The college was founded as the Civil Engineering College on 24 November 1856, in Writers' Building, Calcutta (now Kolkata).[11][12][13] The college was established as an independent entity in 1880 as Government College, Howrah, on the premises of Bishop's College in Shibpur, Howrah. In 1921, the name of the college was changed to Bengal Engineering College. B.E. College was previously affiliated to the University of Calcutta. At that time it contained only civil and mechanical engineering departments.[14] Several other departments were created subsequently over the years, the last among them being that of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics in 2010.
On 1 October 2004, the institution was conferred the status of a full-fledged university.[15] It was formally inaugurated as Bengal Engineering and Science UniversitybyA. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India, on 13 July 2005.[16]
In November 2003, the Government of India announced that the S K Joshi Committee[17] would guide the selection of the five institutions to be the five new IITs.[18]
In October 2010 The union cabinet approved a proposal for the conversion of the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) at Shibpur to an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, it will be an Institution of international standard and will produce quality manpower for the strategic sector of the country, research laboratories and quality teachers for the institutions of engineering and science education.[19] An amount of ₹ 592.20 crore has been earmarked for the project and it will be completed over a period of five years.[20]
In March 2014, the institute was conferred the status of an INI and was renamed Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur by the Govt. of India by suitably amending the National Institutes of Technology and Science Education and Research Act, 2007. The conversion process of BESU to IIEST was mentored by IIT Kanpur.[21][22] President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated it as IIEST on 24 August 2014.[23][24]
In May 2017, the Government of India sanctioned a grant of ₹11 crore to the Institute for conducting Dr. Bholanath Chakroborty Fundamental Research Laboratory on Homeopathy under the ‘Ayush’ project to undertake focused, evidence-based research on homeopathy formulation and validate their mode of action.[27]
Just like all NITs follow the same organization structure which has the President of India is the ex officio visitor of IIEST Shibpur, at the top of the hierarchy. Directly under the president is the Council of NITSER. Under the Council of NITSER is the board of governors of IIEST, Shibpur. The board of governors consists of the chairperson, director, and twelve members, which include government, industry, alumni, and faculty representation. Under the director, in the Senate Standing Committee, the director and the Secretary to the Senate, deans, department heads, and registrar. In September 2023 T Kumar appointed as Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Institution for a period of next three years.[28]
The institute's Ramanujan Central Library occupies 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft) and houses 158,000 books, 41,000 bound volumes of journals, and a collection of documents, such as patents, standards, technical reports and pamphlets.[31] The library has old and rare books and journals of the nineteenth century.[32]
Undergraduate programs to the various engineering disciplines (4-year B. Tech. programs) and architecture (5-year B.Arch. program) are granted via JEE Main, taking 50% students from the home state (West Bengal) and 50% from other states.[33] Students from any discipline other than Architecture, on the basis of their performance, are allowed to change their disciplines at the end of the 1st Year (i.e., second semester) and may opt for dual degree (B.Tech.-M.Tech.) courses extending over 10 semesters as per terms and conditions specified by the institute.[34] For PG programs admission is through GATE for M.Tech. courses and Joint Entrance Screening Test for MSc.[35] Students are also admitted in Ph.D programs twice a year through online applications.[36]
A BJP vice-president in Karnataka has been appointed chairperson of the board of governors of IIEST, which has drawn criticism in academic circles for allegedly trying to saffronise an institution with a rich legacy.[28]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(July 2020)
