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One of eight new additions to India¡¯s prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) network in 2008, the creation of Indian Institute of Technology Patna filled a gap in advanced educational provision for 100 million people in state of Bihar.

A joint enterprise between national and state governments, within seven years it had moved out of its initial premises in the ancient city of Patna to a purpose-built campus on a 501 acre site at Bihta, around 20 miles from the state capital.

Rated as an Institution of National Importance by India¡¯s government, it is part of the National Knowledge Network. In 2018 it was ranked 22nd for engineering and 58th overall in the National Institutional Ranking Framework.

A little over 1,000 students are divided into schools of engineering and technology, humanities and social sciences and basic science. Current priorities include increasing the proportion of female students.

Doctorates were introduced in 2009 and MTechs across eight specialisms in 2012, including the first MTech in Nanotechnology offered by an IIT. The Research and Development unit started in 2009 and ground was broken for an Incubator Centre at the end of 2018.

Languages are a speciality, with the Centre for Endangered Language Studies working on 42 minority and tribal tongues in Bihar and neighbouring states, while researchers are involved in the creation of a processor which will enable the use of 18 Indian languages with devices like Amazon¡¯s Alexa.

In 2015, IITP student teams devised an electrical tricycle capable of speeds up to 60km/hr and in 2018 made the finals of the "Olympics of Computer Programming" in Beijing.