Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat government on Thursday received a formal approval from the Central government to set up Indian Institute of Technology in the state.

The state government has decided to make the IIT functional from the coming academic year, an official release quoting government spokesperson and Health minister Jaynarayan Vyas said.

The Central Human Resource Development Ministry had recently announced setting up of new IITs in which they had agreed to set up one in Gujarat.

IIT will provide a five-year B Tech degree programme with 40 seats each in three branches of engineering - Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical, Vyas said.

At present, the IIT will be located in the Vishwakarma Government Engineering College campus at Chandkheda in Gandhinagar district where the necessary infrastructural support is already in place.

Last year IIT-Mumbai had opened its extension centre here which provides courses on developing skills in engineering education.

The state government has already allotted land for the IIT-Gujarat in the Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad Knowledge Corridor, but till the construction is completed, the IIT will function from the 50,000 sq ft Vishwakarma College campus, Vyas said.