Shiv Pratap's Review on Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad

ISM is in the process of acquiring new land adjacent to the present campus, which will nearly double its area. At present it is spread over an area of 88 hectares (212 acres). Currently massive construction activities are ongoing in the existing ISM campus. 

The ISM campus is surrounded by offices related to mining such as the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, and the headquarters of Directorate General of Mines Safety and of Bharat Coking Coal Limited. The ISM campus comprises academic buildings, student hostels with a 100% residential facilities for faculty, staff and students.

The main building, known as the Heritage Building, houses the departments of Mining Engineering, Applied Geology, Applied Geophysics and Electrical Engineering. Some unique features of ISM are the Geological Museum, the Seismic Observatory, a Data Processing Laboratory, the Long Wall Mine Gallery and the Remote Sensing Laboratory.

The Library is automated and provides services seven days a week, catering to more than 5500 users belonging to 17 departments and centers. The library houses 85,000 books, 8000 Ph.D. thesis and dissertations, 35,000 bound volumes of journals and 1200 digital books.

The Computer Center supports a campus-wide fiber optic network with dedicated Internet gateway. It caters to all the computing needs of the faculty members and the students. The Health Centre provides medical care to students, teachers, staff and their family members.

ISM offers courses in engineering, pure sciences, management and humanities with a focus on engineering. The programs and courses offered at ISM are changing as the school evolving into a full-fledged engineering university from the earlier focus on mining and earth sciences. The institute currently has 18 departments and 5 inter-disciplinary centres. The Department of Mining Engineering has been accorded the status of Centre of Advanced Studies by the UGC. ISM is the only institute of its kind in India that caters to the human resource needs of the nation in the area of Earth Sciences and Engineering, besides training manpower in the other technical disciplines.

Admission to the courses of B.Tech, Dual Degree and Integrated courses are done from IIT-JEE Advanced qualified students. Admission to the M.Tech courses are done either through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) or through a special examination conducted by the institute. Admissions to the MBA program is done through theCommon Admission Test (CAT). Admission to the M.Sc.Tech. and PhD courses are done through examinations conducted by the institute.

The campus has facilities for sports like athletics, cricket, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, squash and table tennis. Interested students are also trained in combat sports such karate, wu shu and boxing. Students choose between National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), National Sports Organisation (NSO) and Yoga as a compulsory extra curricular activity. There is a Student Activity Centre (SAC) with facilities like swimming pool, gym and cafetaria.

There are various Clubs to cater specific hobbies like Dramatics, Dance, Music, Quizzing, Literary, entrepreneurship, Robotics.

Students of the college also take part in social activities and causes of social uplift. Kartavya, Fast Forward India (FFI) are two such initiatives to improve the society around the college campus. While Kartavya aim to educating poverty stricken and slum dwelling students, FFI conducts blood donation camps, imparts basic computer and English education, and numerous careers counseling sessions in schools to help the deprived students shape their future. Mailer Daemon is a monthly campus newspaper, published by ISM students. Genesis is the Entrepreneurship Cell of ISM. The Cell motivates and provides resources to the students to start-up their own enterprises. SRIJAN is the annual inter college Cultural festival of ISM. Concetto is the annual inter college Techno-management fest. Parakram is the annual inter college Sports fest.