According to the official press release by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of HRD:
"[I]t is proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University [ITBHU] into an IIT."
This news is also being reported by several news outlets such as:
We, at ITBHU Global Alumni Association, share the excitement of all ITBHU alumni, and are actively following this situation. We will be posting new information on this topic as we get it.
We look forward to your comments on this topic. Also, please feel free to contact us if you can help out.
Watch this space for updates. We will be posting an official press release from the alumni association soon.
The ITBHUGlobal team.
Update: March 30, 2008: Yogesh Upadhyaya of the CHE '77 batch spoke with our Vice-Chancellor Shri Panjab Singhji yesterday. He has confirmed the IIT news. The process of conversion to IIT will start from July-August and it will be fairly quick.
55 CommentsThe news is really great... and there's a lot of xcitemnt in the campus... the news has occupied almost all the discussions... long awaited news .. :D
March 30, 2008 10:32 AMNice to hear the news, it will be intresting to see the changes in the Institute.
March 30, 2008 9:54 PMCongrats to one and all. Thanks to all our teachers, alumni and students who have devoted enormous amount of time and effort for this to come through. This is really great news. Its a great step forward in the quest for the elusive 'I'. Hope we get it sooner rather than later. All the best.
March 31, 2008 2:42 AMJust wanted to know if anyone has any info about the reaction of existing IITs, their alumni groups and students.
There must a HOT discussion going on amongst the existing IIT groups right now??
March 31, 2008 7:04 AMLets hear it for the Alumni group headed by Yogesh Upadhyaya (Che '77) who were working tirelessly for this goal, for some years!
Congratulations!
The news is indeed very soothing to the ears.Kudos to the Alumni who have worked tirelessly for Project IIT!!!!!!!!
March 31, 2008 7:53 PMThe link http://www.orissalinks.com/?m=20080331 says that 11th plan also intends to establish 10 NITs and 4 IIESTs. And IT BHU, which was earlier proposed to be an IIEST, is now slated to become an IIT.
March 31, 2008 10:01 PMThe new from HT says that
"Singh added that the government is planning to convert the Banaras Hindu University's institute of technology into an IIT."
It does not say "propose" word so looks like its certain. Here is the link:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=ae763e27-d16b-4ba4-8ba5-9040ef6c2239&ParentID=971db4a9-d6b6-4621-854a-94bff6fbf570&&Headline=Four+new+IITs+and+six+IIMs+to+come+up
April 1, 2008 6:58 AMit is certainly a good news but it may be a political stunt...
April 1, 2008 8:48 AMits really a good news.....
one I must b added to IT as soon as possible.......
maze aa gaye....
it has been a great news..for us..
n we r feelin very xcited..n proudy...
http://www.indianembassy.org.sa/Pages/IndiaInfo/EnggColleges.htm
April 4, 2008 10:20 AMIt is indeed very great news that IT-BHU is getting coverted to IIT. As a alumni of IT-BHU I feel proud in seeing the transformation of IT-BHU to IIT and looking forward to the news when the conversion is completed.
April 4, 2008 11:07 AMThis is really great news. Thanks to everyone involved in making this happen.
Even without the IIT tag this premeier institute enjoyed the IIT ranking.A recoginition at last which was long overdue.It is also a tribute to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya Ji the founding father of this great institution.
April 6, 2008 2:17 AMFinally, India's FIRST, original SUPER-IIT is being recognized as IIT. This huge delay only shows, once again, what politicians in India are capable of- for them MERIT does not count, only vote bank technology matters.
Anyway, it is going to be done now.. Thanks only to the stature of the ITBHU alums- worldwide.
Can anyone tell will again a commission be formed like the Anandkrishnan commission to look into our eligibilty to become IIT?
April 7, 2008 4:53 AMGaurav;
No, there will not be any need of any commission. The govt. has already decided to upgrade IT-BHU into IIT based on its long standing relationship with IIT-JEE and standard comparable with IITs. We have learnt that Cabinet has already approved the decision.
Yogesh K Upadhyaya
April 7, 2008 4:19 PMFinally, India's FIRST, original SUPER-IIT is being recognized as IIT. This huge delay only shows, once again, what politicians in India are capable of- for them MERIT does not count, only vote bank technology matters.
