IIT-Rajasthan to bid adieu to Kanpur campus in June 2010

After operating from the campus of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) for the past two years, the IIT-Rajasthan (IIT-R) will be heading home in June 2010.

The Union Human Resources Development Ministry has identified 700 acres at Nagore, near Jodhpur, for setting up the IIT-R campus. Till the campus is ready, the institute will function from Mungiram Bangur Memorial (MBM) Engineering College at Jodhpur.

Set up in 1951 by the Rajasthan government, the MBM Engineering College is affiliated to J N Vyas University of Jodhpur. "The 2009-10 academic session will be over by May 2010, and after the counselling process for new students is completed, the IIT-R will shift to MBM Engineering College," said Registrar of IIT-K, Sanjeev S Kashalkar, who also has the additional charge of Registrar IIT-R.

The IIT-R came into existence in 2008 but due to non availability of a campus at Rajasthan, the Centre had designated IIT-K as the mentor IIT of the institute. Students of IIT-R were given accommodation in the hostels and vacant flats of IIT-K faculty members.

In the 2008-09, 112 students took admission in IIT-R, and in the current session, the figure jumped to 128. "Though the land has been identified for IIT-R, the construction work will take at least two years," Kashalkar said. On the issue of shifting of faculty members to Rajasthan, he said: "We have no objection if any of our faculty members wants to go to Rajasthan."

"At present, there are 240 students at IIT-R, but when the institute starts operating from MBM Engineering College campus, the number is likely to go up to 450," he added.

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