New IIT in Gujarat to start this academic year
Saturday, 31 May 2008, 17:36 IST
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New Delhi: The government has formally approved setting up of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Gujarat, an official of the union human resource development (HRD) ministry said Thursday. The Gujarat government has expressed its willingness to commence the academic session of the new IIT from this year and it will come up in state capital Gandhinagar, the official said. Although the state government has allotted land for the new IIT, it would start functioning from a local engineering institution till the infrastructure is complete at the new campus, the official said. The HRD ministry in February this year announced setting up of three new IITs. Besides the existing seven IITs, the new IITs, one each in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, will begin functioning from the coming academic year (2008-09). The seven existing IITs are located at Mumbai, Guwahati, Roorkee, Chennai, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Delhi. Last month, the existing IITs had opposed the opening of three more IITs this year, but the government was keen to implement 27 percent quota to other backward classes (OBCs). All the new IITs would have the full quota for OBCs, while the seven existing IITs will implement nine percent quota from the coming academic session. Over 4,000 students are admitted in various undergraduate courses at the seven existing IITs.
Source: IANS
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