NIT Rourkela is better for a Masters in Geology. It offers better facilities. Geology department has well-equipped labs with latest technologies. The campus has an active research environment. There is cutting-edge ongoing research in the field of Earth and Atmospheric Science.
Although NIT Rourkela is the better option in terms of academics and research culture, IIT Bhubaneswar has a locational advantage. Due to this advantage, it's easier to get projects and placement opportunities.
M.Sc Geology or Master of Science in Geology is a two-year Postgraduate degree program. The course is an Environmental science course that deals with the study of the surface of the Earth and its different layers, its formation, and evolution. IIT Bhubaneswar was ranked 22nd and NIT Raurkela as 16th by the MHRD by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2020. Both the institutes are of national importance.
The M.Sc program at IIT Bhubaneswar interfaces Science, technology, and engineering. The courses are designed in such a manner that not only keep up the scientific temper but also channelize towards breakthroughs in scientific progress. IIT Bhubaneswar has one its part near Chilka lake for the course of Ocean and Navel and Geology based courses. This is the only IIT that has such practical facilities available in our country. IIT Bhubaneswar also offers a large number of elective courses for Geology like Glacial GeoScience, Modeling and simulation, and many more. The faculties are experienced and all of them have their PhDs from various national and internationally renowned institutes. IIT Bhubaneswar also holds a good placement record, in 2019 the overall placement rate was 90% with 11.4 LPA for average CTC.
M.Sc in Applied Geology at NIT Rourkela is excellent. They have a mission to carry out cutting-edge research in the fields of Earths and Atmospheric Science with the emphasis on application to Geological Prospectives, Atmospheric Modeling, and Measurements. In 2017, Earth and the atmospheric department got the best project in the M.Sc category. The department has well-equipped laboratory facilities to allow cutting edged research to go in full flow. In 2019 there has been a 53% increase in placement and the highest salary package offered was 39 LPA.
So one can choose any one of them and continue their further studies.