National Institute of Technology

The National Institute of Technology Patna (NIT Patna), formerly Bihar School of Engineering and Bihar College of Engineering, is a public engineering institution located in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It was renamed to NIT Patna, by the Government of India on January 28, 2004. It is an autonomous institute functions directly under Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

History

NIT Patna is the second oldest engineering college of India. Its origin can be traced to 1886 with the establishment of a survey training school and subsequent renaming it to Bihar college of Engineering in 1900. A graduate level curriculum was introduced in 1924. It was renamed Bihar College of Engineering in 1932. In 2004 the government of India upgraded the college to National Institute of Technology (NIT) status, as the state of Bihar had lost its only Regional Engineering College (REC), located at Jamshedpur, when Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000. By 2002, the Indian government decided to upgrade all RECs to NITs, with the aim of having at least one NIT per state. Bihar College of Engineering was the first institute to be directly upgraded to NIT status. In 2007, it was granted Institute of National Importance status in accordance with the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007.

Campus

NIT Patna functions from a 40 acres (16 ha) campus along Ashok Rajpath, a portion of which has been encroached upon. Land for a new campus, a 100 acres (40 ha) plot, has been assigned at Sikandarpur village in Bihta, around 40 km from Patna. Earlier it was assigned at Dumri village in Bihta. Once NIT-Patna shifts to its new campus in Bihta, it will run some management courses on the present campus at Ashok Rajpath.