Birsa Institute of Technology, Sindri or BIT Sindri (formerly known as Bihar Institute of Technology) is a major college of engineering in Jharkhand, India. An elite institute of higher learning, BIT has several AICTE approved undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs. The institute is funded and administered by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of Jharkhand, Ranchi and is academically affiliated to Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag for conducting examinations and awarding degrees. BIT has received periodic funding from the World Bank for several projects. The institute campus is located at a distance of about 30 km from the Dhanbad City. The campus is well connected via road as well as rail route from Dhanbad.

History

BIT was founded in 1949 under the name of College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at Patna. After one year, on 17th November 1950 it was shifted to Sindri and thus BIT Sindri was born with a Principal, three Professors and sixty Students. During the initial years, the college had diploma programs in these two disciplines of Engineering. The aim of the government to shift BIT to Sindri was to make it the first IIT of India in future. But because of political reasons, IIT Khadagpur was made the first IIT and BIT remained as BIT forever. In 1952, degree programs were introduced. The next important date in the Institute’s history is 1956, when its name was changed to Bihar Institute of Technology, the name it had retained until Jharkhand and Bihar were separated on November 15, 2000 .Over the years, several other degree programs in various other branches of Engineering were added. All over Bihar and Jharkhand, it is still popularly known as BIT.

Administrative Building

Campus

BIT Sindri is located on a sprawling 650 acres of land in the major industrial town of Sindri in Dhanbad district. It is The Institute boasts one of the best infrastructures and facilities among other institutes of national repute in India. Each branch has its own separate building and several laboratories. Some departments also have their own libraries and computer facilities. The campus also has an auditorium, a library, a canteen, a gymnasium, a playground, a basketball court, a tennis court, a branch of the State Bank of India, a post office, a STD/ISD phone booth and a co-operative store for the benefit of the students and the staff. The Sindri Town railway station is adjacent to the campus. There is a shuttle service between campus and Dhanbad four times a day. The other means of transportation from Dhanbad station to the campus are local taxis (also called trekkers) and minibuses, which have most hostels on their route.

Hostels

This institute is fully residential. Professors’ quarters and hostels are also present on campus, giving it the feel of one big close-knit community. The on-campus student housing consists of over 25 hostels, which can accommodate more than 3700 students at a time.

Student Activities and Clubs

There are many clubs in the institute that provide a forum for the extracurricular expressions of the students. Some of these are Sarjana (the college magazine), the Rotaract Club, the Leo Club, the Arts Club, the Gandhi Rachnatmak Samiti, the Model Club, Photographic club and the Film Club, among others. They organize various intra- and inter- college events from time to time.