TIRUCHY: After days of protests by students, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has announced a change of mentor institute for the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Srirangam. From the second semester, the institution would be governed by the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchy as against the Bharathidasan Institute of Technology (BIT).
Established in 2013, IIIT offers three courses each under UG and PG in BTech and MTech degrees respectively. The PG courses were being offered since its inception while, the UG programmes were offered from this year. Set to move to its own campus in a couple of months at Sethurapatti in Srirangam , the IIIT has been temporarily functioning from inside the BIT campus of Anna University on Pudukottai road.
Since the institute is funded by both Central and State governments on a proportionate percentage, it was placed under the BIT and the the BIT dean was acting as director-in-charge of IIIT. But the students demanded that a central institute like the NIT or IIT-Madras be made the mentor institute and launched a hunger strike in mid-February.
Subsequently, the institution declared indefinite closure and all first year students were asked to vacate the hostel. But students continued their protest by sitting outside their college campus under tents. After a 10-day strike, the protest was called off following talks on March 4. The students withdrew their strike on the condition that they will take up their second semester exam under a new mentor institution.