World Bank selects NIIT as Lead Insititution under TEQIP

Tiruchirapalli, Dec 20 (UNI) The National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli (NITT), the premier engineering institute in the country has been selected as a 'Lead Institution' under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) by the World Bank, according to Insitute Director Dr M Chidambaram.

The World Bank has approved a lifetime allocation of Rs 209 million for the NITT project. The first phase of the five-year project would be completed by March 2008, he told newspersons last night.

Academic excellence, networking and service to community and economy were the three major components of the TEQIP project, he said. A wide range of equipment has been procured for various departments to strengthen the existing laboratories as well as to set up new laboratories.

Some major procurement like personal computers for Rs 10.873 million and scanning electron microscope for Rs 4.179 million have been made. Orders were placed for campus-wide networking, which will be carried out at a cost of Rs 13.4 million and the sophisticated ND-YAG rpt ND-YAG Laser Source would be obtained for Rs 2.6 million, he informed.

The collection of books in the existing library has been strengthened by procuring latest books and learning resources worth Rs 18 million. The faculty members and staff were sent for training in various places in the country and abroad.

He said the NITT Departments will be developed as 'Autonomous' and flexible 'Centers of Excellence' to meet the sweeping changes of the industrial environment in post-liberalized India and also the rapidly changing scenario in Technical Education globally.

According to Dr Chidamabaram, the Union Government was planning to increase the intake of students to an extent of 54 per cent more from 2007-2008, in which the total students strength of NITT will be 6,000 in the year 2010 from the existing strength of 3,600.

Similarly, the Faculty strength will also increase to 300 from the existing 200 and the Support Staff strength would go up by 450 from the present strength of 250.

The infrastructure pertaining to hostels, mega mess, hospital, auditorium, instructional buildings, school for the faculty wards, laboratory equipment and students amenities will be completed in the next two years, he added.

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