Background.West Bengal, the pioneering state in the field of education has rich legacy with many renowned colleges and schools. The technical and technology colleges started mushrooming in the state in the 90s to meet the rising demand for technical education. But these colleges lacked a central agency to co-ordinate the growth and impart quality technical education. The idea to set up a technology university in the state was the brainchild of the expert committee headed by Dr Ashesh Prasad Mitra. The West Bengal University of Technology, also known as WBUT or WBUTech was established in the year 2000, just two years after the recommendations of the Expert Committee.
History. The University started its operations on 15 Jan, 2001 with the first Vice Chancellor assuming office the same day. The West Bengal University of Technology Act of 2000 mandates a General Council, an Academic Council, an Executive Council to look after day to day functioning, an Autonomous Finance Committee and an Advisory Council. The Advisory Council has been empowered to act as a regulatory body for all the technical institutions in the state. The earnestness can be visualized by the fact that the Governor of West Bengal is the Chancellor of WBUT. The Advisory Committee established by the Governor is now functional and running the University. The initial funding of WBUT was provided by the Government of West Bengal.
The Goals and Mandate of the University.The West Bengal University of Technology is mandated to become the nodal agency and a Center of Excellence in the field of technical education and research. The mandate also includes the provision of facilities for graduate, post graduate and doctoral level courses in applied sciences, paramedical, management and related professional disciplines through the affiliated colleges and institutions. WBUTech is the deemed affiliating University for all the State technical, engineering and management institutions. To achieve these aims the University has set up schools of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Management and the School of Advanced Interdisciplinary Study and Research. The University has also taken the initiative in creating awareness in energy and environmental conservation, biotechnology, information technology and to develop distance education programs too.
The Campus.The humble beginning of the University was made in the West Bengal State Archive Offices at 43, Shakespeare Sarani. The WBUTech was then allotted the 45000 square foot of in the three storied building at Salt Lake City, Kolkata. The planned permanent campus of 100 acres on NH-34 was to begin in 2002 as given on the official website of Utech. The already allotted 40 acres at Haringhata has a boundary wall and plans are underway to appoint consulting architect for developing the master plan. The Phase I of the WBUT at Haringhata would be construction of energy efficient academic-administrative building and student hostels. The tenders for final architectural designs of the First Phase have already been floated in April 2007. The University presently functions from its Salt Lake City campus.
Academic Pursuits.The academic programs of UTech began in July 2001 through many of its affiliated institutions. The first batch began its classes in August 2001 and appeared for their first semester exams in January 2002. Today the University offers M. Tech. in Software Engineering and Bio Technology apart from 21 graduate level programs. The Government of West Bengal is considering establishing an Advanced Center of Bio-Technology at the University with a view to develop it as the regional Center of Excellence. The Faculty of WBUT is now on deputation from various Government Colleges of the State. The State Government has already sanctioned provision of 18 Faculty members.
Affiliated Colleges.The WestBengalTechnicalUniversity with its all encompassing mandate has more than a hundred colleges affiliated to it today. Most of the technical and management colleges of the state are now affiliated to WTech. Institutes like College of Ceramic Technology, Gurunanak Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College of Textiles, Government College of Leather Technology and Army Institute of Management are affiliated to WBTU. Being an affiliated college of the University is a certification for private colleges that they are following the laid down guidelines and technical teaching standards. The standardization has helped the students in the course content and pursuit of higher studies. The students from affiliated colleges command a respect based on the overall merit and it helps in early placements.
WBUT Library.The UTech Library is one of the well stocked library and pride of the University. The recent establishment of a comprehensive Library Portal for its affiliated colleges to provide a single window access to a gamut of library services. The portal presents an online catalogue of all the available periodicals and books of the library. The Optical Media Server is an outstanding idea for providing simultaneous access of CDs and DVDs to number of users. The WBUT Library organizes seminars and symposia for open source initiative for academic libraries. The recent seminar organized in February 2007 was a resounding success.
The E-Learning Initiative.The UTech has tied up with IBM to encourage e-learning in West Bengal. The MoU was signed with IBM to promote IT learning through cost effective open standard technology platforms. The University, International Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata and IBM shall participate to develop an e-learning portal and online content. The IBM Center of Excellence shall be established at IIIT campus to facilitate access and adopt industry standard practices for the development of open source software. IBM has promised full support to the e-learning initiative of UTech with free IBM software product licenses for DB2, Web-sphere Application Developer and the Web-Sphere Server. This is a major milestone in Public-Private participation for the UTech.
The establishment of WestBengalUniversity of technology has achieved most of the envisaged aims. The integration of technical manpower and the public – private participation for developmental research has been an aim plus. It is heartening to note that the University has made a mark in such a short time frame. The planned campus of the University is finally seeing the light of the day and the day is not far when WBUT would have a grand campus of its own.
