[7][8] The project is also designated as the "Center of Excellence under Technical Education Quality Improvement Program" in water resources and flood management[9] and is supported by the World Bank.

To serve the growing demand for trained quality technical manpower, the Government Of India established fourteen Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) between 1959 and 1965, now known as NITs with campuses at Surat, Allahabad, Bhopal, Calicut, Durgapur, Kurukshetra, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Rourkela, Srinagar, Surathkal, Tiruchirappalli, and Warangal.

The HPRC, under the chairmanship of Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, submitted its report entitled "Strategic Road Map for Academic Excellence of Future RECs" in 1998.

Following the recommendations of HPRC, in 2002, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India upgraded, the seventeen Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) to National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

[citation needed] NIT Surat had received ₹147.47 crore (US$17 million)[12] funding from Government of India during 2019-20.

The Senate controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and results and appoints committees to look into academic matters.

The teaching, training and research activities of the institute are reviewed by the senate to maintain educational standards.

NIT Surat follows the credit-based system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of courses based on their importance.

The main entrance is located on the northern end of the campus, facing Surat-Dumas Road which is on the way to a small seaside resort known as Dumas, from the railway station.

The city buses regularly operate from early morning till midnight, between Surat Railway Station and College Campus/Piplod.

Admission to most undergraduate and postgraduate courses in NIT Surat is granted through written entrance examinations.

The institute also accepts foreign nationals through scholarships awarded by the Government of India, and non-resident Indians through an independent scheme known as Direct Admission for Students Abroad (DASA).

[19] NIT Surat provides on-campus residential facilities to its students, research scholars, faculty members and staff.

Facilities such as computing infrastructure and high-speed internet are extended to all the hostels and the entire campus is connected via Gigabit LAN.

This five-day festival, the largest of its kind in South Gujarat consists of literary and debating events/competitions in the morning and gala cultural shows in the evenings.

[34] The association consists of a wide network of alumnus, students, staff, and faculty who organize events, publications and alumni meets.

The Alumni Association has chapters extending to all metropolitan cities in India and abroad that hold annual networking meets and class reunions.