National Institute of Technology, Patna

National Institute of Technology Patna (NIT Patna), formerly Bihar School of Engineering and Bihar College of Engineering, is a public engineering institution located in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It was renamed as NIT Patna, by the Government of India on 28 January 2004. NIT Patna marked its humble beginning in 1886 with the establishment of pleaders survey training school which was subsequently promoted to Bihar College of Engineering Patna in 1924. This made this institute the 6th Oldest Engineering Institute of India. It is an autonomous institute functioning directly under Ministry of Education, Government of India.

NIT Patna origin can be traced to 1886 with the establishment of a survey training school and subsequent renaming it to Bihar college of Engineering in 1900. A graduate level curriculum was introduced in 1924. It was renamed Bihar College of Engineering in 1932. In 2004 the government of India upgraded the college to National Institute of Technology (NIT) status, as the state of Bihar had lost its only Regional Engineering College (REC), located at Jamshedpur, when Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000. By 2002, the Indian government decided to upgrade all RECs to NITs, with the aim of having at least one NIT per state. Bihar College of Engineering was the first institute to be directly upgraded to NIT status. In 2007, it was granted Institute of National Importance status in accordance with the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007.

NIT Patna functions from a 36 acres (15 ha) campus along Ashok Rajpath, geographically which lies on the southern bank of the river Ganges exactly opposite to the point of its confluence with river Gandak. The campus lies alongside Gandhi Ghat where students usually enjoy scenic views of river Ganges. Land for a new campus, a 125 acres (51 ha) plot, has been assigned at Sikandarpur village in Bihta, around 40 km from Patna. Earlier it was assigned at Dumri village in Bihta.

Incubation center will be built in Patna NIT campus, studies will start in the new campus of Bihta from July. The Government of Bihar has allocated 125 acres of land in Bihta, Patna, for an additional campus of NIT Patna. The new campus is planned to accommodate 6,415 students, developed in three phases:

This phased development aims to expand the institution's capacity significantly.

The institute includes the department of Architecture & Planning, Engineering departments of Civil engineering, Computer science & engineering, Electrical engineering, Electronics & Communication engineering and Mechanical engineering. In addition, there are departments for Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences.

The institute maintains a central library which has 150,000 books and 1,100 e-journals and works for only about 10 hours per day. The Central Library has an e-resource section on the Ground floor, a study section and Library office on the First floor and a separate study room. Library is fully air conditioned and well cleaned. Security is also available on each floor for 24 hours.

The institute has a computer center with six computer labs and two virtual classrooms equipped with computing and audio-visual facilities such as interactive boards, and projectors. The labs have CCTV cameras for conducting online interviews, tests and presentations. Computer Center has Internet connectivity throughout the day so that the students can use internet facility. A central bandwidth of 1 Gbit/s provided by RailTel for uninterrupted high-speed Internet connection.