Anyway, it is going to be done now.. Thanks only to the stature of the ITBHU alums- worldwide.
Dr.Pramod K Srivastava, Met'63
pksrivastava@alum.mit.edu
can non IT-BHU post and read comments on such a sensitive issue ? Will non IITian be allowed to read and post comments on IIT Alumni web site like this?
April 8, 2008 5:51 PMwho is protecting interest of IT-BHU ? do IITians including all of IIT faculty and directors want IT-BHU to become IIT ?
April 8, 2008 5:58 PMHi All,
Thanks for all the comments.
@123: This post is an open post, and everyone can read and comment. We do maintain some editorial control over the comments, but only for extreme cases.
As far as "protecting interests of IT-BHU" is concerned, the ITBHU Global Alumni association is actively working for it, in conjunction with the faculty, staff and students of the institute. We cannot say about _all_ the IIT faculty and Directors, but things seem positive as of now.
Thanks,
Animesh
CSE03
well,itz good 2 hear that IT-BHU is becoming an IIT.but at the same time we shouldnt go gaga regarding this matter,until n unless it truly becomes an iit.otherwise,if it doznt become an iit due to some sort of lousy politics,we will be mocked everywhere.we should celebrate enormously,on the day when we will be officially named IIT-BHU,Varanasi.
April 9, 2008 5:45 AMWhy doesn't the iit news appear on itbhu official web site? Since, It is announced by HRDM so I think, it can be posted on itbhu.ac.in. Right ?
April 9, 2008 8:15 AM@Anonymous: Good point about this news not being at itbhu.ac.in main page. Please email the website management group at wmg[AT]itbhu.ac.in about it. [We have also forwarded your observation]
Thanks,
Animesh
CSE03
Folks,
The press release says that "they propose" to make IT-BHU as an IIT. What does "propose" mean and who is being "proposed"?
hello all!!!
i am currently itbhu student. please do keep updating the current status as we are not having the exact idea whether the iit transformation is certain or not....
Dear 123,
IT-BHU is very well comparable to the IIT's & as you might be knowing that admission to this institute can be gained only through IIT-JEE. May be you can have a look at the ranking of IT-BHU among other engineering colleges.
April 13, 2008 3:25 AMAdding to what Ashish said, ITBHU has been recommended to become an IIT several times in the past, by various committees of academicians, hence it is definitely capable enough to be named an IIT.
April 14, 2008 8:14 PMGreat News. It would be GR8 if it comes in 2008. Wouldnt it be a Jubliee award for 83 batchmates in the Silver year. Well IT BHU you certainly deserve the extra I for that Wider vision into the future
April 15, 2008 7:55 PMDear Captivity,
Many Thanks for the info but just for your knowledge , this is not the right place to post such comments. We can have a separate forum to discuss such things.
Thanks
Ashish Kumar Tyagi
CHE '05
The earlier PIB press release says that ITBHU will be upgraded to IIT
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36955
But todays'(just 5 hour ago) PIB press release nowhere mentions the ITBHU
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37505
Moreover it talks of regional distribution of Central Educational Institutions in the country.
Am I missing anything ????
@Ballu: Thanks for the PIB link. We have seen it too, and from what we understand, the press release is a response to a question from an MP, and does not change what was in the "announcement" from the GoI [ref: press release in this post].
The regional distribution thing has been there since the first press release. It does not affect us.
The ITBHU Chronicle's coming edition will have more info on this issue. Please stay tuned.
Thanks,
Animesh
Why is it that the director or the institute as such hasn't yet made an official stmt on this matter?
April 17, 2008 1:18 AMYeah, Thats true. I also sent a message to wmg group of itbhu.ac.in to display this news on home page but it looks like, they have not done it. We also did not hear any news from current students though, we should have heard it becoz its a quite a biggie for them. If all those senior alumni who were/are involved in iit conversion task could please clarify this by asking directly either from director, itbhu or HRD officials, that would be great. I guess, this is the last major opportunity where we can make it a success otherwise, the way, the govt is coming up with so many new iits, it will be very difficult to convert itbhu to iit.
April 17, 2008 6:35 AMDirector,IT-BHU and HRD officials are government servants have to adhere to the official communication policy and channels..please dont exepct them to come up with statements which might create another controversy and harm the IIT conversion efforts.Same thing holds true for the website.Yogesh U has already clarified with VC as noted on this page.
