Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology

Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (abbreviated as IIEST) are a group of academic institutions in India for research and education in engineering. These were originally proposed by the Government of India in 2007 ^[1] to meet the increasing demand for technological and scientific workforce in the industrial and service sectors of India as well as the growing need for qualified personnel in research and development.

It was decided that the institutes under the banner of IIEST were to be created by upgrading existing engineering colleges or universities under the various State governments of India through an act of the Parliament of India, instead of founding completely new institutes. After upgrading, these institutes would also be granted the status of "Institutes of National Importance".[INI]

The first institute to be upgraded to IIEST was Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, which was a university under the Government of West Bengal prior to the upgrade process. Three more universities are in the pipeline to be upgraded to IIEST in the coming years.

History

In the early years of the 21st century, the Government of India recognized the need to create more institutes for education in engineering and technology at the national level, since there were only a few institutes, under the banner of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) which provided top quality education and research opportunities in engineering and science. The result was the decision to improve the level of some existing colleges and universities at the state level, that is, under the various State governments of India, which would enable these institutes to receive direct funding from the central Government of India as well as be classified as "Institutes of National Importance", thereby earning its students various benefits. Consequently, a group of seven colleges and universities were selected for upgrade by the S. K. Joshi Committee in 2003. However, these institutes were under the respective State governments of India and could not be upgraded due to various political, administrative or technical difficulties.

Later, in 2005, the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India appointed another committee, the Anandakrishnan Committee, to go into the modus operendi of the proposed transformation. In September 2006, he committee recommended setting up a new family of institutes by upgrading the selected group of colleges and universities, to be called Indian Institutes of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST). A list of five institutions were drawn up for this upgrade process by the Anandakrishnan Committee.^[2] Benaras Hindu University Institute of Technology followed by Bengal Engineering and Science University Shibpur, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Osmania University College of Engineering and Andhra University College of Engineering. Benaras Hindu University Institute of Technology was given the status of IIT in 2012. Till now only BESU has got the status of IIEST and the rest other colleges are still to be given the status of IIEST.

List of Institutes

The other institute in the original Anandakrishnan Committee recommendation, that is, Benaras Hindu University Institute of Technology, was upgraded to be part of the Indian Institutes of Technology in 2012. Indian Institutes of Technology which are best engineering institutes in India are tasked as mentors for conversion of the above mentioned institutes to IIEST. The conversion process of BESU to IIEST is mentored by IIT Kanpur.^[3]

Conversion of BESU to IIEST

The first institute to be upgraded to IIEST was Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur (BESU), which was a university under the Government of West Bengal prior to the upgrade process. It took some years for the Government of India to finally decide to go ahead with the process recommended by the Anandakrishnan Committee for upgrading the selected group of state universities to the nation level under the IIEST banner. It was thus in October 2010, that the Union Cabinet of Ministers of the Government of India formally approved the process of conversion of Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, by suitably amending the National Institutes of Technology and Science Education and Research Act, 2007.^[4] Accordingly, the amendment bill was tabled in the lower house (Lok Sabha) of the Parliament of India in March 2013 and subsequently passed by it in December 2013. Following this, the bill was also passed in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) in February 2014.^[5] The bill received the presidential assent by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 4 March 2014, thereby legalizing the upgrade process.^[6] —In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the NITSER(Amendment) Act, 2014, the Central Government appointed the 4th day of March, 2014 (i.e. date of receiving assent of the President) as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force. That is BESU has become the first IIEST of the country with effect from 4 March 2014. The conversion process of BESU to IIEST shall be mentored by IIT Kanpur.^[7]

IIEST was inaugurated by President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 24 August 2014.^[8][9]

Funding

According to the Anandakrishnan Committee report, the IIESTs are supposed to receive funding similar to that of NIT'S after the planned upgrade over next five years. Each college will receive one-time amount (spread over five years) of ₹5 billion (US$74 million) for infrastructure improvement and annual funding of ₹500 million (US$7.4 million).

Admission Process

Undergraduate admissions (i.e. to bachelor's degree programs) are made through JEE Mains. Post-graduate admissions (i.e. to masters and doctoral degree programs) are made through examinations like Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, Joint Admission Test for M.Sc., etc. and/or institute's own written test / interview.

Governance and Organization

As the first IIEST (IIEST Shibpur) starts to function from the academic year 2014-15, the governance model and organizational structure will become clear subsequently and is currently in the stage of being formulated (as of March 2014).

Education and Research

As the first IIEST (at Shibpur) starts to function from the academic year 2014-15, the education and research models will become clear subsequently.

References

External links

• The IIT story: IIESTs, 3 new IITs on way
• Anandkrishnan Committee Report on IIESTs