A new government engineering college in Alipurduar in north Bengal will start admitting students from this year.
The education department announced the opening ahead of the start of the counselling process in July for admission to BTech courses through the state joint entrance examination.
Alipurduar Government Engineering and Management College will offer admission in four disciplines — artificial intelligence (30 seats), computer science and engineering (30 seats), electrical engineering (60 seats) and electronics and communication engineering (60 seats) — said an official of the department.
The department announced the start of the college from the 2023-24 academic year after getting approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
“We are starting with an advanced discipline like artificial intelligence because AI dominates our everyday life,” the official told The Telegraph.
The state higher secondary council has introduced artificial intelligence and data science as two new subjects in Classes XI and XII from the 2023-24 session.
The AICTE’s letter issued on June 14 says: “The management shall provide adequate funds for the development of infrastructure, instructional and other facilities as per norms and standards laid down by the council from time to time and for meeting recurring expenditure.”
The construction of the college started in 2018.
This would be the third government engineering college that the Mamata Banerjee government has started since coming to power. In 2016, two engineering colleges were started in Purulia and Cooch Behar.