Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Dubai campus or most commonly known as BITS PILANI DUBAI is a private engineering college which is situated in Dubai Academic City in the United Arab Emirates.

BITS Pilani Dubai is the first Indian University to have an overseas campus and it was the second-ever BITS Campus established after the Pilani Campus of BITS situated in Pilani, Rajasthan, India.

BITS Pilani Dubai like most of the other engineering colleges in India offers regular undergraduate courses, graduate courses, and Ph.D. courses but BITS Pilani Dubai also offers its students MBA Programmes.

EARLY HISTORY-

In 1929, Birla Educational Trust was formed and the intermediate college now was a degree college and soon also started offering Post-Graduate courses.

There was a lot of criticism which was received by this project and responding to these critics, Thomas Drew who also was a contemporary writer 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.”

In 1964, Birla Colleges of Humanities, Pharmacy, Commerce, Engineering and Science were merged into a single college which is still known as Birla Institute of Technology and Science. The board provided guidance and direction to the university in developing the course curriculum of the university, recruiting and training Indian Faculty, purchasing the required equipment, upgrading and buying new books for the library. Thomas Drew convinced C.R.Mitra to be the director of the newly established BITS Pilani Institute in order to quicken the pace of development and reform in the institution. Mitra, after he took charge as director of the institute, proposed a Practice School internship program as a requirement for faculty and students, and this Practice School Program is mandatory for Students and Faculty of BITS Pilani even today.

Robert Kargon and Stuart Leslie stated the following sentence in their book “ History of BITS Pilani” published in 2004.

“ BITS offered an opportunity to build a leading technological university in India responsive to India’s goals, to produce practicing 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 the 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 inherited the family business and planned to expand it in different diversified areas. Being a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi during the days of India’s freedom struggle, GD Birla became the founding president of the Harijan Sevak Sangh, the foundation of which was laid by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 in Delhi. GD Birla always envisioned infrastructural development in his hometown of Pilani situated in Rajasthan, and following the same dream, he founded the Birla Engineering College in Pilani and also laid the foundation stone of Technological Institute of Textile and Sciences in Bhiwani both in the year 1943. Until the year 1999, BITS Pilani used to enroll around 2,500 students every year but since 1999, enrollment of students was increased to 4,000 students per year.

In the year 2000, BITS Pilani Dubai was established followed by the BITS Pilani Goa campus in 2004 and in the year 2008, BITS Hyderabad came into existence. 

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus was established in 2000, initially in the Al Ghurair University Campus and moved to its permanent campus in Dubai International Academic City in 2007. 

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus-

BITS Pilani Dubai campus is spread over 14 acres of land and comprises of 5 buildings which are-

1. The four floored Main Block Building which comprises all the lecture rooms, professor chambers, conference halls, a sports complex, an auditorium, and the labs.
2. The two-floored Mechanical Block which houses the Workshop area on the ground floor and various technical labs on the above two floors.
3. The Library Block comprises a library that marks its presence across two floors while also hosting a cafeteria and an activity room.
4. The Girls Hostels which consists of two buildings with all the basic amenities. 
5. The Boys Hostels which comprises 4 buildings with all the basic amenities. 

BITS Pilani Dubai pays special attention to extra-academic activities of its students and that is the reason why the BITS Pilani Dubai campus boasts of a full-length football field, multiple indoor badminton courts, a race track, lawn tennis courts, multiple cricket practice nets and pitches, basketball courts, volleyball courts and an indoor game room.

With the aim of providing students with highest possible quality of education, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus is well-equipped with state of the art laboratories which include the likes of 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.

MAIN BUILDING OF BITS PILANI DUBAI-

Main building of the  BITS Pilani Dubai Campus is a three story building where all the academic classes are held. It also boasts of containing an auditorium, a sports complex, conference halls and important academic labs with the likes of Power Electronics Lab, Petroleum Lab and many other experimental laboratories. 

LIBRARY BLOCK-

Every great institution marks within its campus the presence of a great library and BITS Pilani Dubai is no exception. Located behind the Main building, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus’ library is the place to be in if you wanna gather some knowledge. The ground floor of the library houses all the course related material like notes, books, manuals, lecture notes, work stations and also provides students with personal space where they can read in a peaceful environment. The first floor of the library has a discussion room, a room where students can explore the internet, reading spaces and novels for the leisure time of students.  

MECHANICAL BLOCK-

The Mechanical Block of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus as the name suggests adheres to students of the Mechanical and Civil Departments. The two-storeyed building has a mechanical workshop on the ground floor. Civil Engineering labs and some mechanical labs are there on the first floor of the building while the second floor has creative labs, Mechatronic Labs, and Heat Transfer lab. 

HOSTELS-

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus provides in-campus residential facility to all of its students and to serve the same purpose BITS Pilani Dubai Campus has separate hostels for boys and girls. There are four boys hostels divided into blocks named A,B,C and D, while the girls hostels have been divided into two blocks G and H respectively. Each block has all the basic requirements for students like laundry facilities, gymnasium facility, indoor play rooms, mess facilities and TV room. 

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS OFFERED-

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS-

At the  under-graduate level, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus offers its students 8 different courses namely-

1. B.E Computer Science.
2. B.E Chemical Engineering
3. B.E Electronics and Electrical Engineering
4. B.E Electronics and Communication Engineering
5. B.E Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
6. B.E Mechanical Engineering
7. B.E Biotechnology Engineering
8. B.E Civil Engineering

GRADUATE PROGRAMS-

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus offers higher degree or graduate programs in the following 6 courses-

1. M.E Design Engineering
2. M.E Microelectronics
3. M.E Software Technology
4. M.E Biotechnology
5. M.B.A in Engineering and Technology Management
6. M.B.A in Information Technology. 

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus PRACTICE SCHOOL-

To enable its students to get hands-on experience, the unique Practice School(PS) Program of BITS Pilani places its students in the industry to help them get the required exposure and knowledge in regard to working directly in these industries.  PS-1 is a program for 2nd year students and the duration of this program is two months and is compulsory for all the students in their 2nd year of stay at BITS Pilani Dubai Campus. PS-2 is an optional 5 month internship program which students may or may not take. 

Every student is assigned a PS Mentor and grading of the students is done by an off-campus faculty and the PS Mentor which has been assigned to the student. There are multiple PS Stations and each such station houses about 6-7 students. 

STUDENT LIFE-

Student Life in BITS Pilani Dubai Campus is a mix of Academics and Extracurriculars. Students are always encouraged to participate in Extracurricular activities like sports. They are also encouraged for entrepreneurship. And there are multiple clubs in which students can pursue their hobbies and passion under guidance of coaches and individuals who are an expert in that particular field.  

FEE STRUCTURE-

The average cost of studying a semester in BITS Pilani costs the students about 30,000 AED or about 5 Lakh Indian Rupees. This includes all the academic expenses of students like tution fees and the lodging expenses of students like Mess Charges and Hostel Room rent. 

However it does not include the personal expenses(if any) like Travelling Expenses, Medical Expenses etc. 

ADMISSION PROCEDURE-

For candidates seeking admission in any of the undergraduate courses offered by BITS Pilani Dubai Campus Candidates must have passed the requisite Qualifying Examination, which is the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination of Ministry of Education, UAE or Senior School Certificate Examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education.

The candidates must have obtained a minimum 60% overall aggregate* of marks in the qualifying examination and must have a minimum aggregate of 60% in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics subjects with at least 50% marks in each subject.

For candidates seeking admission in any of the graduate courses offered by BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, candidates must have scored a minimum aggregate of 60%/First Class in the qualifying degree as indicated below for each programme.