GANDHINAGAR, DEC 28: The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT), the first of its kind in the country, will start functioning from June next year. The foundation stone for the institute will be laid by Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel at the institute site on the outskirts of Gandhinagar on Friday.The first phase of construction work being established by the Reliance Industries at a cost of about Rs 75 crore will be completed by May next year, with its management expected to introduce some of the basic courses from June. The foundation laying ceremony will be attended, among other VIPS, by Mukesh Ambani.The DA-IICT will be accorded the status of an autonomous university, a legislation for which will be brought in the coming Assembly budget session in February-March. A self-financed post-graduate institute, the DA-IICT will be first of its kind in the country, with the Indian Institute for Information Technology (IIIT) being run by the Centre in Gwalior and Allahabad, while yet another IIIT set up in Hyderabad is offering only under-graduate courses.At his weekly Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said the DA-IICT coming up on the sprawling 50 acres of land allotted by the government to the Dhieubhai Ambani Foundation near the Info City project site would be a world-class research, education and training institution in information and communications to support the development of a knowledge-led society and economy in Gujarat.Patel said the DA-IICT would have a tie-up with the New York-based Carnegie-Mellon University so as to facilitate an exchange of students for studies and training between the two technology institutes and also of visiting faculty members. The institute will help create a large number of high quality information and communication specialists, he said.Minister of State for Information and Technology Bimal Shah said the state-of-the-art institute would help upgrade information and telecommunication infrastructure to global standards and setting standards to facilitate information distribution, besides enabling trans-border multi-media content creation and its distribution.Shah said the DA-IICT also aimed at providing online university capability through information and telecommunication and the infrastructure such as satellite communication, ultra-high speed digital communication networks and the internet. Moreover, it will undertake consulting assignments on information and telecommunication system planning.The institute will have a technical education complex, technology enabling centre, laboratories for software development, administrative wing, students' hostel, housing facility for the teaching faculty and a sports centre. Besides, students will be able to avail themselves of the services of internationally-renowned teachers at the institute which will churn out about 2,000 skilled students every year, the minister said.
