-10 with formation of respective societies, constitution of a board of governors and appointment of directors. Admissions will start from the academic session 2010-11 and classes will start on campuses either taken on lease or set up temporarily in mentor NITs. Construction of campuses for the new NITs will be initiated subject to land being provided free of cost by the respective state governments. The process of setting up the institutes will be completed over a period of five years. “The question is how fast the states can act on the orders of the Centre as they will have to locate a huge space of land also,” a source said. The NITs will provide high quality education to many bright students from the region as 50 per cent of the seats will be reserved for eligible students from these states. The Centre is providing top priority to the Northeast to speed up development in all spheres. Arunachal Pradesh is also a beneficiary state but has not been named because the model code of conduct has come into operation because of the October 13 Assembly polls, the sources said. The NITs were earlier known as Regional Engineering Colleges. The RECs were set up as joint and co-operative ventures of the Union and state governments with the aim to meet the increased demand for technically qualified manpower. In 2003, the 17 erstwhile RECs were rechristened National Institution of Technology and taken over as fully-funded institutes of the Union government and granted deemed university status. The NITs will produce engineering and science graduates in the short run, post-graduate and PhD students in the long run and teachers for engineering and science subjects at the college/university level. It will also help in development of research and development and generation of intellectual property in engineering and science in the long run . |
(The Telegraph, 18.09.2009)
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