Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra (BIT, Mesra) is a government funded technical institute (GFTI)[3] (deemed university) situated at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.[4] It was declared as a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act.[5]
History
BIT Mesra Main Building
The Birla Institute of Technology was established in 1955 at Mesra by industrialist and philanthropist B. M. Birla. The institute was affiliated to Patna University until 1960, and then to Ranchi University. In 1986 BIT was elevated to the status of deemed university under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.
The Small Industries Research and Development Organization (SIRDO) was set up in 1970 as a launching pad for small manufacturing enterprises managed by graduates of BIT. Companies created from this concept include Meditron and Alcast.[citation needed] This idea was appreciated by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; and was spread to other institutes such as IITs by the Government with a concept named Science and Technological Entrepreneurs Park (STEP).[citation needed] The first STEP was approved and located in BIT Mesra.[citation needed] The entrepreneurship development cell was founded in 2007 and is run by the students. To add financial strength to this effort, BIT has set up SIDBI Centre for Innovation and Incubation (SCII) by an arrangement with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide funds for a limited period of time to new entrepreneurs, start up companies, and technology based organisations in areas of interest with the faculty of the institute.[7]
BIT Mesra has a PARAM 10000supercomputer at the core of its IT infrastructure.[8]
Central
The CAD Laboratory is a central facility of the institute where all users – undergraduate and postgraduate students, research scholars and faculty members – can work with design and analysis software.
R&D Building
Central Computing Facilities (CCF)
The maintenance and upkeep of the CCF is done by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; however the CCF is used by students and staff from all departments of the institute.
The PARAM 10000 Supercomputer was gifted to the Institute by C-DACi It supports projects that require parallel processing and multi processor capabilities.[citation needed]
Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF)
The Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF) was established in 2006 under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme, funded by the World Bank and Government of Jharkhand, to provide instrumentation facilities for advanced research, to faculty.
Central Library
The Central Library was established in 1955. It has print and electronic resources in the fields of science and technology. The collection includes 10,000 online journals, 100 print journals, 113,000 books, 2500 CDs, 60 audiocassettes and 4000 project reports.[9][10][11][12][13]
Organisation and administration
Governance
BIT functions under the control of a Board of Governors, comprising representatives of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, the UGC, the State Government, the Chancellor, the A.I.C.T.E., the Hindustan Charity Trust and the Institute Faculty. CK Birla is the chairman of the board of governors. The governor of the state of Jharkhand is the chancellor of the institute. The Technical Council headed by vice chancellor decides the academic policy of the institute.[14]
University Polytechnic
The University Polytechnic was established in 2001, as a joint venture of the Department of Welfare, Government of Jharkhand and BIT, Mesra, to impart Diploma level technical education amongst the youths of Jharkhand. Its campus is located close to the National Highway 33 in the vicinity of the BIT Main campus on the outskirts of Ranchi.
Centres in India and offshore
BIT has established extension centers in cities within the country, in Allahabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Noida, Patna, Deoghar and Lalpur and overseas, in Muscat and Ras al-Khaimah.[citation needed]
Allahabad Extension Centre
The Birla Institute of Technology, Allahabad Extension Centre was established in January 1998. It has five academic departments namely Department of Computer Science, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering. The centre has a library with a large number of
books and technical journals. A digital library for on-line access of books and journals has also been provided for staff and students.
The Jharkhand government, willing to spread BIT further across the state, made a request to the institute to establish an Extension Centre at Deoghar, Jharkhand. A MoU was signed between the Institute and the Government of Jharkhand. Thus, Birla Institute of Technology extension Deoghar commenced functioning in October 2007. As per the provisions of the MoU it was decided that 50% seats would be for students acquiring eligible qualifications from Institutions located in Jharkhand while the remaining 50% would be for students from the other states of the country. Admission has been through JEE Main with Central Counselling conducted by the Central Counselling Board.
Birla Institute of Technology, Patna Campus was established in 2006, on the initiative of Govt. of Bihar. The institute came into existence by Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode under flagship management of BIT Mesra. The Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar, laid the foundation stone of the institute in December 2005. The institute started academic programme from the session 2006–07.
Birla Institute of Scientific Research
The Birla Institute of Scientific Research (BISR) is a sister concern of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi[15] which hosts an auditorium and a planetarium in its campus in Jaipur.[16] The institute was established for promoting science education through Museum and Planetarium.
This institute has a state of the art Bioinformatics Centre in Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics[17] and a Remote Sensing Department.[18]
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra was ranked at 401-450 band in the recent 2024 QS World Rankings (Asian Category). Among engineering colleges, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra ranked 17th by India Today in National Institutional Ranking Framework and fifth among private engineering colleges by Outlook India in 2022.[19]
