Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Smart City
based KIIT has entered the World University Ranking 2019 according to latest survey report.
KIIT is just twenty years old as an institution for professional education (1997) and 14 years old as a University (2004). But, despite being a very young university, it has got a place in The Times Higher Education global university rankings for 2019, regarded as one of the most prestigious.
It is the only self-financing University in the entire eastern India to securing an impressive position of 1001+, which also features IITs and NITs in Odisha. A few well-known and old deemed universities from south India have found place in the report, while KIIT has got the same success with similar position.
Meanwhile, Dr Achyuta Samanta, founder of KIIT University, expressed his happiness over the development, saying the achievement was been possible due to the hard work and relentless efforts of the staff and students.
“I congratulate all the staff, student and well wishers and hope they would keep up the good work as sky is the limit”, he stated. He also expressed his gratitude to the Central and State Government. KIIT would be able to significantly better its performance in the coming years,” he said.
It started out as of one India’s post-secondary Industrial Training Institutes in 1992 before gaining “deemed university” status in 2004.
KIIT is located in Bhubaneswar the capital of the Odisha in Eastern India, an area once known as Ekamra Khetra (Temple City). The city itself was founded, post-Independence in 1948 and takes its name from Shiva and means “Lord of the Earth”. It is an important cultural and economic hub, noted for emerging IT businesses.
Some 27,000 students attend KIIT across its 23 constituent faculty-specific campuses, covering 700 acres.
Having started out with only 12 students and two faculties, KIIT has grown fairly rapidly since. It started its engineering degree programme in 1997 (engineering options now include civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, electronics engineering and mechanical engineering) when the Schools of Technology and Computer Application were also added.
In 2007, Schools of Biotechnology and Rural Management were opened along with the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences and Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences, and KIIT Law School. In the following year, the Schools of Fashion Technology, Film & Television Production and the KIIT Media School were set up.
KIIT’s accent on research includes being the only private university in India to have established a Centre for Scientific Research. It also has a Central Advanced Research Centre (CARC) for multidisciplinary research and, in collaboration with various industries, a number of Centres of Excellence and specialised school-level laboratories. These cover areas such as materials and nano sciences and green engine technology.
The KIIT campuses are all provided with 24-hour WiFi and are air conditioned. The central library has 141,800 books and journals and a digital library. Sports facilities are boosted by access to one of the state’s largest indoor stadiums and the sports on offer include basketball, lawn tennis, hockey, cricket and billiards. Table tennis, badminton, chess and carom are the main attractions of the indoor stadium. There are various other societies such as music and quizzing, which are very popular. Other services and infrastructure include a medical centre, transportation (including buses and shuttle cars), a post office and a bank.
Prasanta Patnaik