About Vellore Institute of Technology - VIT

VIT is an internationally reputed private co educational university located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a University established under section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956, Government of India, New Delhi. VIT University was founded in 1984 as a self-financing institution known as Vellore Engineering College (VEC). Promoted by the North Arcot Education and Charitable Trust, the University is headed by the founder, G. Viswanathan, a former parliamentarian and minister in the Tamil Nadu Government. He is also the current Chancellor of the University.

It was formerly known as Vellore Institute of Technology. VIT was affiliated to the University of Madras until 2000. In the year 2001 the institution was conferred the status of deemed university by the Ministry of human resources, Govt. of India. In September 2006, it was renamed as VIT University. At present, it offers 18 undergraduate and 32 postgraduate programmes (including a 5-year integrated MS-Software Engineering programme). The University offers research programmes leading to M.Phil., M.S. (By Research) and Ph.D. degrees. The programmes are accredited by national agencies such as NBA (AICTE), NAAC (UGC) and Institution of Engineers (India).

Location and Transportation

Vellore, a district capital in Tamil Nadu. VIT is located in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, between Chennai and Bengaluru [Bangalore].

• It is 130 km west of Chennai and
• 180 km east of Bengaluru [Bangalore].

• The nearest airport is at Chennai, (two and half hours drive).
• Katpadi Railway station, that serves Vellore, is 3 km from VIT and is easily accessible by train and road from Chennai and Bengaluru [Bangalore].

Constituent Schools

Each school has a Board of Studies whose members are domain experts from the industry and other renowned institutions and from within, giving directions for any changes required for the success of the academic programs.

• School of Computing Sciences (SCS)
• School of Electrical Sciences (SES)
• School of Biotechnology, Chemical & Biomedical Engineering (SBCBE)
• School of Mechanical & Building Sciences (SMBS)
• VIT Business School
• School of Science & Humanities (SSH)

Departments

• International Relations Office (IRO)
• Controller of Exams (COE)
• Centre for Bio-Separation Technology (CBST)
• Centre for Disaster Mitigation & Management (CDMM)
• Academic Staff College
• VIT Technology Business Incubator (VIT-TBI)
• TIFAC-CORE Automotive Electronics
• Health Department and science
• Dept. of Physical Education
• Placement and Training (PAT)
• Centre for Technical Support (CTS)

Facilities 

Smart Class Room - In this very special learning environment, a touch screen white board is integrated with the projector and a computer. The classrooms also have a DVD/CD player, Video Cassette Recorder/Player, a Document Camera Reader, and audio tracks. All these are integrated using a handy touch panel which enables the user to navigate between various options of display.

Computer Network and Centre - VIT campus boasts of one of the best computing networks in India. With constant upgradation in a bid to provide the students and staff with state-of-the art facilities, the Institute has earned a reputation of excellence across a range of computer-based disciplines. Its comprehensive infrastructure includes 74 Servers, 223 Workstations, 3325 Desktops (Intel & AMD), 281 Printers and over 665 Laptops (Dell & IBM/Lenovo). The principal goal of TSCC provided with 210 IBM desktops is to provide computing facilities for academic and research activities in the School of Computer Science.

The hallmark of the Centre's research is its balanced consideration of technological capability and human utility. It consistently strives for excellence, relevance and social purpose. At this lab, students can work on Oracle, DB2, .NET, Rational Rose, Borland (Caliber RM, Starteam 2005, Together Solo Ver6.2), J2SDK, J2ME Wireless Toolkit 2.2, Websphere, Tomcat WebServer, Apache, Netbeans 5.0, ASP, JSP and Perl.

Research Centres - A reputation for excellence in research supported by a high caliber staff is reflected in the demand for entry to Vellore Institute of Technology's programmes from high achieving students. Some of these are Centre for Bio-Separation Technology (CBST), Technology Business Incubator (VIT-TBI), Centre for Disaster Mitigation & Management (CDMM) etc.

Hostels - 17 hostels are located in VIT campus. There are Thirteen Men's Hostels, which accommodate 7000 students in single, two and three bedded, four bedded and six bedded rooms. A gym facility is also attached with well maintained swimming pool.

The Four Women's Hostels have room for 3200 students. Women students have access to gym facilities and a newly built swimming pool inside one of these hostel premises. Individual metering service for those who want air-conditioning facilities is also provided. Optional washing services are provided in well maintained separate washing areas.

Placement - VIT has been a consistent topper for several years in the list of campus placement records among private institutions in India. It is proud that its graduates are highly rated by employers from industry and commerce in the private and public sectors. Offering information, advice, guidance and support for job-seeking students is considered a primary responsibility at the University.

