Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani - Dubai (BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus or BPDC) is a private technical research university and a constituent college of Dubai International Academic City. It became the international branch of BITS Pilani in 2000, making it the second branch established (other branches: Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad). It is the first Indian university to have an overseas campus. BITS Pilani is one of the first six institutes to be awarded the Institute of Eminence status in 2018. BITS Pilani, Dubai offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in various fields of engineering and business management. It enrolls about 1,400 students every year, mostly from India, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.

History
Inception
The Birla Education Trust was founded in 1929; the intermediate college became a degree college and later offered postgraduate courses. The masters programme in electronics began in 1955. Reacting to early criticism about the project, contemporary advisor Thomas Drew said:-

In my judgment to attempt to develop an American institution in India would be like trying to graft apples on a pine tree. We have not been asked to make such an attempt. We were asked to help devise in India an Indian technological school to produce graduates with the know-how to produce knowledge pertinent for India.... In many respects they consider us immature, rude, hypocritical barbarians who in certain respects happened to hit it lucky. To be viable in India an institution must be framed with Indian values in mind. BITS Pilani became a deemed university established under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956 by notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of 18 June 1964. In 1964, the Birla Colleges of Humanities, Commerce, Engineering, Pharmacy and Science were merged to form the Birla Institute of Technology & Science. The board provided direction in developing a curriculum, selecting equipment, upgrading the library and recruiting (and training) an Indian faculty. To quicken the pace of reform he convinced C. R. Mitra to be the new director of the institute. Mitra advocated a "practice school" internship program as a requirement for faculty and students. The Practice School Program is still a requirement for students in BITS.

According to Robert Kargon and Stuart Leslie:-
BITS offered an opportunity to build a leading technological university in India responsive to India's goals, to produce practising engineers who will be in a position to graduate and to build industries in India, under Indian conditions. With its emphasis on the Practice School and ties to Indian industry, it helped educate Indian industrialists along with Indian engineers who would remain in India, in contrast to many other engineering colleges in India, most of whose graduates would leave the country after obtaining their basic engineering education. The Ford Foundation Evaluators...proudly noted that the Indian government, despite having given no direct financial support, was looking to BITS to provide a model for future development in education in engineering and science in India.

Multi-campus expansion
Ghanshyam Das Birla, was born on 10 April 1894 at Pilani village, in the Indian state then known as Rajputana, as a member of the Maheshwari Marwari community. Later, Birla inherited the family business and moved to further diversify them into other areas. He became the founding president of Harijan Sevak Sangh founded by Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi in 1932 . Birla was a close associate and a steady supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, whom he met for the first time in 1916. Gandhi stayed at Birla's home in New Delhi during the last four months of his life. Envisioning infrastructural development in his hometown, Birla founded the Birla Engineering College (rechristened as Birla Institute of Technology and Science in 1964) in Pilani and the Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences in Bhiwani among other educational institutions in 1943. Both colleges have evolved over the years to develop into one of India's best engineering schools. Dr. K.K. Birla, who took over as the Chairman in 1983, realized the need for providing top class higher education facility to greater number of promising students in science and technology.

In 1999, enrollment expanded from 2,500 to 4,000 and campuses were founded in Dubai (2000) and Goa (2004). In 2006, BITS Pilani acquired 81 hectares (200 acres) of land from the Andhra Pradesh government through the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority for a new campus. The land is located in Jawaharnagar, Shameerpet Mandal in the Rangareddy district. The BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus opened in 2008; the school also has a virtual university and an extension center in Bangalore. Consequent upon the sad demise of Dr. K.K. Birla in 2008, Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla was elected as the Chancellor and Smt. Shobhana Bhartia was appointed as the Pro-Chancellor.

Dubai Campus
BITS Dubai was the second branch of the university, set up in 2000 in Al Ghurair University Campus. Prof. M. Ramachandran was its founding director. It was then relocated to Dubai Knowledge Village, and again, to its permanent campus with student housing at Dubai International Academic City (a university town in Dubai) in September 2007. BITS Pilani Dubai is approved by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and University Grants Commission (UGC), India and is permitted by Knowledge & the Human Development Authority (KHDA), Government of Dubai.

Campus
The campus is a twenty-minute car ride away from the heart of Dubai and takes an hour or two via public transportation- RTA Dubai Metro and Bus. BITS Pilani, Dubai has nine buildings spanning over 5.7 hectares (14 acres) in Dubai International Academic City campus area of 1,200 hectares (2,960 acres):-

• The Main Block Building of three floors has lecture rooms, professors chambers, two conference halls, a sports complex, an auditorium and technical labs.
• Mechanical Block of two floors has a Workshop area on the ground floor and various labs on the next two floors including Civil Engineering Labs.
• The Library block consists of a library spanning over two floors, an activity room and a cafeteria.
• The Girls' Hostel consists of two buildings, one which is used to accommodate students, while the other is equipped with a common mess, prayer hall, laundromat and gym facility.
• The Boys' Hostel consists of four buildings, equipped with the same facilities as the Girls' Hostel.

