Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates permanent campus for BITSoM, BITSLAW, BITSDES

NEW DELHI: Nirmala Sitharaman, union finance minister, inaugurated a state-of-the-art campus of BITS Pilani in the Mumbai metropolitan region today, February 26. The campus is situated near Kalyan. The inauguration took place in the presence of Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chancellor of BITS Pilani.

This is the fifth site of the educational institution, which will include its management school (BITSoM), law school (BITSLAW), and design school (BITSDES). This all-residential campus, which spans 63 acres and cost Rs. 1,500 crore, is meant to house 5000 students at peak capacity.

Speaking at the inauguration, Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “I congratulate Kumar Mangalam Birla for setting this campus. You have a tradition of excellence in education. BITS Pilani has always been a centre where very many young people in India always aspire to be in. You can have institutions and institutions where students can enroll, study and pass out and also manage to excel in their fields but to make available a very complex set of courses, but make it also market relevant, give them the ability and skills required so that they can be readily recruited and be of value to the institutions is something which is seen as a USP of BITS Pilani. I wish the fifth campus all the very best and it is continuing with the tradition of high quality education for the aspiring Indian youth.”

Also read MAHE announces MET 2024 dates for BTech programmes; exam pattern

With a goal of achieving a zero-carbon footprint, the campus was built on a zero-discharge strategy that uses 100% recycled water, energy-saving lighting technologies, and solar electricity. This digital-first campus has cutting-edge classroom equipment, multimedia facilities (including video and podcast rooms), and a startup incubation facility. It has sports and entertainment facilities too.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chancellor, BITS Pilani, said, “I thank the Honourable Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, for inaugurating a new chapter in BITS Pilani’s glorious tradition. At BITS, we stand at the precipice of blending India’s rich heritage of education with new-age knowledge systems and modern learning environments. This globally benchmarked campus is a visible marker of India’s growing intellectual prowess and a symbol of BITS Pilani’s whole-hearted embrace of multi-disciplinary education and innovation. I am certain that the new campus will create an enabling environment that sparks creativity, excellence, and collaboration, emerging in the process as a talent factory for the New India envisioned by our honourable prime minister.”