The National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NITR) is all set to go on an expansion spree, said its Director Prof Sunil Sarangi on Friday. Informing that the NITR would hold its 11th convocation on January 18, Sarangi said decisions have been taken to upgrade the institute both qualitatively and quantitatively within three to four years’ time. Though, it is just 11 years old, the NITR has proudly secured the eighth position among the IITs and NITs and the top among NITs in the country.
Now, ours efforts will be to place it in the top 200 world engineering institutes list, Sarangi said. He informed that the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) Authority has agreed to give 169 acres of land adjacent to present building while the State Government has committed for giving 300 acres in a nearby location. Besides, Sarangi informed, the institute has planned to increase student intake capacity to 10, 000 by 2020 from the present strength of 5,200. We have also planed to create facilities to provide research scope for 600 PhD students per year. NITR Registrar SK Upadhyay informed that the institute would award certificates to a total of 1,040 students, which include 31 PhDs, 21 MTechs (Research), 336 MTechs, 106 MScs, 25 MBAs and 512 BTechs. The institute would also give away five gold medals and 38 silver medals on the occasion. ONGC CMD Sudhir Vasudeva is scheduled to deliver the convocation speech.