IIT Kharagpur to have second campus

Kolkata, Nov 1 (UNI) The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the oldest among the IITs, will have a second campus to be set up at a cost of Rs 250 crore at New Town here.

''The new campus will be a world class research and education hub.

We are looking at a student strength of 2,000,'' Chairman of the Institutes Board of Directors Sanjeev Goenka said.

Unlike IIT Kharagpur which was residential, the new campus would also have day schooling facilities. Along with regular courses, there would be evening and weekend courses, mainly for working students, he said.

He said the first batch of students were expected to be admitted in 2008.

A plot of 10 acre has been acquired at New Town for the new campus. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will lay the foundation stone on November 2007, Mr Goenka said.

Besides the Kolkata campus, IIT Kharagpur would have another campus in the eastern region, Mr Goenka said, but declined to go into specifics saying it had not been cleared by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

IIT Kharagpurs Deputy Registrar Madhusudan Chakraborty said that the new campus would also have an ''incubation hub'' to help alumni set up their own enterprises. ''We want IIT to provide jobs instead of seeking jobs.'' IIT, Kharagpur, has 19 academic departments, 11 academic centres and schools, four world class central facilities and 12 specialised R&D cells in interdisciplinary areas. It currently has a student strength of 6,800.

According to Mr Chakraborty, the new campus would focus on IT, business administration, bio-informatics and similar programmes.

Mr Chakraborty said there was also a plan to set up a Kolkata-Kharagpur corridor utilising the new campus as a nodal centre for larger technology parks that are being set up around IIT Kharagpur and in Kolkata.

He said that besides the short-term programmes, the new campus would have post-graduate courses. ''Additionally, there will be a major research focus -- some of the world-class initiatives and experiences already available at Kharagpur would be replicated.'' UNI TJP SJC MQA RAI1124