BHUBANESWAR: The campus of Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar at Argul will become full-fledged campus within next two years. Speaking at the 7th Convocation of the institute on Saturday, IIT-Bhubaneswar, Director RV Raja Kumar said currently infrastructure development work worth `850 crore is in progress with the support of Ministry of Human Resources and Development. The campus will be fully operational within next two years, he added.
The IIT Director said construction of a new 800-seat boys hostel and 400-seat girls hostel are expected to be completed by this year end. Adequate infrastructure for School of Mineral, Metallurgical and Material Engineering, School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences, School of Humanities, Social and Management Central Research and Instrumentation facility will also be developed during these two years, he said, adding a 1,500-seat capacity auditorium, lecture theatre complex and central workshop will also come up.
“While most of the project works taken up will be completed by 2019 other remaining works will be completed by 2020,” he said. Plans are also on the anvil to increase the student strength to 3,000 in next four years.
Kumar informed that 207 students from various disciplines, including 130 UG students have been placed in 2017-18 and the average remuneration offered was `11.15 lakh per annum.Union Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Ashutosh Sharma who graced the occasion as chief guest called upon students to be job creators and not job seekers. He also advised students to focus on solving problems of others using their knowledge. Sharma also spoke about climate change and advised the students to work towards environment sustainability. As many as 332 students from various disciplines, including 162 in B Tech, 91 in M Tech, 69 M Sc and 10 PhD received their degrees on this day. Mechanical Engineering graduate Nanduri Divakar was awarded President of India Gold Medal for best academic performance.
Likewise, the Director’s Gold Medal was awarded to Debaleena Mukherjee of School of Infrastructure and Sayan Roy of the School of Basic Sciences for best academic performance in their disciplines.