National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NITR or NIT Rourkela), formerly Regional Engineering College Rourkela (REC Rourkela), is a publicly funded premier institute of higher learning for engineering, science and technology located in the steel city of Rourkela, Odisha, India. It is one of the 31 National Institutes of Technology in India and has been recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007. It is ranked 16 in the NIRF Rankings 2020 of Indian engineering universities.
Key Description of National Institute of Technology Rourkela:
Type: Public technical university
Established: 15 August 1961 (58 years ago)
Chairperson: Santrupt B Misra
Director: Animesh Biswas
Students: 5,648
Undergraduates: 2,805
Postgraduates: 1,951
Doctoral Students: 892
Location: Rourkela, Odisha, India
Campus: Urban 262 hectares (650 acres)
Website: www.nitrkl.ac.in
Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
NIT Rourkela History
NIT Rourkela was established as Regional Engineering College (REC) Rourkela on 15 August 1961. Chief Minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik provided the land for it, approximately 648 acres. Its foundation stone was laid by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was granted autonomy in 2002 and now functions independently under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, thus becoming one of the National Institutes of Technology.
Administration of NIT Rourkela
The institute is managed by a Board of Governors (BoG) created as per NIT Act of 2007. The Act is responsible for the overall superintendence, direction, and control of its affairs. The Director is responsible for managing the day-to-day affairs of the institute, and the director is the Principal Executive and Academic Officer. The BoG is assisted by the Senate, which frames the curriculum and conducts the examinations. The Senate also appoints advisory or expert committees to make recommendations to the BoG on academic matters related to various departments. The Building and Works Committee and the Finance Committee also assist the BoG.
The Institute has different departments, centers and technical service units (TSUs). Each department or centre is headed by a faculty member and each TSU is headed by a faculty member or an officer.
The director is supported in various activities by the deans, i.e. the Dean for Academics, the Dean for Student Welfare, the Dean for faculty welfare, the Dean for Alumni, the Dean for Planning and Development and the Dean for SRICCE (Sponsored Research, Industrial Consultancy, and Continuing Education). The registrar is in charge of all office and staff administration, and has two deputy registrars and six assistant registrars.
Prof. A Biswas's administration revamped Organisation structure and introduced Associate Deans for all Six Deanships to meet dynamic needs of the institute.
Location of National Institute of Technology Rourkela
The Rourkela Steel City is a medium-sized metropolis, located on the Howrah-Mumbai and Ranchi-Bhubaneswar main railway routes, and well connected to all parts of the country by road and rail. The population of the city is about 7 lakhs. The institute is about 7 km from the railway station. The campus of the institute consisting of the institute buildings, halls of residence and staff colony is situated at the eastern end of Rourkela, beyond Sector-1, on land provided by the Government of Odisha. The institute is bordered by small mountains on the south which are sometimes used as a picnic spot by students.
The closest domestic airport to Rourkela is Jharsuguda at a distance of 130 kilometers. Rourkela also has a private airport maintained by SAIL which is used only for official purposes.
Infrastructure NIT Rourkela
The campus of the institute is situated at the eastern end of Rourkela steel city, beyond Sector-1, on land provided by the Government of Odisha. The courses are mostly residential on a full-time basis.
The institute area is at the centre of the campus and surrounded by the residential areas. The main building of the institute is in a central area and is surrounded by the departmental buildings. It houses all the classrooms, the Central Library, and the Administrative and Academic sections. It also houses departments like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities. All the departments, the lecture gallery, the workshops, the institute canteen and the audio-visual hall surround the main building.
The lecture area and the department of biotechnology and medical engineering are situated behind the Department of Chemical Engineering. The new Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering has come up behind the Department of Computer Science. The buildings of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Mining Engineering and Ceramic Engineering have an extension part.
Residential accommodation is provided to all faculty, staff and students. There are ten halls of residence for the students within the campus: seven for male graduates and postgraduates, two for female students and one for married students pursuing doctorate degrees and beyond or full-time research.
Student Activity Centre
The Student Activity Centre (SAC) within the central academic area is the hub of all extra-academic pursuits and is the main organizing office for all student symposiums and annual events. It is served by the approximately 400 seater Bhubaneswar Behera Audio Visual Auditorium and an approximately 1000-seat open air theater. Annually, SAC elections are held at the end of even semesters through online voting.
