National Institute of Technology - Puducherry has prepared proposals to get financial allocation from Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) to improve its infrastructure.
“We are in the process of submitting documents of our properties to get the funding for making improvements in infrastructure,” Institute Director K. Sankaranarayanasamy said. Declared as an Institute of National Importance by the Union Ministry of Education, and categorised under second generation NITs, it is eligible to secure ‘Fourth Window’ funding, which is given to technical institutions started between 2008 and 2014. Under this funding pattern, it has to repay 25% of the principal from internal resources and receive grant for the balance from the Centre.
Functioning out of a 258-acre campus at Thiruvettakudy in Karaikal, NITPY started academic activities in 2010 with three engineering departments: CSE, ECE and EEE at UG level. In the following years, B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, and M.Tech in CSE, EEE and ECE were started.
Ninety percent of the nearly 900 students stay in the hostel.
Last year, NITPY was exempted from admitting students under 10% additional EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quota as there was a need to scale up building infrastructure.
The NITPY, which has plans to start M.Sc. in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, had to defer its plan to appoint additional faculty due to the COVID -19 lockdown.
Established in 2017 by the Central government as a non-profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) for mobilising extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under Central government, under the plan of RISE (revitalising infrastructure and systems in education) by 2022, HEFA, say academic administrators, envisages qualitative upgrade of the research and academic infrastructure in India to global standards by 2022.
The purpose of creating modern labs and research facilities was to retain the brightest young minds in India, as also to attract Overseas Citizens of India back to Indian universities, for bringing about brain gain from brain drain. The project-based funding would usher in greater discipline in selection and execution of projects. There will be no burden on the new institutions as the government would take the entire burden of servicing the loans and there will be no increase in student fees on account of this project, Prof. Sankaranarayanasamy said.