About Nit Karnataka
National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), also known as NITK Surathkal, is a public engineering university at Surathkal, Mangalore. It was founded in 1960 as KREC while today, it is one of the 31 National Institutes of Technology in India and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India. It has a suburban campus, in close proximity to the Arabian Sea. National Highway 66 runs through the campus and serves as the major mode of access.
The foundation stone for Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC) was laid on 6 August 1960, at Surathkal. It was made possible through the efforts of U. Srinivas Mallya and V. S. Kudva and the area is now called Srinivasnagar in his honour. KREC began with three under-graduate courses in engineering: Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil, with affiliation to the University of Mysore. 1965 saw the beginning of under-graduate courses in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. In 1966, the college started its first postgraduate course in Marine Structures and Industrial Structures, followed by post-graduate courses in Industrial Electronics (1969), Heat Power (1971), Hydraulics and Water Resources (1971), Chemical Plant Design Engineering (1971) and Process Metallurgy (1972).