Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla is a state public technical university in Sambalpur district, Odisha, with roots in one of the earliest engineering institutions of the state. It began on 12 August 1956 as the University College of Engineering, Burla, becoming the first engineering college established in Odisha. The institution initially offered Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and admitted a small first cohort, laying the foundation for technical education in a region being transformed by the Hirakud project and post-independence industrial development. The college was initially associated with Utkal University and came under Sambalpur University in January 1967. Its academic profile expanded over time into additional engineering branches, science, humanities, computer applications and postgraduate and research programs. In July 2002, it became a constituent college of Biju Patnaik University of Technology. A decisive institutional change followed through the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology Act, 2009, which converted the college into a unitary technical university with effect from 1 July 2009. VSSUT is named after Veer Surendra Sai, the nineteenth-century freedom fighter associated with western Odisha. The university received University Grants Commission recognition in January 2010 and later came under Section 12(B), enabling eligibility for central assistance. Its Burla campus combines academic departments, laboratories, workshops, residential facilities, libraries, research activity and student organizations in an engineering-focused environment. As a university, VSSUT awards undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral qualifications and supports research across engineering, technology, science and allied disciplines. Its long institutional continuity from a 1956 engineering college to an autonomous university gives it a distinctive place in Odisha’s technical-education history, while its location in Burla links it to one of the state’s most important engineering and infrastructure corridors. Its continuity shows how engineering education in Odisha evolved from a small public college into a research-oriented technical university.