National Institute of Technology Rourkela, in Odisha, was established on 15 August 1961 as a Regional Engineering College supported jointly by the Government of India and the Government of Odisha. It was declared a National Institute of Technology on 26 June 2002, when it became a centrally funded deemed university, and was declared an Institute of National Importance when the NIT Act came into force on 15 August 2007.
The institute’s 2024-25 annual report describes a 700-acre campus. Its website lists 17 academic departments and 21 undergraduate programmes. In its NIRF 2026 data submission it reported 6,324 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 1,169 PhD students (1,062 full-time and 107 part-time). Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao assumed office as Director on 18 February 2022.