Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology


Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, formerly Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering, Nagpur, is a public engineering and research institution in Nagpur, Maharashtra, in central India. It was established in June 1960 by the Government of India and later named in honor of engineer, planner and statesman Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.
VNIT Nagpur is centrally funded and belongs to the National Institutes of Technology system. In 2007, the institute was conferred the status of Institute of National Importance by an Act of Parliament of India.
The Institute awards Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees in engineering, technology and architecture, for which the entry is through the Joint Entrance Examination – Mains and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.

History

Earlier, the Institute was known as Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering. It was established in the year 1960 under the scheme sponsored by Govt. of India and Govt. of Maharashtra. The college was started in June 1960 by amalgamating the State Govt. Engineering College functioning at Nagpur since July 1956. In the meeting held in October 1962, the Governing Board of the College resolved to name it after the eminent engineer, planner, and statesman of the country Sir M.Visvesvaraya.
The prime objective of establishing Regional Engineering Colleges was to impart quality technical education throughout the country and foster national integration. The College started functioning in 1960 from camp office in the premises of Govt. Polytechnic, Sadar, Nagpur and subsequently an area of about 214 acres was acquired to house an independent Regional Engineering College at present location.

Campus

The VNIT Nagpur campus is located in the western part of Nagpur city near Ambazari Lake, about from Nagpur Railway Station and from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. There are three main entrances to the campus: the Main Gate on South Ambazari Road, the Bajaj Nagar Gate and the Yashwant Nagar Gate. The campus has significant green space, and is mostly untouched by the pollution of the rest of the city.
The Institute has a gymkhana, as well as grounds for tennis, badminton, basketball, volleyball, football, hockey, and cricket. An NCC unit is also located on campus. There is also an auditorium and a medical centre.

Academics

Departments, laboratories and research centers

VNIT Nagpur has many academic departments, with over 30 specialised laboratories and research centres.

Departments and laboratories

Centers

Programs

Undergraduate programs are offered in Architecture and eight engineering disciplines:
The Engineering undergraduate programs are usually four years, while Architecture is a five-year program. The institute accepts an incoming freshman class of up to 798 students.
Graduate and research programs leading to Master's and Ph.D. degrees, are offered by the Architecture department, as well as all basic science departments and all eight engineering departments. A range of special fields of study are available in graduate and research programs in each discipline. The institute will soon offer Aeronautical Engineering. Up to 350 students are admitted to the Master's program each year.
The institute uses relative grading on a 10-point scale.

Admissions

Till 2012-13, admission to the undergraduate courses at NITs was through the All India Engineering Entrance Examination. From 2013-14, admission to the undergraduate courses is through the Joint Entrance Examination Main. The National Institutes of Technology have one of the lowest acceptance rates for engineering institutes, around 2 to 3 percent, second only to the Indian Institutes of Technology in India.
From 2015, the Joint Seat Allocation Authority ] conducts common counselling and allocates seats jointly for all Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Information Technology. In 2015, over 1,300,000 candidates appeared for the JEE exam for admission to 28,000 undergraduate engineering seats in 68 centrally-funded technical institutes that included all 19 IITs, 31 NITs and 18 IIITs.
For B.Tech at VNIT Nagpur in 2015, the acceptance rates were as following:
Undergraduate admissions for foreign students and NRIs are done through Direct Admission of Students Abroad scheme which considers SAT scores.
Eighty percent of students to the postgraduate programs are admitted based on performance in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science. These students receive stipends and tuition assistance from the institute and the Indian government. Another 20% of students are admitted based on industry or other research organization sponsorship, with full tuition typically paid by the sponsoring institution.
The institute invites applications for PhD degree admissions in all departments every academic year.

Rankings

VNIT Nagpur has been ranked 27th among engineering colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2020, and 24th by Outlook India in 2019.

Academic collaboration and sponsored research

The 18th National Seminar on Aerospace Structures was organized by VNIT Nagpur in association with Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre Nagpur, Aeronautical Research and Development Board, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, New Delhi and Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force, Nagpur.
The institute has academic collaborations with many universities in India and abroad. During 2015 alone, VNIT Nagpur signed 7 memoranda of understanding with international universities and 21 MoUs with national institutions, laboratories and industries. These collaborative programmes include student and faculty exchange, internships for students and joint research activities among others. Some of the major universities with an MoU with VNIT Nagpur are:
VNIT Nagpur was one of 12 institutes selected by the MHRD, Government of India, for the BRICS Network University on behalf of India. The institute was identified for the knowledge field ‘Ecology and Climate Change’ and participated in the Indian delegation that attended the Conference of the BRICS held at Ekaterinburg, Russia. A special protocol to the MoU on the establishment of the BRICS Network University was signed by Dr Narendra Chaudhari, Director, VNIT Nagpur.
Departments of the institute are involved in various research projects funded by the Department of Science and Technology and other public and private corporations. VNIT Nagpur has been granted a World Bank assisted technical project for Applied Research in Combedded Systems with the status of Center of Excellence under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme Phase-II. This program includes a grant of Rs. 5 crore. This is one of six National Institutes of Technology centers which have the status of Center of Excellence.
VNIT Nagpur has also partnered with IIT Bombay and the College of Engineering Pune in an R&D project in "Biomedical Engineering and Technology Center Incubation" costing Rs. 39.4 crore.
The institute will soon have a state-of-the-art research laboratory for robotics on its premises as per a pact with the Switzerland-based robotic technology bellwether, Asea Brown Boveri.
A team from the faculty of Applied Mechanics at the institute was asked by NGO SEEDS to visit Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2015 to provide technical support. The team from the department had earlier visited Gujarat when an earthquake struck the state in 2001 and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2004 when a tsunami struck there after a massive quake in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited has joined with VNIT Nagpur for testing facilities and inputs on the metro's structural drawings, inspection and testing of materials.
VNIT Nagpur has adopted nine villages in Amravati, Nagpur and Jalgaon districts under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan aimed at bringing grassroots changes in rural areas through technological interventions from academic and research institutes, without affecting the local culture.

Festivities

The students club hosts a number of annual events, inviting participants from colleges across the nation. These include: