Site panel for NIT to arrive in Goa soon

Site panel for NIT to arrive in Goa soon
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, APRIL 28
The Site Selection Committee of the Central Government is most likely to come to Goa in the first week of May to locate a site where the National Institute of Technology allocated to the State will be built.
Secretary Education M Modassir said the Selection Committee is coming to Goa to see a permanent location where the institute, which is one among the ten new NITs being set up in the country, will be built. The committee is expected any moment, he mentioned.   
Meanwhile, officials informed, Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi, has been selected as the temporary location from where the NIT will start functioning for the year 2010-11 offering Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) and Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) courses.   
Performance in the national-level test conducted by the AIEEE – All India Entrance Engineering Examination – is the basis on which the students will be admitted for the courses.
The Goa NIT will start functioning somewhere in July-August and in the inaugural year (2010-11) the intake is for 90 students. However, due to its population size Goa has been clubbed with Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep for the 50% seat reservation.       
This means 50% seats (45 nos) will go to students from these above places, including Goa, and the remaining 50% have been earmarked for all-India candidates.
However, officials observed initially students from these locations or at all-India level may not want to take admission in the State because the NIT was just beginning and it will take some time for it to make a mark to attract students from outside. In these circumstances, they feel Goan students may get all the 45 seats as per the 50% reservation quota.
The Education Secretary Modassir informed the NIT Goa Society has been registered in Panjim with him as one of its members, while the Governing Board of NIT is yet to be nominated by the Central Government. The Governing Board will decide on the operational modalities, infrastructure, faculty, etc., of the NIT.      
The Education Secretary said the faculty for the NIT will be a mix of lecturers from Goa Engineering College, NIT Surathkal (mentor NIT for Goa) and fresh appointments.   
Officials said the fresh appointment may be done on contract basis. Nothing was certain as of now and the modalities of operation were being worked out, they stated.
It is learnt that the Director of NIT Surathkal, who was in Goa, to attend a conference met the Education Secretary and other officials on Wednesday and had an informal meeting to discuss about the NIT.