Started in 1992 by eminent educational entrepreneur and social activist Prof Achyuta Samanta as a modest Industrial Training Institute with only 12 students, the KIIT has now emerged as one of the most-preferred destinations of professional education in the country. Today, the KIIT University’s cosmopolitan campus is proud to have more than 27,000 students from all corners of India and around 45 countries.
KIIT is a multidisciplinary university with 28 constituent schools offering more than 100 academic programmes. It offers a world-class learning experience that is rooted in a rich educational culture of excellence. Recognising the university’s high standards, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has conferred ‘A’ category status to it. It has been reaccredited by the NAAC with grade ‘A’, placing it among the country’s top-ranking universities. High national standing of the university is bolstered by the NBA accreditation under Washington Accord to its five BTech programmes.
The KIIT University has achieved a very high visibility in a short span of time due to its high-quality teaching and excellent campus placement. However, along with teaching and placement, research and innovation are important hallmarks of a world-class university. In view of this, the KIIT has placed much emphasis on creating enabling infrastructure and facilities for advanced research in diverse areas. It has set up a Centre for Scientific Research with seed money of US$ 1.2 million, the only private university in the country to establish such a centre. It has also established a state-of-the-art Central Advanced Research Centre (CARC) in a 1.2-lakh sqft built-up area for multidisciplinary research.
Several Centres of Excellence have been established in collaboration with industry. ISRO-KIIT Satellite Centre, NI Centre of Excellence, Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Materials and Nano Sciences and IOT Centre of Excellence are among more than 18 such centres functioning at the KIIT University. In addition, specialised school-level laboratories such as SKF-KIIT Advanced Reliability Centre, Green Engine Technology Centre, Thin Film Photovoltaic lab and High Frequency Simulation & Fabrication lab greatly augment research activity at the university.
To promote innovation and startup entrepreneurship among students as well as in a wider society, KIIT opened KIIT Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI) in 2008. KIIT-TBI has got the recognition by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), DST, Government of India. With this, it has become the first such TBI in Odisha and one amongst the 50-odd in the country. It is also supported by many other Central Government agencies such as MSME, TIDE, TCFA, TePP, TDB and BIRAC. KIIT-TBI is networked with all TBIs of the country, as well as AABI (Asia Pacific), European UKBI and US NBIA. It is also a member of the Asia Pacific Incubator Network (APIN). With focus on Pharma-biotech, Bioinformatics, Exploitive Microbiology, Agri-tech & Information Technology, Robotics, etc., it offers incubation facilities and enables the incubatees to work in a secure, innovative and entrepreneurial environment as they progress through various stages of entrepreneurial development. During a very short period, 54 incubate companies are associated with it, out of which 15 have graduated out to set up full-scale commercial enterprises.
Research accomplishments of the faculty and students demonstrate the positive impact of the KIIT’s focus on research and innovation. It has 1,800 faculty members, who are from institutions of repute such as IITs, IIMs, XlRI, IISc, JNU, etc., offering a rigorous curriculum and access to varied learning opportunities and hands-on research. They are actively involved in raesearch and consultancy works attracting financial support to the tune of a few million dollars every year. Currently, nearly 100 research and consultancy projects funded by various national and international funding agencies like UBS Promedica Foundation, Switzerland; Karolinska Institute, Sweden; DST, DBT, MNRE, Govt. of India, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, etc., are ongoing with substantial budget outlays.
Faculty members and research scholars of the university have published over 7,000 research papers in various national and international journals of repute. It is creditable that out of them around 1,834 publications have been indexed in international databases like Scopus. The research papers have received a high citation of around 6,000, pushing up the ‘h’ index to 29. Numerous research papers authored by students have also been published in reputed national and international journals. The faculty members have also published around 110 books and several book reviews.
KIIT actively promotes students research and projects of its students have been appreciated at national and international forum, including being selected for the prestigious Indian Science Congress. In recent years, students’ team of KIIT have emerged as a strong contender in the prestigious automobile design competitions like BAJA SAE, aeronautical design competitions, like Aero Design West, Robotics, Civil, Electrical and Computer Science innovation events.
In a similar success story, over 400 KIIT students have established themselves as successful entrepreneurs. Well-known names like Roboticwares, Sadyogi Technology Services, Dream Diaries and Tatwa Technologies have been founded by the KIIT alumni. Many more students’ startup ideas are under incubation in KIIT-TBI and other units.