Institute takes steps to boost students' knowledge on emerging technologies

Kolkata: Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kalyani, will take up collaborative programmes with some state institutions to enable the students to have a better understanding of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cloud Computing and Cognitive Science.

"We are thinking of commencing a joint masters degree programme with Kalyani University on Data Science and some collaborative research with Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV) on agriculture and artificial intelligence," said Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, mentor director of IIIT Kalyani on the sidelines of the first annual convocation of the premier state institute.

The convocation of IIIT Kalyani was held on Sunday with 108 students from its first two batches 2018 and 2019 getting their B Tech degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. Chakrabarti in his convocation address made a special mention of the exemplary placement record of the institute with 85 percent of students from both the batches getting placement. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was the chief guest.

According to Chakrabarti, the institute is moving towards a futuristic direction by

introducing a revised syllabus for the courses that are taught in the institute, which will equip the students to keep in tune with the emerging technologies. The institute is partnering with IIT Kharagpur for setting up a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence. This will be a joint centre with one hub in Kharagpur, another in Rajarhat where the research park of IIIT Kharagpur is located and the third on the campus of IIIT Kalyani. The proposal for this has already been submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has assured IIIT Kalyani authorities that its permanent campus at Kalyani will come up in three years time. First , the hostel facilities along with amenities will be set up and then the academic campus will be build.

Around Rs 128 crores was earmarked for the construction of the campus 10 years back. Among this, the centre is supposed to give 50 percent, state 35 percent and rest 15 percent by three industry partners.

The institute will need another Rs 60 crore for the campus, which a fresh cabinet note is being prepared.

The Mamata Banerjee government has already given 50 acres for construction of the campus. The present interim campus of IIIT Kalyani is functioning from Webel IT Park in Salt Lake.