April 17, 2008 7:10 AM@Animesh
Thank you for the positive reply.
@ Anonymous
About the students,as we are doubtful untill we officialy get the extra 'I'
So, we are being cautious not to show over excitement, in case if later it lead to disoppointment.
Allthough we keep on talking on this issue with friends.
If IT BHU is certain to be an IIT, it will be fair to declare it before the counscelling for the fresh admissions in iit jee 2008 is held.This would enable new students 2 make right choice between IT BHU (where full infrastructure exists) and new entants IIT medak,iit rajsthan and iit bihar .IIT tag is a big factor in making the chice as there may be slip between the cup and the lip.
April 18, 2008 1:51 AMDear 123
Releasing such an information in the press conference, could have happened only after a lot of considerations. It's a pride to have studied in a place like BHU.
Thanks
Ashish Kumar Tyagi
Che '05
@aryabhushan
Thats a very valid point. Someone from the institute must take a note of that. It will be good for the insti as well when better students (highre JEE rankers) will opt for it-bhu considering it as a soon to be an iit.
Does all information in press confrence result in actual implementation ?
April 18, 2008 3:32 PM@123: It would be very difficult to answer your query at this stage. I can understand your curiosity & eagerness but let's wait for any further updates on this matter.
April 19, 2008 2:17 AM@123
yaa itz true mate...everywhere it has been written as proposed...i hope itz not a political stunt by d govt...the alumni are also giving roundabout answers...the xact confirmation(100%)news isnt there frm any1.everybody says itz going 2 bcom,but wen,no1 knowz...wot is our progress regarding IIT conversion,itz not known..wot is going on in d parliament session regarding this no one knowz...my only fear is dat if it doznt get converted to IIT ,then wot will b itz future 10 yrs down d line,wen d proposed iitz vl become full fledged by then n ppl vl surely run after d iit tag rather than joining our coll...i just dont want 2 c dat wen cse students vl b joining here at 10000+ ranks...i sincerely pray 2 GOD dat this sort of situation shudnt come n hope it gets converted 2 iit as soon as possible...
Hi all:
The chronicle March 2008 issue is available online:
http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chronicle/archives/2008/03/
It contains news/discussion about conversion of IT-BHU to IIT as follows:
* Govt. announces conversion of IT-BHU to IIT
* FAQ about conversion of IT-BHU to IIT
* Why we opted for an IIT status?
* IIT-BHU announced, what next?
* Campaign for IIT status in published media
Thanks,
Yogesh K Upadhyaya
Chemical 1977
In the newsletter, everything is almost very clear.
But One thing i noticed that in the presentation for the grant, "Grant for up gradation of IT-BHU to IIT-BHU" is nowhere mentioned.
However for every other institutes it is clearly mentioned, be it ISM, Dhanbad, IISc, AMU, etc.....
Has IT-BHU earned a name of its own globally? Few IITians have proved themselves worldwide and have created a strong IIT brand. Will IT-BHU will be part of IIT Alumni Association ? If not then would future students opt for IIT Brand or NIT brand and at lat are IT-BHU students, faculty and governing body capable enough to challenge and surpass that of other established IIT and even MIT ?
April 19, 2008 3:03 PMIs IT-BHU capable enough to attract top notch faculty and students from across the Globe? Can it ever happen that any IIT or MIT Professor may resign from IIT and join IT-BHU? If your child gets very high rank in IIT-JEE, would you suggest him to join IT-BHU or any other IIT?
April 19, 2008 3:56 PM@123,
Man, you seems to be a die-hard kind of pessimistic person. Do you have a problem with itbhu beining considered for conversion to iit? Have you ever visited itbhu campus? or are you frustrated for being a part of itbhu?
Grow up man. Let me give you some of the facts. ITBHU is surely capable enough to attract top notch faculty. The reasons till now for the fact that the best of the brains were not joining itbhu were the higher payscale at iits and the slow pace of recruitment by BHU (which has changed in recent past).
I am very confident that many of the faculty members from current iits will love to join itbhu. (Also no one has ever resigned from MIT to join any IIT).
