From 1901 to Today: The Journey of BITS

The story of BITS Pilani is not just about buildings and programmes, it’s about a vision that began in a small classroom in 1901 and grew into one of India’s most iconic institutions of higher learning.

It all started as a humble Patshala in Pilani by Seth ShivNarainji Birla to educate his grandsons, Shri G.D. Birla and Shri R.D. Birla, eventually sowing seeds for what we call a ‘movement’ in education.

The Patshala eventually became a high school and, soon after, an Intermediate College, laying the foundation for the legacy.

Shri S.D. Pandey became the Principal of Birla High School, which raised the college into a thriving educational hub, marking the first step toward becoming BITS.

Two major events took place this year: The Birla Education Trust was founded, and the College was upgraded into a Degree institution with postgraduate programmes.

The Technical Training Centre was established during World War II and later became an Engineering College offering programmes in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

During this year, the College, affiliated with Rajasthan University, introduced postgraduate courses and new programmes in Telecommunications, Electronics, & Civil Engineering.

A big announcement was made by Shri G.D. Birla this year to establish an institute in India modelled on MIT, USA, bringing world-class technical education home.

The Birla Institute of Technology and Science was formally founded and declared a ‘Deemed to be University’ by the Government of India. Shri G.D. Birla inaugurated it with Prof. V. Lakshminarayanan as the first Director.

With support from the Ford Foundation and guidance from MIT, BITS became an institute everyone wanted to be a part of. This period also saw the birth of The Practice School, a concept that the country still admired today.

Work-Integrated Learning Programmes (WILP) was introduced, giving working professionals a chance to scale up their skills while being at their jobs decades before “blended learning” became a buzzword.

During this period, BITS grew across the board—faculty, infrastructure, and student intake—strengthening from 2,500 to 4,000 students.

This year saw something monumental as BITS became the first Indian university to open an international campus in Dubai. After which, new campuses in Goa (2004) and Hyderabad (2008) also opened.

BITSAT, India’s first fully online admission test, was launched, setting a new benchmark for fairness and transparency.

Cross-campus telepresence, visionary leadership, and ambitious missions, such as Vision 2020, propelled BITS into a high-tech future.

BITS Pilani became an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India.

This year saw new additions such as BITS School of Management (BITSoM), major research grants, and new leadership across campuses.

Today, BITS Pilani is a hub of innovators and is a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurship and global learning.