Prasad Krishna appointed NIT Calicut director

The post of the director at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NIT-C) had been lying vacant for more than a year. 

Prasad Krishna, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Surathkal, has been appointed as the new director of the NIT-C. The five-year tenure of former director Sivaji Chakravorti ended in August last year. The post of the director had been lying vacant since then and Deputy Director PS Sathidevi was holding the charge of the director’s post.  

Prasad Krishna received his BE degree from Regional Engineering College, Karnataka (now NIT Surathkal) in 1983, MTech degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in 1990 and PhD from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the United States, in 2001. 

A selection committee appointed by the Union Ministry of Education had conducted an online interview for eligible persons of the names shortlisted in September last year. The NIT-C, which was earlier known as the Regional Engineering College, admits the largest number of students among the NITs in a year.  

The institute recently celebrated its diamond jubilee in a hybrid mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several conferences and workshops were held in the online mode. 

NIT Surathkal has entered the top 10 list of engineering colleges in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2021, replacing the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore as per NIRF rankings 2020. Among the 31 NITs spread across the country, NIT Surathkal is the only institution to have the distinction of having all of its engineering disciplines (UG programmes) accredited for a maximum period of six years. 

IIT Madras created a history by becoming the best ranking Indian institute for the third time in a row. The institute has been ranked number one in India in both 'Overall' and 'Engineering' category in NIRF Rankings 2021. IIT Madras had scored 83.88 and 85.31 in the NIRF 2019 and NIRF 2020 rankings, respectively. The first eight positions in the top 10 NIRF engineering ranking list 2021 were bagged by IITs. Two NITs -- NIT Tiruchirappalli and NIT Surathkal -- bagged the ninth and tenth positions, respectively. NIRF rankings are released annually to recognise top universities, colleges and other educational institutions across India.

Read more: 

• NIT-C working without director for over a year 
• NIRF Rankings 2021: NIT Surathkal among top 10 engineering colleges, replaces IIT Indore