The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) will start functioning temporarily on the premises of Bharatidasan Institute of Technology (BIT) at Tiruverumbur Taluk in Tiruchi district. This arrangement would begin from the academic year 2013-14.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa issued an order in this regard, considering the interests of students and the time it might take to set up the infrastructure.
Being developed jointly by the Centre and State governments and industrial bodies at a cost of Rs.128 crore in Sethurapatti in Srirangam taluk, the IIIT would come up on over 56.37 acres of land.
The State government’s sanction for establishing a permanent campus at Sethurapatti near Ms.Jayalalithaa’s Srirangam Assembly constituency coincided with the introduction of IIIT Bill 2013 in the Lok Sabha for establishment of 20 such institutions at the rate of one in every major State in partnership with the private sector.
Once approved by Parliament, the law will accord IIITs the status of national importance on par with IITs and IIMs.
4 IIITs
At present, four IIITs exist in Gwalior, Allahabad, Jabalpur and Kancheepuram, all of which were established during the eleventh plan period till March 2012.
According to the Bill that was cleared by the Union Cabinet last August, out of the outlay of Rs.128 crore, the Centre will contribute 50 per cent, and the State government 35 per cent, while the private sector will pitch in with 15 per cent.
For establishing the IIIT in Srirangam on Public-Private-Partnership model, six companies including Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Infosys, and Take Solutions have so far given their letters of consent, according to official sources.
The sanctioned fund has to be utilised in a time-bound manner for campus development, installation of intelligent security system, creation of self-contained placement centre, and creation of space for projects, industrial base and innovation centre.
UGC norms
Going by the norms of University Grants Commission for new IIITs, the one in Tiruchi is expected to start off with two UG programmes: B.Tech in IT, and Electronics and Communication Engineering, with intake of 60 students each, based on their scores in Joint Entrance Examinations – Mains conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.
Once fully functional, the IIITs are envisaged to offer M.Tech. in Intelligent System, Wireless Communication and Computing, Bioinformatics and Software Engineering, MBA (IT) and MS (Cyber Law and Security). Admissions to MBA (IT) and M.Tech programmes are based on the scores of candidates in Common Admission Test and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering respectively.
The mandate of IIITs include carrying out advanced research and development in leading edge technology areas in computer hardware and software; and making available newer software technology for English, Hindi and other languages. Industries are currently engaging students from IIITs on live projects, sources added.
Approach roads
The release issued by the State government added that the Chief Minister also sanctioned Rs.2.17 crore for construction of compound walls and approach roads to seven polytechnic colleges in the districts of Theni, Tiruvarur, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Karur and Perambalur, the release said.
(With inputs from N. Anand in Chennai)