About the child, I will and many of our alumni will love to get their children joining itbhu in lieu of IITs. I am an example. My uncle is an ITBHU aluminous and he advised me to goto ITBHU at once. And today I can say that it was the best decision of my life. Legendary Prof. T. R. Ananthraman sir is another example. His son topped the IIT-JEE (yes man topped), and he got his son to study electronics here. The man went on to create the blue-chip computer, which defeated Kasparov in chess.
Please clear your facts and if required consult a doctor.
Regards and tc
April 20, 2008 2:13 AMFrom what we have been told, once the IIT conversion announcement is done, we will be part of PanIIT.
Also, please note that IT-BHU is also a well-known name in international circles. See here for a list of distinguished alumni.
On a different note. Commenting is closed for this article. Please see the latest updates on the IIT conversion at this post.
Thanks,
Animesh
CSE03
 | Rajesh Sethi, from the 1985 class of mettalurgy at ITBHU has been appointed the CEO and President of ING Life in Thailand. Rajesh takes over from Jim Brown, who retired last year. This was reported by The Nation, Thailand's biggest business daily. See http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/01/28/business/business_30063590.php for more |
The February 2008 edition of the ITBHU Chronicle is now online. Click here to read more.
News reported by : Indian Express
Varanasi, March 7 Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has suggested a "1-5-10 model" for rendering global brand value to Banaras Hindu University (BHU), set up by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1916.
He termed BHU as a shining star among all Indian universities. Interacting with professors at a closed-door meeting at K N Udupa Hall, Dr Kalam said "make BHU a global brand", said a senior professor who attended the meeting. The meeting was meant to acquaint Kalam with the rapid strides made by the university in various spheres of knowledge.
Elaborating on his 1-5-10 model, Kalam said: "BHU is a rare institution where 132 departments dealing in diverse disciplines are located on a single campus. Every department should first strive to make it number one in India. Once that is achieved, efforts will be needed to make the university feature among top five educational institutions in Asia, followed by measures to catapult every department of the central university among the top 10 institutions of the world." He also highlighted the need for stem cell therapy to treat diverse human ailments confronting mankind.
Accepting BHU's offer to be a visiting professor, Dr Kalam said he was ready to take classes of at least 60 students every year.
Dr Kalam, who inaugurated the International Seminar on Buddhism and World Cultures at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) in Sarnath on Friday morning, was back at BHU later in the day. He addressed students and teachers at the Swatantrata Bhawan, which was a full house with students occupying the stairs and some crowding near the closed doors to catch a glimpse of the former President. It was an hour long 'class' where Dr Kalam administered the oath of creative excellence to students for nation building.
"Channelising the youth power, an 'ecological saint', Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, has cleaned the Kali Bein rivulet, a tributary of Beas river in Punjab, which had once turned into a sewage stream. Be inspired by Babaji who accomplished the purging of the 160-km long rivulet on whose banks Guru Nanak Dev is believed to have attained enlightenment," he told the students.
He administered an oath of reviving the polluted Ganga to the students. "I will work and work for bringing back the glory of Ganga at Varanasi by launching the Ganga Revival Mission," he said, and the students repeated.
Appealing to the students to strive for visionary creative leadership for development of a prosperous India, Dr Kalam asked them to replicate the feats of Mahatma Gandhi, Vikram Sarabhai, J R D Tata and C V Raman. He also answered the questions asked by 10 select students, most of them representatives of the BHU student council. The questions spanned from the relation between economic and technological growth, gap between agricultural sciences and farmers to the declining state of ancient Indian mathematics (astrology).
In his answer to the last question, Dr Kalam's said: "You are asking a wrong person about the declining state of astrology. One of the leaders who supported my candidature for Presidency in 2002 even asked me on what auspicious time will I take oath of presidency. I replied: anytime till the earth spins on its axis and revolves around the sun."
Students could be seen breaking the security cordon to climb the stage to take a closer look at Kalam. They raced behind the fleet of cars as security personnel escorted the former President away.
The Banaras Hindu University has decided to hold the 90th Convocation of the University on 15th March 2008.
The Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology will be distributed degree/medals/prizes to the graduands of 2007 examination of the Institute one day prior of the 90th convocation i.e. 14th March 2008.
Please visit the Institute's website for more details.
You need send a confirmation to the Institute if you wish to attend the convo in person.
The consent form and the formal notification are available on the Institute's website.
Way to go BHU!
March 29, 2008 12:05 AM