Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (IIEST Shibpur), erstwhile Bengal Engineering College (also known as B.E. College), formerly Bengal Engineering and Science University (also known as BESU), is a public research university also a National Institute of Technology located at Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal. Founded in 1856, it is one of the oldest public research university. It is recognised as an Institute of National Importance under MHRD by the Government of India. It is controlled by the Council of NITSER. History The college was founded as the Civil Engineering College on November 24, 1856, in Writers' Building, Calcutta (now Kolkata). The college was established as an independent entity in 1880 as Government College, Howrah, in the premises of Bishop's College in Shibpur, Howrah. In 1921, the name of the college was changed to Bengal Engineering College. B.E. College was previously affiliated to the University of Calcutta. At that time it contained only civil and mechanical engineering departments. Several other departments were created subsequently over the years, the last among them being that of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics in 2010. On 1 October 2004, the institution was conferred the status of a full-fledged university. It was formally inaugurated as Bengal Engineering and Science University by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India, on 13 July 2005. In March 2014, the institute was conferred the status of an INI and was renamed Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur by the Govt. of India by suitably amending the National Institutes of Technology and Science Education and Research Act, 2007. The conversion process of BESU to IIEST was mentored by IIT Kanpur. President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated it as IIEST on 24 August 2014. In June 2014, Govt. of West Bengal appointed IIEST Shibpur as the Mentor Institute for Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kalyani, which was inaugurated in June the same year. Organisation and administration Departments IIEST Shibpur has 16 departments, 2 multi-disciplinary centers and 8 schools of excellence. The academic departments (in order of their year of establishment) are: Civil Engineering Mathematics Chemistry Mining Engineering Electrical Engineering Earth Sciences Mechanical Engineering Physics Metallurgy and Materials Engineering Humanities and Social Sciences Architecture, Town and Regional Planning Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering Computer Science and Technology Human Resource Management Information Technology Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics Schools and centres Following are the multi-disciplinary centers located in IIEST