Union Education MinisterShri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ today dedicated permanent campus of IIT Ropar to the nation. Minister of State for Education, Shri Sanjay Dhotre also graced the occasion. Prof. Sarit K Das, Director, IIT Ropar and Shri Ravinder Kumar, Registrar, IIT Ropar and the other dignitaries also participated in the event.

While addressing the participants Shri Pokhriyal congratulated the IIT Ropar fraternity and complimented the students and researchers for stepping towards converting India to a strong and vibrant Nation in the world. The Union minister emphasized that India is a nation enriched with knowledge from ancient times and known globally as a country of rich heritage and culture. Terming students as "warriors of the nation", he urged them to contribute to the Nation's development.

Shri Pokhriyal highlighted that IIT Ropar has featured consistently among the top-ranking educational institutions in the country and abroad. IIT Ropar has shared the top place in India after IISc Bangalore with its position in the 351-400 rank in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021, he added. He further highlighted that IIT Ropar has been ranked as number one in the world in research citations. In NIRF, IIT Ropar stood 25th in all India Engineering institutional ranking 2019-20. In QS India Rankings 2020 with an overall rank of 25th in India, IIT Ropar is ahead of all IITs in research quality, scoring highest in Citations per Paper, he added.

The Minister while talking about NEP 2020, highlighted the credit bank in the NEP 2020, which  is in accordance with Global Education Programme. Also bringing vocational courses   with the NEP 2020 that will play a key role in creating a self-reliant India and open up the education sector for facilitating greater global exposure for Indian students.”

“NEP 2020 will prove to be the base of a self-reliant India and help us achieve the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the true sense,” said Minister of Education, while addressing during the inauguration ceremony.

“With the NEP 2020 India will emerge as an education power centre and the ministry has been working on several fronts to achieve this goal together with promoting the country's heritage to attract students from across the world,” he said.

The Minister appreciated the initiatives taken by IIT Ropar during Covid-19 crisis.He informed that the technologies include Negative Pressure Room to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 through air at isolation wards and testing labs, thus protecting the medical staff from getting infected. It also has Negative Pressure Ambulance to carry people infected with COVID-19 without posing the threat to the health workers serving them in the ambulance. He further informed that a unique UVGI based Room Disinfection Device, UVSAFE is founded in IIT Ropar. The unique patented design ensures zero-shadow 360o disinfection and is being in use at IPL, Dubai. Two state-of-the art low cost autonomous vehicles, “Medi-Sarathi’ and “Al-Powered Trolley” for COVID patients with an intent to minimize healthcare workers' contact with infected patients and contaminated surroundings, he added.The Minister applauded the initiatives taken by IIT Ropar towards ''Make in India'' initiative through a consistent focus on innovation and research.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Sanjay Dhotre said that, “IITs are recognised worldwide as premier institutes of academic excellence. He also stated that the Ministry is working towards increasing the perception of IITs so that IITs are ranked top in world rankings.”

Shri Dhotre applauded the recent grant received by IIT Ropar of Rs 110 Crore from DST to set up "Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) in the domain of Agriculture & Water.Pioneering and unique, this setup is part of the framework of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

Prof. Sarit K Das, Director, IIT Ropar shared the success story of the Institute with a decade of Sustainability that has been an essential feature of the campus master plan. He also shared a video of the green campus that places a lot of emphasis on various sustainability features, including solar power, eco-friendly commute options, efficient water management, healthy waste management practices, zero-discharge, and many other measures. IIT Ropar campus has received a 5-star Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment for Large Developments (GRIHA LD) for campus master plan.The Institute has won several accolades in Rankings and has been actively involved in research and development right from the beginning. The institution has developed various technology-based solutions to combat COVID-19 crisis and has shared them with the society at large, he added.

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar was founded in 2008 and is located on the river Satluj. The campus sprawls on 500 acres of land. The land for the permanent campus of the institute was handed over in 2008, construction commenced on 15th January 2015 and the Institute moved to its permanent campus in 2017 with State-of-the-Art buildings and labs. With a state-of-the-art infrastructure on a built-up area of 1.37 lakh sq.mt comprising housing for 2324 students, 170 faculty and 118 staff members, a magnificent entrance, cutting-edge laboratories, libraries, sports facilities, spaces for other extra and co-curricular activities and the unique design of the hostels with large common spaces, the Institute has come alive. The Institute is on track towards completing 2.32 lakh sq.mt of construction by the year 2021 to provide accommodation for 2,500 students, 220 faculty and 250 staff members.

A Super Academic Block is coming up to house 7 academic departments in a total area of 4. 76 lacs sq.ft area. The Central library and Auditorium with a seating capacity of 800 will be ready by the winter of 2020.IIT Ropar in 2017 introduced a rather innovative and unique curriculum which emphasized on Interdisciplinary approach to teaching, with strong grounding on Humanities, societal content and project-based learning.

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