Library - The Periyar EVR Central Library is built to International Standards and spreads over four floors with an area of 5,000 sq.m. It is centrally air-conditioned, well-protected with fire alarm, CCTV and 3M-book security system. Specialised collections of Books, Journals & Non-book materials are available in Basic Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Biotechnology, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Periyar EVR Central Library is replete with 1,78,627 Documents, 1,44,700 Volumes of Books, 16,980 Back Volumes, 8,503 CDs, 560 Video Cassettes and 201 Audio Cassettes.VIT Subscribes to 682 National and International Journals and provides classroom teaching through Ekalvya and EDUSAT programmes and NPTEL video courses in the different fields of education.

Conference Facilities - Vellore Institute of Technology firmly believes in providing its students exposure to national and international knowledge experts, through regular national and international conferences / symposia and workshops hosted on campus. It is with this view that a wide choice of modern conference facilities have been meticulously planned and incorporated into the VIT campus.

Health Services - Healthcare facilities are available round the clock at the VIT Health Centre. With 6400 sq.ft. space it has 18 beds, 5 consultation rooms, a clinical laboratory and pharmacy. For patients convenience five full time doctors and a part time doctor are employed to render 24 hours service, with support from 7 staff nurses, pharmacist, lab technician, two attenders, a medical records person & a coordinator. In addition six specialist services are available as visiting consultants (list enclosed below) It is also equipped with an ECG machine, emergency medicines and two ambulances. All treatment, consultation & medicines including lab investigations are done free of cost for all students, staff & staff dependents.

Guest House & Staff Quarters - For visiting parents, every care is taken to provide care and comfort. A fully furnished and air-conditioned guest house is available at VIT, spread over 11,000 sq.ft. and with 30 double bedrooms. Another 30 non-air-conditioned rooms are available at the Guesthouse Annexe.

Transport - Both VIT Buses and a few state transport buses ply to nearby major towns Walajah, Arcot, Gudiyattam, Ranipet, Arni and Vellore towards commuting of 40% of the Staff and Students residing outside at concessional rates.

Banks & ATMs - Three banks - the Indian Bank, State Bank of India and Centurion Bank - offer ATM facilities, besides other regular bank services, within the campus. Locker facilities are also available.

Sports And Gymnasium - The Institute-s newest facilities for students include four gymnasia, two exclusively for men, one exclusively for women and one shared by both. A central multi-facility piece of equipment for the men enables several enthusiasts to work out at the same time in one of the gymnasia for men. The other men-s gym today has 16 stations with the latest equipment.

Women students have a 12-station multi-gym of their own. All the gyms are spacious and well equipped with modern facilities. Trendset, a state-of-the art gym with modern, imported equipment was inaugurated in 2004. It has centralised air-conditioning and audio and video facilities, comfortable dressing rooms and ample locker facilities.

Swimming Pool - VIT also offers separate swimming facilities for men and women students. The Men's 50 m x 25 m floodlit swimming pool has eight lanes and the necessary facilities to conduct even international-level competitions. The floodlit women's swimming pool is 25m x 12m, and is in the new Women's Hostel premises. Separate swimming coaches for men and women are available at particular times at the pools, which are open from 6 a.m to 7.30 p.m every day.

Riviera - Riviera is the cultural event of VIT. It is a 4 day festival conducted once every year mostly around January end. The festival includes many competitions among participants from various colleges across India. The events includes performing arts, fine arts, musical events, literary events, quizzes, with few informal events running alongside.

IQAC - The Internal Quality Assurance Cell is the cell that is formulated for monitoring the quality parameters in VIT. The committee was formulated based on the recommendations given by National Assessment Accreditation Committee.

Achievements

• Some of its technical courses have been accredited by Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK.

• In the latest India Today survey it has been ranked the 10th best engineering college in India.

• VIT University obtained the highest possible grade of "A" from NAAC for all the programs offered by the University during the re-accreditation process in January 2009.

• Vellore Engineering College was the first educational institution in India to be awarded the ISO 9002 certificate by the DNV (Det Norske Veritas), of the Netherlands, for three years.

• Programmes at VIT have been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

• VIT is the first educational institution to be honoured with the TVN-KIDAO-NIQR award instituted by the National Institute of Quality and Reliability (NIQR) for maintaining exceptional quality.

• Chancellor G. Viswanathan was honoured with the prestigious "Connect 2006 Achiever Award" by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Chennai for the achievement in the field of IT by way of creating suitable infrastructure and facilities for imparting IT education in the country. The Award was presented to him by the Union Minister for IT and Communications.

• Programmes of VIT have been accredited by the Institution of Engineers, India (IEI).

• Multinational companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have accredited VIT to the highest level enabling VIT students to earn higher starting salary scales.

Information compiled from: About Vellore Institute of Technology - VIT - Website