Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal (MAKAUT, WB), formerly West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), is a public state university located in Kolkata, India. Founded in 2000 and funded initially by the Government of West Bengal, MAKAUT, WB provides facilities for the pursuit of degree and advanced-level courses in engineering, management and other professional areas through affiliated institutions and in-house departments.
The government of West Bengal set up an Expert Committee on December 31, 1998, under the chairmanship of Ashesh Prasad Mitra to explore the necessity, field and scope for the establishment of an 'Engineering and Technology' university in the state of West Bengal. Following their review, they decided that existing and forthcoming engineering and technology colleges needed the guidance of a technological university for the inclusive growth and improvement of technological education.
The proposition to set up West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) was started by a committee in 1998; it formally came into existence on August 5, 2000. It started functioning with the assumption of office of the first vice chancellor on January 15, 2001 as a sequel to the promulgation of the West Bengal University of Technology Act 2000, under the West Bengal Act XV of 2000 passed by the West Bengal legislature and published in the Calcutta Gazette (Extraordinary) dated July 20, 2000. The Act contemplates a General Council, an Executive Council, an Academic Council, a Finance Committee and an Advisory Council as its regulatory and advisory bodies.
The university in-house department first started with formerly IIIT-C (Indian Institute of Information Technology-Calcutta) and used to offer B.E. degree course in Information Technology. The renaming of the university from West Bengal University of Technology to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal in April 2015[3] led to agitation in the student community and across the colleges affiliated to the university
