AIT to celebrate 25 glorious years
Pune, 20th February, 2019: Army Institute of Technology to organize AIT Day on 24th February, 2019 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Institute. On this silver jubilee ceremony, the Patron in Chief of the College, the GoC in C, Southern Command, will be the Chief Guest. MrMS Unnikrishnan, MD, and CEO of Thermax group of Industries, is being honored with the “lifetime achievement award”, while Mr. B Satheesh Chandrashekhar, Co-founder of Ideavate Solutions, Indore, and an alumnus of 1999 batch of AIT is being awarded the “successful entrepreneur award” during this function. The past Directors, Principals, and Joint Directors are also being felicitated for their contribution to the success of AIT. Senior military officers, industry partners of AIT, alumni, famous academic personalities, staff and students of AIT are also going to be a part of the celebration.
Addressing the press conference, Brig Abhay Bhat, Director, AIT said “2019 is a pivotal year to every one of us at AIT. It is an important milestone as our beloved college completes 25 glorious years of excellence and service in the field of education. The institute has achieved glory in the last 25 years due to tremendous contributions of the faculty staff as well as the exploits of the students. The support and guidance provided by the industry partners, other educational institutions, Savitribai Phule University, and the Army Welfare Education Society, was also invaluable. On this occasion, I take this opportunity to thank the founding fathers, all the stakeholders, and our own faculty and staff, who have taken AIT to such heights of success.
He also spoke about the following Points –
Ø The Journey of AIT
- The Army Institute of technology was founded in 1994. The premises of AIT were previously earmarked for Army Public School, Pune.
- The then chief of army staff, General B C Joshi PVSM, AVSM, ADC saw a need for of an engineering college for the wards of army personnel as they were at a disadvantage with respect to the children of civilians, due to the constant shifting of cities. Supreme Court had endorsed the need for a special institute for children of army personnel and the framework of admissions in the college.
- The institute was formally inaugurated by General S. Roy Chaudhary PVSM, ADC on 24th Feb 1995. This day is since being celebrated as the “AIT Day”.
- AIT functions under the aegis of the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES). AWES has the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), as the President of its Board of Governors. AIT is affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University. Initially, in Aug 1994, only 3 UG (BE) programs were introduced: Mechanical, Electronics and Telecommunication, and Computers. The fourth UG program, Information Technology was added in 2001.
- AIT also provides a Masters in Machine Design – a specialization of Mechanical Engineering started in 2015. All U.G courses are accredited by National Board of Accreditation (NBA). The college is accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with A Grade. AIT currently intakes 60 students each in Mechanical, E&TC, IT and 120 students in Computer Engineering. It has a hostel for over 1000 students. From a humble beginning of intake of 174 in1994, we stand today, 1300 strong.
Ø Key Milestones/Key Awards won over the Years
- Best Professional College (Urban) of STPU — 2017
- Two students of Second Year of AIT received the 1st prize in AICTE Chhatra Vishwakarma Award — 2018 from the Vice-President of India.
- NIRF Ranking- 88th (2018)
- Accreditation with NAAC and NBA
- Recognized by NES as College of Substance
- AIT is among the top 10% of the colleges recognized by AMCAT for 4 consecutive years. (2019)
- Outstanding Engineering Institutes (West) given at the National Education Leadership Awards. (2015)
- Listed by AICTE as one of the 30 “Best Practices Institute”, in 2018 for its “green campus” initiatives
Ø Dignitary who visited AIT
- Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
- Padma Shri Milkha Singh
- Padma Vibhushan Dr. R A Mashelkar
- Padma Shri Mohan Ranade
- Padma Shri Dr. Govind Swaroop
- Mr. Achyut Godbole
- Padma Bhushan Dr. Vijay P Bhatkar
- Padma Vibhushan Prof. Jayant Narlikar
- General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, PVSM, ADC
- General N C Vij PVSM, UYSM, AVSM
Recent Students Initiatives and Achievements
Cycle Expedition: The students at AIT have always been, adventure enthusiasts and this year the college supported this by conducting a Cycle Expedition from Pune to Goa. An exuberant group of 54 which included students along with members of staff actively participated in this 5-day event which went on from 05 Jan to 09 Jan 2019
AIT students have also started a “Campus Radio”, which presently uses the internet medium and acts as an infotainment initiative, by the students for the students.
AIT students have been winning large number of Hackathons, Robocons and technical competitions across the country, proving their mettle against students of IITs and NITs also.
Future Plans
- IoT Centre of Excellence
- High-Performance Computing and disctributed Crypto Node
- Academic Autonomy
- Increase in intake of E&TC stream
- ME course in Computer Engg
- UG courses in other streams such as electrical, Civil based or industry relevant stream on demand and market conditions
- Additional hostel accommodation for increased strength
