File Photo: BITS Pilani Institute Facade.
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HANDOUT_E_MAIL
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, has announced plans to set up a modern AI+ campus with an investment of ₹2,319 crore at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh and modernise the existing campuses under Project Vistaar besides venturing in edtech space.
The new Amaravati campus built with an investment of ₹1,000 crore will support 3,000 students in Phase 1 and another 4,000 in the second phase adding advanced research centers, global collaboration zones and dedicated entrepreneurship hubs, built using sustainable, modular infrastructure for scalability and efficiency.
BITS Pilani will fund the entire project through its internal accruals.
BITS Pilani will fund the entire project through its internal accruals.
Addressing students at the BITS Pilani convocation, Birla said the campus at Amaravati will be one-of-a-kind next-generation innovation hub spread across 35 acres and will offer undergraduate twinning programs, cotutelle doctoral degrees with top global institutions besides master’s programs in AI and machine language, innovation and strategy.
Under Project Vistaar, he said BITS Pilani will invest Rs 1,319 crore to build capacity of scale with ambitious physical expansions in its history and introduce new academic blocks, research facilities, student hostels, faculty residences at the Pilani, Hyderabad and Goa campuses.
The investment will also include upgrading undergraduate laboratories to world standards. The student intake across campuses will increase from 18,700 to about 26,000 by academic year 2030–31.
Strategic development
This physical expansion is coupled with strategic development of new interdisciplinary programs aligned with future industry and global trends.
The Smart Campus Vision at Amaravati will integrate IoT systems, AI-powered services, immersive learning tools, and hybrid delivery infrastructure.
The institute will also unveil BITS Pilani Digital, a dedicated EdTech platform, in the next six months to shape the future of learning at the intersection of physical and digital education, he said.
Birla said the Amaravati campus is being built on the request from the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and generous grant and sops offered by the state government.
Answering concern on brain drain, Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani said it has been brain gain as far as the institute is concerned as 50 per cent of faculty appointed in last 3 years were from overseas and 75 per cent of the students passing out from BITS want to make it big in India.
To enhance diversity, he said the institute offers attractive scholarship for girls who ranks within the top-1000 ranking and the diversity is 40 per cent including PhDs but overall the level is 15 per cent, he said.
Last year, he said BITS received 2.41 lakh applications and admitted 3,500 students, he added.
Published on July 13, 2025
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