An engineering marvel in the lap of majestic Dhauladhars

Dinesh Kanwar

National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, is one of the 31 NITs of the country, which was first established in 1986 as the Regional Engineering College, as a joint and cooperative enterprise of the government of India and Himachal Pradesh. REC Hamirpur was awarded the status of deemed university and upgraded into NIT on June 26, 2002.

It was conceived to provide undergraduate, post-graduate and doctorate education in engineering, sciences and humanities, fostering the spirit of national integration among students and close interaction with the industry and a strong emphasis on research, both basic and applied.

The institute has witnessed a new high in the recent times in all spheres, including academics, training and placements, infrastructure building and other student-related activities. Last year, the Convocation was held after a gap of five years and it was chaired by distinguished scientist and director general (BrahMos) DRDO Dr Sudhir Kumar Mishra. As many as 545 graduates, 184 masters and 34 PhD scholars were awarded degrees. Apart from this, 5 Director’s medals, 113 gold medals and 32 silver medals were given. 

Students of NIT Hamirpur are not only academically sound, but good in sports too. Last year, students participated in the All-India Inter NIT Tournament held at MNIT Jaipur and bagged gold, silver and bronze medals in 10,000-m race, 5,000-m race and triple jump, respectively. Further, students participated in Inter-Technology University Sports Association Tournament held at Thapar University, Patiala, and secured gold in 800m, 400 m, 1,500 m and 5,000 m race. Girls, too, bagged the second position in table tennis.

Placements 

During the current session, 52 companies visited the campus for placements. The institute was able to generate placement index of 72.47 per cent at under-graduate level. Shikhar Kumar Shrivastav, a computer science and engineering student, received a package of Rs 62 lakh in the previous session from Bloomberg, an American company. In the current session also, the highest package of Rs 35 lakh per annum was offered to a student. The institute expects more companies to visit for placements in the current semester. It was facing shortage of faculty for the past few years but was recently compensated after 31 assistant faculty members were recruited.

Admission criteria 

For admission, one needs to take the JEE (Main) exam and admissions are done on the basis of rank in JEE (Main) through counselling. Every year, over 1,100 students are admitted in various streams. These include 745 in under-graduate classes, 420 in post-graduate level and number in Ph.D varies every year. Last year, 39 research scholars were enrolled to Ph.D studies.

Ranking

NIT Hamirpur is ranked 11th among all 31 NITs in the country. As per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, NIT Hamirpur is at the 64th spot among top-100 engineering institutions, including IITs, engineering universities, NITs and other engineering institutes. “The institute is improving on its national ranking. We expect NIT students to get better salary packages in the coming years,” said Sushil Chauhan, Registrar, NIT Hamirpur. 

"The emphasis is on improving the quality of education and standards of facilities that will enable students to excel in their respective fields. The institution was facing shortage of faculty for the past several years, but with the appointment of 31 assistant professors, the all-round ranking of the institute will also improve. The location of the campus is best among all NITs in the country as it provides best environment for studies and research." Prof Vinod Yadava, Director, NIT