The Higher Education Review

Existing in the education arena since 2001, Heritage Institute of Technology (HITK), a premier engineering institute based in the 'city of joy,' Kolkata, holds the pride of churning out several batches of graduates who have achieved exemplary success in their respective fields and are taking the institute's name to greater heights. Since its inception, the institute has been able to create a significant niche, which can be well proved by considering the number of awards and recognition it has been bestowed upon. In 2017, HITK received 'Gold' rating in the AICTE ­CII Survey of Industry Linked Technical Institutes. The institute was also awarded as the "Best Engineering Institute in India-East" in New Delhi this year by ASSOCHAM and "Best Engineering College of The Year 2018" by the same in "The EduMeet 2018 & Education Excellence Awards" at Kolkata in the presence of Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, His Excellency Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal.

Prof. (Dr.) Pranay Chaudhuri, Principal, HITK, pinpoints, "We are one of the only 25 self-financed Institutes across the country selected for the award of grant under Technical Educational Quality Improvement Program, Phase ­II (TEQIP-II), funded by the World Bank and monitored by MHRD, Govt. of India.

We have also become one of those 17 unaided private institutes who received a total amount of Rs. 6 crores funded by TEQIP-II for being found as one of the well performing Institutes in India." Affiliated to the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, HITK is ranked among the top 150 engineering colleges in India by NIRF 2018, an initiative of MHRD, Govt. of India.

At present, HITK offers a range of bachelors and masters courses in varied engineering domain such as Bachelors in Applied Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering (AEIE),

Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology (BT), Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE), Information Technology (IT), and Mechanical Engineering (ME). Masters programmes are whereas, conducted in disciplines like AEIE, CSE, VLSI, Renewable Energy, BT, and ECE.

"For instigating a research culture in the campus, HITK involves the faculty members in robust research activities along with embracing state-of-the-art laboratory facilitates for students of every discipline"

Sustaining Research of Highest Quality
The management of the institute, with perpetual determination, always strives to bring together the finest educational practices in the campus through giving utmost importance to the hands-on training of the students, promoting research activities and interactive learning system. "Upholding the vision of preparing dynamic and caring citizens to meet the challenges of the global society while retaining their traditional values, we at HITK with combine efforts are marching towards to impart unparallel engineering education to aspirants," shares Prof. Chaudhuri. For instigating a research culture in the campus, the institute involves the faculty members in robust research activities along with embracing state-of-the-art laboratory facilitates for students of every discipline. Apart from running projects under DST, Govt of India & the AICTE-MODROBS scheme, HITK has established IEEE EDS Centre of Excellence, with financial support from IEEE, USA and developed a Centre of Excellence for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) LAB, in the department of AEIE, in association with Kernel Sphere Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Prof. Chaudhuri adds, "The Institute has collaborated with New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), NJ, USA for a Summer Research Program under which the first eleven batches of student had a 6-week training program at NJIT during the period 2008-2018. Since its inception in 2008, a total of 112 students of HITK have been benefited from NJIT Summer Research Program." Likewise, when it comes to making the students industry-ready, the institute simultaneously grooms the students in tune with the curriculum, where the mandatory

pre-placement training for final year students is conducted on-campus by subject matter experts and the 3rd year students are motivated to undergo a mandatory two-credit summer internship programme.

Carving Learners into Professionals
Established under the banner of Kalyan Bharti Trust (KBT), an educational foundation commenced by a group of Kolkata based like-minded industrialists, HITK is an autonomous institute, accredited by NAAC and NBA has accredited its most eligible courses. To ensure that the students are well-aware regarding the recent developments in the industry, the institute invites eminent professionals from industry and renowned academic institutes across the country as Adjunct Professors to deliver lectures on specialized technical areas including organizing several and regular National and International Conferences.

"Different activities goes on hand-in-hand in our campus, right from encouraging students to participate in co-curricular activities via the 18 distinct of clubs, to enabling them to realize their entrepreneurial dream through our Entrepreneurship Development Cell that is placed in the campus," claims Prof. Chaudhuri. The entrepreneurship cell is in close liaison with numerous organizations such as EDI, NASSCOM, IIMC IP and BCC&I for promoting entrepreneurial programmes. "Taking the onus of organizing 2 biggest Entrepreneurship Summit in the city, the cell annually arranges the Annual Induction Programme and Entréspark," adds Prof. Chaudhuri. However, under the strong placement policy of HITK countersigned by students, the institute during each academic year welcomes major recruiters such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, ITC Infotech, Ericsson Global, Tech Mahindra, to name a few.

Prof. (Dr.) Pranay Chaudhuri, Principal
Completed his M.E. in Computer Science & Engineering and Ph.D. (Engineering) from Jadavpur University, Prof. Chaudhuri is the founding Principal of HITK. Prof. Chaudhuri has 34 years of teaching, research and administrative experience in premier institutions/universities across the globe. He has received several national and international awards for his research contribution including the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence 2007 at the University of the West Indies.