The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya will be shifted to its 320-acre permanent campus in Sohra by December.
Presently, NIT Meghalaya is functioning from a temporary campus at Bijni Complex, Laitumkhrah.
Addressing the media here today, NIT Meghalaya Director Pinakeswar Mahanta said that the permanent campus at Saitsohpen, Sohra consists of academic complexes, hostels, canteens, residential quarters, workshops, laboratories, a central instrumentation facility, a central library and a highly advanced IT centre.
“The academic and administrative block, libraries, etc, are all completed at the permanent campus in Sohra,” Mahanta said.
Informing that the construction of the girls and boys hostel is still going on, including the staff quarters, he said that the construction will tentatively be completed by December this year.
Mahanta also said that the next academic session will start by February 2025, and said he hoped that the next academic session would be conducted at the permanent campus.
“The student’s intake would be doubled at the new campus at Sohra,” he added.
He also informed that the total cost of the construction of the campus for civil works that was approved by the Education Ministry was Rs 429.7 crore.
When asked about job guarantee for the locals of Sohra at the institute, Mahanta however said the number of permanent staff there at the institute is very limited but in terms of outsourcing, the NIT has already employed the locals, particularly in the grade C and D posts and this has already been discussed with the local dorbar and the headman.
Apart from this, he said for the regular post, when a vacancy is there, locals have to compete.
Informing that the institute has also adopted five villages, where they are improving local communities’ quality of life through initiatives like providing solar lamps, water filtration systems, school stationery, and a water transportation facility, Mahanta said that NIT has also equipped the Ramakrishna Mission School in Sohra with a 50 Mbps internet connection to enhance digital education.
“Additionally, our Centre for Inclusive Education supports disadvantaged groups and promotes equitable access to education. The institute has MOUs with several organisations in India and abroad, and recently, the faculty from the institute visited Vietnam and Sharjah to attract students and foreign collaborations,” he said.
He added that presently, 39 foreign students are studying at NIT Meghalaya.
Mahanta also informed that NIT Meghalaya follows the State reservation policy for the home-state seats and facilitates quality technical education for the tribal population of Meghalaya.
It may be mentioned that in 2024, NIT Meghalaya was ranked 68th in the Engineering category by NIRF, improving by four positions from its 72nd rank in 2023.
NIT Meghalaya is also ranked by the Indian Institutional Ranking Framework (I) 88 out of 170 colleges in India in 2024.
In the Expo-2024 in July, NIT Meghalaya was awarded first prize for excellent achievements in higher education.
Meanwhile, the 11th convocation of the NIT Meghalaya will be held on October 19 at the State Convention Centre, Shillong.
Suvamoy Saha, Managing Director, Eveready Industries India Ltd will be the chief guest at the convocation. The guests of honour are Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Director of IIT Jodhpur, and Major General (Retd) Rajesh Kumar Jha, Director (Personnel) of NEEPCO Ltd.
Altogether 193 scholars and students will be awarded degrees in this convocation, which includes 140 B Tech students, nine M Tech students, 23 M Sc students, and 21 PhD scholars.