Health care
The institute is served by an on-campus dispensary (Health Centre) and the fully equipped Community Welfare Service (CWS) Hospital for medical treatments. All residential and non-residential students are insured for all medical expenses by the institute.
The student co-operative store facilitates the purchase of books and stationery at reduced prices. The on campus postal service is the state-owned India Post. The official on-campus banker to students and the institute is the state-run State Bank of India (REC Campus).
Institute library
The Biju Pattanaik Central Library, functional from 1965, was named after Biju Pattanaik, the former chief minister of Odisha. At present, the library holds about 65,000 books and 18,000 back volumes of periodicals. It has purchased a license to access over 2000 online research journals on science and technology to foster local research activity. The BPCL is automated with an integrated library software package called Libsys – LSmart and is modernized with the latest radio frequency identification (RFID)-based automation system that facilitates self check-in, self check-out, and an automatic security system. This technology offers the fastest, easiest, and most efficient way to track, locate and manage library materials. The RFID system counts more than 1.2 lakhs of transactions (issue, return, and renewal) in a year.
Rankings of NIT Rourkela
NIT Rourkela was ranked 801–1000 in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2020 and 190 in Asia. In India it was ranked 16 among engineering colleges(including IITs)by the MHRD by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2020 and 32 overall. With this NIT Rourkela has bagged top position among the institutes in Odisha. NIT Rourkela has presently ranked the 3rd best NIT.
Academics and departments
The institute has the following twenty departments which offer B. Tech, B.Arch, B. Tech-M. Tech Dual, M. Tech, M.Sc, Integrated M.Sc, MBA and PhD degree:
- Department of Planning and Architecture
- Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
- Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering
- Department of Ceramic Engineering
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Civil Engineering
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science
- Department of Electrical Engineering
- Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
- Department of Electronics and Instrumentation
- Department of Food Processing
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Department of Industrial Design
- Department of Life Science
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering
- Department of Mining Engineering
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Department of School of Management
Dual degree courses in various disciplines have been introduced recently. The institute provides opportunities for part-time graduate studies in selected fields in addition to doctoral research in various subjects.
The institute also has three academic centres and six service centres.
Campus life
NIT Rourkela has as many as 40 clubs or student organizations. These clubs span and promote a variety of interests such as technical, cultural, literary, debating, quizzing, sports, and social service among the students, enabling them to explore and enhance their hitherto hidden talents.
NIT Rourkela hosts four major annual events:
Trancenation: It is the most anticipated EDM event by the most happening club, Drill n' Bass.
Innovision: a technical festival which showcases the technical talents of the students and the practical applications of their learning
Sports Fiesta: in which students from various colleges participate in various sports and games
Nitrutsav: a cultural festival where students from all parts the country participate
CHEMICON: It is a festival organised by chemical department which is started from 2017.
cosmopolitan festival:It is a multi-cultural festival organized by the institute.
Monday Morning
The institute has its own official independent media body with the name Monday Morning. Accredited as the second largest student media body in India, Monday Morning functions to bridge the gap between the administration and the student community. It covers events, seminars, meetings and other day-to-day happening in the campus. the e-newsletter publishes the weekly dose of campus news each Monday Morning. In addition to the e-print the newsletter also publishes two print issues - 1.Mini print issue during the freshers orientation and 2.Annual print issue during the Annual convocation.
Notable alumni of NIT Rourkela
- Sandip Das (Mechanical), corporate executive
- Ranjan Dash (Ceramic), founder and Chief Technology Officer of Y-Carbon, USA
- Debasish Ghose, Professor at Department of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Science
- CP Gurnani, B.Tech-chemical engineering, Managing Director and CEO of Tech Mahindra
- Prativa Mohapatra,B.Tech-computer science,Vice President of IBM Asia-Pacific
- Akash Khurana, B.Tech-mechanical engineering, theatre and film personality; COO of NIMBUS
- Nalini Ranjan Mohanty, former IOFS officer, Chairman and Managing Director of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
- Sudeept Maharana, B.Tech - Computer Engineering, Country Head Priceline India. Priceline is a part of Fortune 250 Booking Holdings, world's largest Travel Technology Company.
- Anustup Nayak, Vice president, XSEED Education,
- B. K. Mishra, Director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Goa
- Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, IOC Chairman