Chittaranjan Mitra, popularly known as CR Mitra and CRM, was an Indian scientist who is best remembered as the second Director of the

Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a Deemed university in Pilani, Jhunjhunu, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. After expansion to a campus in Dubai, it has b ...

(BITS). He played a pivotal role in the transformation of the Institute from a local engineering college to a reputed university.

Education

Born in 1926 in Allahabad in the erstwhile

United Provinces of British India The United Provinces of British India, more commonly known as the United Provinces, was a province of British India, which came into existence on 3 January 1921 as a result of the renaming of the ''United Provinces of Agra and Oudh''. It corre ...

, C.R. Mitra studied at

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

, Bangalore, did his Masters at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and then acquired a Doctorate in

Engineering Science Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York.

Career

Returning to India in the 1960s, Mitra first became the director of the

Harcourt Butler Technological Institute Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTU) is a Premier State Technical University in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation ( help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state ...

. In 1969, he was offered the position of director of BITS Pilani by

Ghanshyam Das Birla Ghanshyam Das Birla (10 April 1894 – 11 June 1983) was an Indian businessman and member of the Birla Family. Birla family history Ghanshyam Das Birla was born on 10 April 1894 at Pilani town in Jhunjhunu district, in the region known as ...

. At this time, the institute was undergoing major changes under the leadership of a committee of experts from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. He is credited with increasing the pace of those reforms, as well as for constituting a "practice school" program of industry internship "far more ambitious than anything MIT had done, as a requirement for all faculty and students". To address the human resource development needs of the Indian industry and the financial challenge of running higher degree programs at BITS Pilani, in the year 1979, he pioneered the Work Integrated Learning Programs, which provided education and training to employees of Indian Industries. Today, these programs have an enrollment of about 17,000 students throughout India and are responsible for earning two thirds of the revenue of the Institute. Mitra was responsible for introducing innovative educational philosophies which made the educational system at BITS Pilani unique, including broad-based, multi-disciplinary approach, semester long course based curricula, practice school, industry-academia collaboration, choosing electives and many other features which were firsts in Indian higher education. He was widely respected by the students who affectionately referred to him as ''Dynamic Diro'' (Director) In 1989, he was invited by

NIIT NIIT Limited ''(National Institute of Information Technology)'' is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Training and development, skills and talent development corporation headquartered in Gurgaon, India. The company was set u ...

to be their education advisor. He was responsible for introducing the 'GNIIT' program that would become the flagship offering of the Institute.Press Release by BITS Pilani
/ref> Under his advisory, NIIT rose as one of the leading IT education providers in India.

Death

Mitra died on 27 August 2008. He is survived by his wife and children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Chittaranjan 2008 deaths 1926 births University of Allahabad alumni Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani faculty Indian Institute of Science alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Educators from Uttar Pradesh Scholars from Allahabad