Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat

History

In order to serve the growing demand for trained quality technical manpower, the Government Of India started fourteen RECs between 1959 and 1965 (NITs located at Bhopal, Allahabad, Calicut, Durgapur, Kurukshetra, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Rourkela, Srinagar, Surathkal, Surat, Tiruchirappalli, and Warangal).

Sardar Vallabhbhai Regional College of Engineering and Technology was established in June 1961 as a co-operative venture between the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat. It is named after India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

A review committee (HPRC) was set up by the Union Government in 1998 for review of RECs. The HPRC, under the chairmanship of Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, submitted its report entitled "Strategic Road Map for Academic Excellence of Future RECs" in 1998. Following the recommendations of HPRC, in 2002, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India upgraded, all the seventeen Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) to National Institutes of Technology (NITs). On 4 December 2002 the institution was granted Deemed University status with the approval of the UGC/AICTE and was renamed Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology.

On 5 June 2007, the Parliament of India passed the National Institutes of Technology Act declaring it an Institute of National Importance which came in effect on Independence Day 2007.

Administration

NIT Surat shares a common Visitor (a position held by the President of India) and the NIT Council with other NITs who is the most powerful person in the NIT organizational structure.

Below the NIT Council is SVNITs Board of Governors consisting of 12 members that includes representatives of the state of Gujarat, MHRD in addition to other members appointed by the NIT Council and the institute's senate. The Director serves under the Board of Governors, and is the school's chief academic and executive officer. Under the director and the deputy director are the deans, heads of departments, registrar and Chief Hostel Warden.

The Registrar is the chief administrative officer and oversees day-to-day operations. He is the custodian of records, funds, and other properties of the institute. Under the charge of the heads of departments (HOD) are the faculty (full-time professors as well as those of associate and assistant status). Director is the chairman of Council of Wardens and the wardens of hostels are placed under the Chief Hostel Warden of individual hostels in the organization.

NIT Surat receives funding from Government of India of Rs.500 million per year. Other sources of funds include student fees and research funding by industry-sponsored projects. NIT Surat subsidizes undergraduate student fees by approximately 80% and provide scholarships to all M.Tech. students and research scholars to encourage them to pursue higher studies.

The academic policies of NIT Surat are decided by its senate. It consists of all professors of the institute, and administrative and student representatives. The senate controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and results and appoints committees to look into academic matters. The teaching, training and research activities of the institute are reviewed by the senate to maintain educational standards. The director is the ex officio chairman of the senate.

NIT Surat follows the credit-based system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of courses based on their importance. The total marks (usually out of 100) form the basis of grades, with a grade value (out of 10) assigned to a range of marks. For each semester, the students are graded by taking a weighted average from all the courses with their respective credit points. Each semester's evaluation is done independently with a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) reflecting the average performance across semesters. The medium of instruction is English.

Campus

The campus is located at Ichchhanath in the city of Surat at a distance of about 10 km from the Surat Railway Station. It is on the way to a small sea-side resort known as Dumas, from the railway station. The city buses regularly ply from early morning till midnight, between Surat Railway Station and College Campus/Piplod. Any bus heading for Ichchanath or Piplod, can be taken to reach the NIT, Surat campus. Auto rickshaws (more commonly) or taxis can also be hired. The lush green campus is spread over 250 hectares (617 acres). The main entrance is located on the northern end of the campus, facing Surat-Dumas Road 13 km from the Surat Railway Station. The 617 acre campus has 5000 inhabitants which includes 210 faculty members and approximately 3,500 students living on the campus hostels. The campus is very near to the various entertainment hubs of Surat, it also is a much favored place for joggers and walkers who come on a regular basis to the campus in morning and evening time.

Academic buildings

In addition to laboratories and central research facilities,NIT Surat has ten academic departments. The institute's academic facilities are located in the north-western part of the campus; these include the department buildings, laboratories, lecture halls, the central computer center and the central library. Each department has its own library, in addition to the central library.

The departments of SVNIT are:

1. Applied Mathematics and Humanities
2. Applied Mechanics Department
3. Chemical Engineering Department
4. Civil Engineering Department
5. Computer Engineering Department
6. Electrical Engineering Department
7. Electronics Department
8. Mechanical Engineering Department
9. Applied Physics Department
10. Applied Chemistry Department

The Administrative building houses most of the administrative offices of the institute. It has lecture halls and drawing hall as well.

Student halls of residence

SVNIT has ten hostels with nine for boys and one dedicated to girls named after personalities of India. Each hostel is administrated by the Chief Hostel Warden. Each hostel elects representatives from the hostel residents for areas like Entertainment, Computer Facility, Network, Environment and Cultural. Two mega hostels for boys and one mega hostel for girls with large number of facilities have been constructed.

Each hostel has its own mess, TV room, Sports room and computer facility.

Admissions and academics

Admission to most undergraduate and postgraduate courses in NIT Surat is granted through written entrance examinations. Admission to M.Tech. and Ph.D. programmes is based primarily on a personal interview, though candidates have to take written tests as well.

