The history of the Institute dates back to 1960 when by an act of the parliament, Regional Engineering College was founded at Durgapur as one of the eight such colleges in the country by the Government of India in partnership with the Government of West Bengal to cater the needs of several major industries located in the region. The college received a major recognition in 2003 when it was elevated to National Institute of Technology (N.I.T.) as a “deemed university” with a fully - funded premier technological institution administered by an autonomous Board of Governors under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The transformation from ‘Regional’ to ‘National’ and from “college” to “Institute” demanded dedicated efforts from its staff and faculty members. Thanks to these collective efforts together with generous funding from the Govt. of India, the institute has since observed an accelerated growth resulting in significant improvement in its infrastructure in all areas (quality of teachers, staff, laboratories, hostels, class rooms etc.). N.I.T. Durgapur is the first institute in Eastern India to be selected as a Lead Institute under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP) of the Govt. Of India funded by the World Bank. In 2007, the institute received a final feather to its cap when the Union Government of India declared it as an “Institute of National Importance” .The rapid shift of focus to research has also resulted in the steep rise in the research output indicators (journal and conference papers) and sponsored projects. Currently the Institute offers nine four - year B. Tech. and nineteen M.Tech. programmes, three M.Sc. programmes, one MCA, one MBA and Ph.D. programmes by all departments. In addition, a good number of foreign students also study here