The Higher Education Review

Inspired by the noble cause of education and philanthropic zeal, a group of twenty-two likeminded industrialists in Kolkata established the Kalyan Bharti Trust (KBT) in 1990. It is a public charitable foundation that promotes higher education in the country and in West Bengal in particular. Aligning with KBT's objective and to achieve it with comprehension, the Heritage Institute of Technology (HIT-K) was incepted in 2001. HIT-K was setup with a view to become a creative center of excellence in technical education in eastern India, aspires to be the best in the world. Since inception, HIT-K has been fortunate to attract world class faculty and offer finest infrastructure available in West Bengal. The institute envisions preparing dynamic and caring citizens to meet the challenges of global society while retaining the traditional values. So far doing this, the institute has not experienced any pain points in travelling the paved path because of its harmonious integration of valued traditions with modern outlooks.

The B.Tech programs that HIT-K offers are undergraduate programs in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering, and Computer Science Engineering and postgraduate programs in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Renewable Energy and VLSI. The postgraduate program also includes Master of Computer Application. Through these programs, HIT-K is promoting research and development activities, and fostering industry interaction to inculcate leadership qualities in the students for serving the society. These ingenious approaches helped HIT-K to receive autonomous status from the West Bengal University of Technology on recommendation of UGC and it got accredited by NAAC with B++ grade for a period of 5 years. After completing degree course from HIT-K, students become clear with their priorities and personal goals.

Inspiring Students and Faculty Members Altogether
In parallel to the classroom learning, HIT-K has also taken

initiatives for e-learning with a clear pedagogy purpose to make a difference in the learning outcome. Also, the implementation of choice based credit system through large numbers of professional and open electives, mandatory internships in industries and repute research institutes both within and outside the country increases learning horizons of the students. The students develop hands-on skills by learning from some high-end apparatus like 4G FSO (link for optical communication lab), PLCs and Work stations for online process control, UV Spectophotometers, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine, High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), Fermentor, Lypholizer, Gel Doc and RF Signal Generator, and many more. The software versions they use in HIT-K are latest and updated Turbo C++, Fortran, Visual Studio .NET, Oracle 9i, AutoCAD, Simulink, Libysys, Matlab and more. In addition, the students also get an overview of NI LabView Premium Suit, Ansys Academic CFD, BeCN Global Structural Bundle, CertiPrep, Cadence University Bundle, and TCAD.

"In Parallel To The Classroom Learning, Hit-K Has Also Taken Initiatives For E-Learning With A Clear Pedagogy Purpose To Make A Difference In The Learning Outcome"

At the same time, the spirited faculty members provide stringent guidance to the students. On top of the regular pedagogy, the faculty members review relevant industrial information and present it before the students. They encourage the students for active participation in the classroom as well as the non-academic activities like Hackathons of TCS, Infosys technical events, sports, and arts. In between guiding the students for attaining utmost precision in their respective disciplines, HIT-K also analyzes the faculty performance adhering to the norms stipulated by UGC and conduct faculty development programs, short term courses, workshops, seminars, national and international conferences for sharing knowledge among engineers and experts. The engineering departments encourage the faculty members to pursue research on emerging technology and apply for various research grants. HIT-K inspires them to publish research papers in reputed national and international journals like SCI (Science Citation Index).

Taking care of the placement facilities, HIT-K's Training and Placement Office (TPO) invites renowned companies to visit their campus. Besides, the TPO organizes various summer internship programs for students to gain hands-on experience in professional environments.

They have collaboration with New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), USA where students can go for summer research program. Besides providing placements, HIT-K motivates the students for entrepreneurship. In the campus, HIT-K has a vibrant entrepreneurship development and innovation cell that trains the students for the purpose. "Two students, Ranjan Kumar Gupta and Anushka Nayak received special mention and recognition at the First Entrepreneurship World Cup held at Gangtok this year. Earlier, they had been among the top six teams in the Hult Prize Regionals that took place in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Other notable recognition came when Sayeri Dhawa and Anuska Baidya Roy won the 1st prize in the senior category at Techchexpo, the annual techno-management festival IIT Guwahati," says Prof. (Dr.) Pranay Chaudhuri, Principal, HIT-K.

Alongside achieving distinctions in entrepreneurial events, students like Azar Zia, a graduate from the ECE dept. ranked 97 in Indian Civil Service Examination, 2017. Another student, Debjyoti Chowdhury, an M.Tech graduate and at present a member of faculty of AEIE dept., with his guide Dr. Madhurima Chattopadhyay, HOD, AEIE Dept., received prestigious Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award at Rastrapati Bhawan, New Delhi for developing cost-effective self stabilizing smart platform (spoon/pen) for bringing stability to the hands of elderly persons/patients with Parkinson's disease. Similar to these students, there are others who receive adequate support from HIT-K faculty members. In the coming days, HIT-K wants to enhance R&D activities, develop industry-institute partnership and associate with renowned educational institutions.

Prof. (Dr.) Pranay Chaudhuri, Principal
Since 2011, Professor Chaudhuri, is holding the position of Principal at Heritage Institute of Technology. He received B.Sc. (Hons in Physics), and B.Tech (Radiophysics and Electronics) from Calcutta University and obtained M.E. (Computer Science and Engineering), and Ph.D. (Engineering) from Jadavpur University. Prof. Chaudhuri has 34 years of teaching, research and administrative experience in premier institutions/universities across the globe like University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. Prior to joining the University of the West Indies, he has held faculty positions at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, James Cook University of North Queensland, University of New South Wales and Kuwait University.