Admission to undergraduate programmes in all NITs is through the All India Engineering Entrance Examination now known as JEE Mains. Candidates who qualify for admission through JEE Mains can apply for admission in B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology) and integrated M.Sc. (Master of Sciences) courses at NIT Surat. The admissions to postgraduate programmes (M.Tech.) are made primarily through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).

NIT Surat follows the reservation policy declared by the Supreme Court of India, by which 27% of seats are reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 15% for Scheduled Castes (SCs), and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The institute also accepts foreign nationals through scholarships awarded by the Government of India, and non-resident Indians through an independent scheme known as Direct Admission for Students Abroad (DASA).

Sponsored research

Research in the institute is sponsored by government agencies including Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST); in 2008–09, research grants from these agencies exceeded one crore Indian rupees (Rs. 1,00,00,000; approx. US$200,000). The campus also boasts of having India's first solar plant to desalinate seawater. This was set up at an investment of Rs 3,50,00,000

Ranking

According to rankings released by National Institutional Ranking Framework of Ministry of Human Resource Development on April 4, 2016; SVNIT (NIT Surat) is ranked as the 2nd best NIT and in the Top 15 engineering and science universities in India. SVNIT has also been ranked 16th best Engineering College of India in the Times of India rankings of 2016. In the past, it was ranked to be in top 5 NITs and overall 18th engineering institute in India by India Today in 2011.

Student life

NIT Surat provides on-campus residential facilities to its students, research scholars, faculty members and staff. The students live in hostels (referred to as the Bhavans) throughout their stay in the NIT. Internet facility is extended to all the hostels via Wi-Fi and LAN and the entire campus is connected via Gigabit LAN. The first Linux User group in India, Bharat Linux User Group, was formed in early 1997 at NIT Surat.

Festivals

The institute has student-organised festivals like MindBend, Sparsh, Autumnfest, Quest (by ACM), Chunouti (Sports festival), JoyFest (by iIndia), MMNCT and Prakriti (organised by Applied Science department).

MindBend is SVNIT's annual technical festival, the largest of its kind in Gujarat. Technical competitions and events covering all areas of engineering expose students across India to practical engineering. There are competitions, guest lectures, workshops and quizzes. The robotics events of Mindbend are famous in western India.

Sparsh is SVNIT's annual cultural festival. It usually takes place in the second week of February. This five-day festival,the largest of its kind in South Gujarat consists of literary and debating events/competitions in the morning and gala cultural shows in the evenings. The 'Sparsh Nights' are the Singing Night, Dance and Skit Night, Fashion Night, Inaugural and the Celebrity Night. Celebrity Night has seen performances by Euphoria, Udit Narayan, Shaan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya.

In March 2007, Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi came to perform on the celebrity night. The 2008 version was graced by Mohit Chauhan and Gaurav Dagaonkar. The 2009 version saw Bombay Rockers come to the college. The 2011 version boasted of Kailash Kher's performance. SPARSH'12, which marked the golden jubilee of SVNIT Surat was a grand success with KK performing in the celebrity night. This event also marked the beginning of mega shows in Sparsh such as Stuntmania, Hypnotism, Street Dancing. An Inaugural Night was added to the event which was graced by Flute performers and singer Rishabh Srivastava. The Sparsh of 2013 witnessed stellar duo of Salim-Sulaiman along with Shrraddha Pandit perform for the celebrity night. In Sparsh 2014, Javed Ali mesmerised people of SVNIT with his vocals on celebrity night. Also Paradigm Shift, Mumbai based rockband performed on singing night. In Sparsh 2015, Well known music directors and singers Vishal and Shekhar were the Celebrity of the Fest and Singer KK was Guest of celebrity night in SPARSH-2016.

Occasionally events like Kavi sammelan and Ghazal nights have taken place during Sparsh. The personality contest is conducted by the Literary and Debating Committee.

AutumnFest is SVNIT's annual Automotive-Entrepreneurial festival. In 2007 events included The Apprentice, Business baazigar, Spark the B-plan event, Strategem, and Lock stock and trade. A workshop by Mantis was part of Entru-meet '07.

Manoj Memorial Night Cricket Tournament (MMNCT) is a cricket tournament, organised by the students with the help of SVNIT Board of Sports, Hostel Office and Bihar Students Alumni. This tournament was first organised in 2006.It is in remembrance of a student, Manoj Kumar,who was pursuing electrical engineering in the institute and died of dengue. All the matches are played under floodlights. Nikhil Maheshwari holds the record for highest runs.

Student organisations

Student publications

Various media bodies managed by students are also present in the campus, which includes 'AS WE ARE' Student publication (annual college magazine ) "सम्मुख"( राजभाषा विभाग की वार्षिक पत्रिका ),"Renesa" (monthly college magazine).

Alumni network

The SVNIT Alumni Association is the organization in SVNIT which fosters the interaction between the institute and its alumni. The association consists of a group of SVNITians who maintain a rapport with their predecessors through networking, publications and alumni meets. The group is guided by the Dean, Alumni and Resource Generation and his office.

The SVNIT Alumni Association has chapters in India and abroad that hold annual meets to socialize and network.

Notable alumni