IIITs need support of important stakeholders: Prof Gautam
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 15 2023: Indian Institute of Information Technology, (HIT) Senapati chairman, members of Board of Governors, director, members of the Senate, faculty, staff and students organised the Second Convocation ceremony of the Institute at the auditorium of HIT Mantripukhri on Sunday.

The ceremony was attended by HIT Guwahati director Prof Gautam Barua as chief guest, HIT Senapati Manipur director Prof Krishnan Baskar as president and Babina Group of Companies managing director Dr Th Dhabali as guest of honour.

Speaking at the event, Prof Gautam Barua expressed hope for resolution of the current conflict for peace and harmony to return in the state.

Even though the conflict has spared the institute, we still need to remain alert to prevent any impact in the future, he stressed, adding that IIIT Manipur was set up on public-private partnership mode by the government and these types of institutes are highly challenging to operate.

It is mainly because even after five years have passed and the campus has been fully constructed, they do not have the support from important stakeholders such as the central government, state governments and industry partners.

The institute mainly depends on the fees charged from the students, which in turn, put immense pressure on increasing the number of students.

Experiences have shown that after the initial investment is over, there is the need for supporting capital expenditure from the state government.

In.

Assam's context, the state government provide some funding for expanding the hostel seats.

Similarly, the Manipur government could extend support to IIIT Manipur.

Additionally, prospective offers could be made to attract good faculty members with and high salary comparable to other reputed institutions.

Small states should try to attract faculty from outside, for which they should provide proper campus accommodation, school and other facilities, he suggested.

Prof Gautam continued that apart from industrious students, quality staff and faculty, there is the need for proper research and academic environment to enhance profile of the institute whereas lack of research opportunity and research scholars will make it difficult to attract quality faculty and quality research respectively.

Lastly, there is the need to bring about a world class teaching environment, which requires the contribution of faculty, research scholars and most importantly, students.

He said that while the society teaches students to be goal-oriented, what is unfortunate is their preferred goal is often related with money.

Thus, failing to attend classes seriously would be detrimental in getting good jobs or better career prospects.

As such, students must take their studies and classes seriously.

In addition, they should strive to become responsible citizens and be sincere in their interactions, while also understanding and standing up against any injustice, the director elaborated.

During the ceremony, Ningthoujam Johny Singh was awarded the doctorate (PhD) in Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), while B Tech degrees were presented to 24 Computer Science & Engineering students and 14 Electronic & Communication Engineering students.

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