The campus also consists of a full-length football field, indoor badminton court, race track, lawn tennis court, cricket nets, basketball court, volleyball court and indoor games section.

Labs
Labs at campus include - Advanced Molecular Biology Lab, Analog Electronics Lab, Biology Lab, Chemical Engineering Lab I & II, Chemistry Lab Communication Lab, Computer Aided Design Lab, Computer Programming Lab, Concrete Lab, Creative Lab, Digital Design Lab, Electrical Machines Lab, Engineering Graphics Lab, Environmental Lab, Fluid Machinery lab, Genetic Engineering Lab, Heat Transfer Lab, Industrial Microbiology & Bioprocess Engineering Lab, Instrumental Methods of Analysis Lab, Instrumentation Lab, Mechatronics & Robotics Lab, MEMS Lab, Materials Testing Lab, Microbiology Lab, Microprocessor Programming & Interfacing Lab, Petroleum Lab, Physics Lab, Power Electronics Lab, Prime Movers and Fluid Machinery Lab, Process Control Lab, Production Techniques I & II Labs, Signal and Simulation Lab, Software Systems Lab, Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Lab, Survey Lab, Transport Phenomena Lab, Transportation Engineering Lab, Workshop Prime Movers & Fluid Mechanics Lab.

Academics
Departments
BITS Pilani has 9 academic departments:-

• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science
• Electrical and Electronics Engineering
• General Sciences
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Mechanical Engineering
• Mathematics

All major and minor courses for undergraduate and postgraduate studies fall under these departments. Experiment and research labs along with other facilities set-up in departmental buildings or floors are also governed by their respective departments.

Undergraduate Programs
BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus offers 4-year Integrated bachelor of engineering (B.E.) programs at the undergraduate level. The university also offers 5-year dual bachelor's degrees in two major fields. These programs are offered directly under the 9 academic departments. Course structure is flexible and curriculum allows students to enroll in general science, engineering, mathematics, management, humanities and other inter-disciplinary courses. Minor degrees in Aeronautics, Data Science, Finance, Material Science, Robotics, Philosophy, Economics and Politics are also awarded along with the undergraduate degree after completion of additional courses.

Graduate and Research Programs
The Master of Engineering (M.E.) in Design engineering, Microelectronics, Software Systems, Electrical (with specialization in Power Electronics and Drives) and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Engineering and Technology Management and IT Enabled Services Management.

Doctoral Programs
PhD and research programmes are offered:-

• Full-Time
• Part-Time

BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus has also entered into a research collaboration with the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai, UAE.

Practice School
Practice School (PS) is a programme unique to BITS Pilani university, through which students are placed in the industry for hands-on learning experience. PS-1, a two-month internship programme for the summer after second year, is a compulsory for all students. PS-2 is an extended internship programme, usually of five and a half months duration that students may go for in their final year. The students are graded by the off-campus BITS faculty and the PS mentor. The allocation is based on the academic record of the student and is managed centrally. Every PS station roughly accommodates 6-7 students. Practice School is aimed at familiarizing students with the work environment and technical standards in the industry. Students can also opt for a thesis instead of Practice School II where they will have to work under a professor either on campus or off campus on some research area related to his discipline. In case of an off campus thesis, an on campus guide will co-ordinate with the off campus guide for a smooth process.

Admissions
BITS Pilani is offered to students based on their performance in the All-India Entrance Examination, called BITS Admission Test (BITSAT). BITS Pilani also has the policy of accepting State and National Board toppers. There is no reservation of seats on the basis of caste or category. BITSAT is a computer based test and is held at BITS authorised test centres. The examination chiefly covers topics, based on the NCERT higher secondary curriculum, in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, and reasoning and analytical skills in Logic and English. Any student having a minimum aggregate of 75% in Physics, Maths and Chemistry, and a minimum of 60% marks in each of the BITSAT subjects individually is eligible to apply to the campus. For international students, Dubai Campus also accepts SAT Subject Tests. Since mode of instruction is English, students who have passed the qualifying examination in non-English medium must satisfy the minimum requirement of TOEFL or IELTS.

(Source:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birla_Institute_of_Technology_and_Science,_Pilani_%E2%80%93_Dubai_Campus)