COEP to become IIEST

COEP to become IIEST 

The Pune city’s premium engineering institute, College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP), may feature on the list of five engineering colleges across the country that will be converted into Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST). The Union Cabinet recently gave the nod to establish five IIESTs on the lines of IITs and IISERs.

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“To boost innovation in basic sciences, the government is keen on funding and establishing world class institutes. We have recently established more IITs, IISERs and institutes in pharmaceutical science. On the same lines, the Cabinet has decided to establish IIESTs across the country,” said Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister for State for Science and Technology.

He was inaugurating a seminar on Nano Technology: Materials and Composites for Frontier Applications, organised by Bharati Vidyapeeth University. Chavan did not commit that CoEP would feature on the list of five colleges to be converted into IIESTs, but said there was a possibility because the college has been trying to get deemed university status.

CoEP director Anil Sahasrabuddhe said he was not aware of any such development. “However, it would be a great achievement if the government finds us eligible for IIEST that will automatically give us university status,” he said.

Chavan also talked about INSPIRE, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology to provide scholarships to science students after Class XII to pursue a career in basic sciences. “The government will select state board toppers and best rank holders in IIT-JEE, who will get the scholarship till they complete post-doctoral research or till the age of 32,” he said.“The government has allocated Rs 4,500 crore for the scholarship over a period of five years and around 10 lakh students will benefit from this,” he said.