National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT) formerly known as Regional Engineering College, (REC) is one of the premier national level institutions for technical education in the country. and is funded by the Government of India. Government of India has elevated the Regional Engineering College, Rourkela to a deemed university under the name of National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.
The main objective of the institute is to produce quality Engineers and Scientists in Graduate and Post-Graduate levels in various branches of Engineering and Science. The institute is managed by the Board of Governors of National Institute of Technology (Rourkela) Society and vested with significant degree of administrative and financial autonomy. Government of India have recognised the institute as a premier institution of repute and have developed it as a center of excellence under plan funding. The institute has been modernised by two foreign collaborative funding agencies i.e. the Material theme in the Materials and Metallurgical Engineering department under Indo-U.K. REC project and the Computer Science and Electronics streams under World Bank cum Swiss Development Corporation IMPACT project.