National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal (NITK) is in Mangalore, Karnataka, on a 296-acre campus on the coast. It was established as Karnataka Regional Engineering College in 1960 and upgraded to a National Institute of Technology in 2002. Its functioning is governed by the NIT Act, 2007, and it is run by a Board of Governors whose chair is nominated by the Government of India.
According to the director’s message on its website, the institute has 14 departments offering undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes, about 300 faculty members and about 400 staff. It says about 7,000 students are enrolled and nearly 2,000 graduate each year; its about page gives a figure of about 6,000 students. The institute reports more than 40,000 alumni.