Visakhapatnam: A permanent campus for the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) will come up in Antakapally village in Sabbavaram mandal of Vizag district at an estimated cost of '655 crore, informed joint secretary of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sushma Rath.
On Thursday, the IIPE entered into an MoU with the IIT-Kharagpur, which will extend support as an academic mentor institute for the IIPE. Andhra University will serve as a temporary campus as well as provide infrastructure for IIPE until a permanent campus is built near Sabbavaram. IIPE special officer and HPCL GM (projects), V.S. Shenoy, and Prof. Sunando Das Gupta on behalf of IIT-Kharagpur signed the MoU papers and exchanged the documents in the presence of Ms Rath, district collector Dr N. Yuvraj, AU registrar Prof. V. Umamaheswara Rao and others.
IIT-Kharagpur would help IIPE in curriculum development, induction of faculty, teaching and other vital aspects. Prof. Gupta informed that they would jointly take up the research in the coming days. Advisor-Academics of the IIPE, Dr. V.S.R.K. Prasad, said, "The institution was launched with a mandate to lead the nation forward in education, research and training related to all areas of Petroleum and Energy. The institution would come fully equipped with infrastructure and academic at par with the IITs, keeping pace with the fast developing and competitive energy industry,” he added.
Mr Yuvraj said that the IIPE was established under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. "We have allocated about 200-acre land for this institute and hope this would become one of the best institutes in the country," he added. In 2016-17 academic year, the IIPE would offer two undergraduate programmes in Petroleum Engineering and Chemical Engineering with a proposed capacity of 100 seats. JEE (Advanced) score would serve as a basis for admissions.
