NERIST, The North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology  was setup by the Government of India, initially as a project of the North Eastern council, for providing a system of Education to create technical manpower at various levels for the development of the North Eastern Region of the country. NERIST came into existence as a unique institute of its kind in the country having unconventional and innovative academic programmes. The approach is to encourage a policy of vocationalisation at the 10+2 level and to allow only motivated students to go for the degree level while others go out of the Institute to enrich their profession with some years of industrial experience. At any further date if they decide to return to improve their qualification, they would be able to do so. From April 1, 1994, the Institute is totally funded and directly controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), New Delhi. The Institute is managed by a Board of Management comprising of the MHRD, Govt. of India, the seven beneficiary states of the North Eastern region, AICTE and eminent educationists. The foundation stone of the Institute was laid by late Giani Zail Singh, the then President of India, on 4th March, 1984 and the first batch of students was admitted to the Base Module in the August, 1986. By July 2001, ten batches of Graduates with specialization in Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Civil engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and communication Engineering, Electrical engineering and Forestry have come out.