BITS-Pilani to invest Rs 1,300 crore for expansion by 2020

Panaji: Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) with campuses at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad will invest around Rs1,300 crore for the expansion of its institute at all its three centers in India by 2020, in a bid to compete globally. BITS-Pilani is ranked first among privately-funded engineering institutes in India and in the overall ranking, just after the five oldest IITs as per surveys by various magazines.
“Nearly 2 lakh students take the BITS-SET annually for admission into the Indian campuses, but only 2,000 make it through this centralized process every year and are then allotted campuses. After the expansion projects are complete at all three centers, a total of 3,000 students will be shortlisted annually on clearing the BITS-SET,” said K E Raman, director of BITS-Pilani Goa campus, who helped set up the centre in Goa in 2004.
The 180acre Goa campus located at Zuarinagar with a capacity for 2,900 students pursuing a four/five-year course, will see an investment of Rs425 crore with a plan to host 4,800 students by 2020. Currently, BITS has a student strength of 11,900, including students in the Dubai campus, and this is expected to double in number after the expansion.
“Most of the formalities have been completed. Mumbai-based Hafiz Contractor has won the contract for the project and the master plan has been approved. We are awaiting environmental clearance and will soon begin construction work. We hope to increase the intake of students by 2017, if not, it will certainly be executed by 2020,” said Raman.
Its oldest campus at Pilani in Rajasthan and its most recent campus in Hyderabad which was set up in 2006 have been granted Rs500 crore and Rs370 crore respectively for expansion projects.
Raman said that there have been requests from state governments such as Gujarat, Orissa and others inviting BITS to set up a campus in their respective states, but the management’s strategy until 2020 is to focus on capacity building through expansion. “By expansion, we mean vertical—consolidating on quality education and horizontal—upgrading and creating more infrastructure on existing campuses. It’s a confident step to better our standard in engineering education and science programmes offered at the university. The plan is to increase the growth rate by introducing more postgraduate and doctorate courses by 2017,” said Raman, stating that the administrators are thriving to make BITS more of a research-focused institute.
Since the institution believes in a residential system of education, wherein teachers and students compulsorily reside in the campus premises, most development works would include construction of hostels for students, besides classrooms and laboratories.
Raman said, “We wouldn’t want to make any distinction based on a certain state, since we treat this institute as a place where anyone from any part of the country can join and benefit. The CBSE certainly benefits those taking the entrance test, but if someone graduating from the state board can crack BITS-SET, then there is nothing stopping him or her from being part of the institute,” said Raman.
In an effort to have a healthy worldwide representation, BITS has decided to reserve 50 seats at the Hyderabad campus for foreign students, who will first have to clear the BITS-SET.