Half the seats at BESU for state students: Centre
Kolkata, July 13: The Centre has agreed to the state’s proposal to reserve 50 per cent seats for students from West Bengal in the Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), which is set to come up at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) at Shibpur, Howrah.
The institute will be upgraded to an Institute of National Importance after the Centre confers the status, Minister of Higher Education Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury told the Assembly today.
The consensus on the state’s quota comes after weeks of discussion between the state and the Centre.
“The Ananda Krishnan Committee had submitted a proposal to the Centre, where it had stated the upgrade of premier institutes on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology. The BESU was one of the five chosen institutes,” the minister said.
Earlier, the state had reservations about the system of admission and the model of governance that the institute would follow, post-upgrade. It had sought “protection of admission” for students from Bengal and the ISI mode of governance.
Chowdhury said that as per the proposal, the IIESTs would enroll students from across the country. The states would have to hand over their institutes to the Centre. The admissions to these institutes would be through All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) or All-India Joint Entrance Examination.
The state, however, was not happy with the suggestions put forward by the committee. After negotiations and meeting held with the Union ministry of Human Resources Development, it agreed to some of the demands.
“We wanted 70-75 per cent reservations for our students. The Centre has given a nod for 50 per cent seat reservation. The Centre has also agreed to the state’s role in the institute’s activities,” he said.
The other four institutes which will be upgraded to the status of IIEST are — Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kerala, Andhra University College of Engineering and Osmania University College of Engineering and Technology in Andhra Pradesh and BHU Institute of Technology in Uttar Pradesh.
This would be effective only after legislation in Parliament is passed, indicating the type of governance, rules and regulation, modus operandi for selection of students for admission through competitive entrance examinations.
The model proposed in the NIT Bill — passed in the Rajya Sabha and awaiting passage in the Lok Sabha — envisages a board comprising a chairperson, an ex-officio director, two persons to be nominated by the Centre (not below the rank of joint secretary), two persons to be nominated by the state (technologist or industrialist) and two professors.