The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous public institutes of higher education,

located in India.[1] They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared
them as institutions of national importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for
governance.[2][3] The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 lists twenty-three institutes (after the
last amendmentin 2016).[4] Each IIT is autonomous, linked to the others through a common council
(IIT Council), which oversees their administration.The Minister of Human Resource Development is
the ex officio Chairperson of the IIT Council.[5] As of 2018, the total number of seats for
undergraduate programs in all IIT is 11,279.[6]
The history of the IIT system dates back to 1946 when Sir Jogendra Singh of the Viceroy's Executive
Council set up a committee whose task was to consider the creation of Higher Technical
Institutions for post-war industrial development in India. The 22-member committee, headed
by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, recommended the establishment of these institutions in various parts of
India, with affiliated secondary institutions.
The first Indian Institute of Technology was founded in May 1950 at the site of the Hijli Detention
Camp in Kharagpur.[14] The first Indian Institute of Technology was established in 1951. On 15
September 1956, the Parliament of India passed the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act,
declaring it as an Institute of National Importance. Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, in
the first convocation address of IIT Kharagpur in 1956 said:[15]

“
Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India,
representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me
symbolical of the changes that are coming to India. ”
On the recommendations of the Sarkar Committee, four campuses were established
at Bombay (1958), Madras (1959), Kanpur (1959), and Delhi (1961). The location of these
campuses was chosen to be scattered throughout India to prevent regional imbalance.[16] The Indian
Institutes of Technology Act was amended to reflect the addition of new IITs.[2]Student agitations in
the state of Assam made Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promise the creation of a new IIT in Assam.
This led to the establishment of a sixth institution at Guwahatiunder the Assam Accord in 1960. In
2001, the University of Roorkee, India's oldest engineering college, was converted into IIT Roorkee.

IITG estd. 1994

Over the past few years, there have been a number of developments toward establishing new IITs.
On October 1, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced plans to create more IITs "by
upgrading existing academic institutions that have the necessary promise and
potential".[17] Subsequent developments led to the formation of the S K Joshi Committee, in
November 2003, to guide the selection of the five institutions which would be converted into IITs.
Based on the initial recommendations of the Sarkar Committee, it was decided that new IITs should
be spread throughout the country. When the government expressed its willingness to correct this
regional imbalance, 16 states demanded IITs. Since the S K Joshi Committee prescribed strict
guidelines for institutions aspiring to be IITs,[18] only seven colleges were selected for final
consideration.[19] Plans are also reported to open IITs outside India, although there has not been
much progress in this regard.[20] Eventually in the 11th Five year plan, eight states were identified for
establishment of new IITs. In 2008 and 2009, eight new IITs were set up
in Gandhinagar, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ropar, and Mandi. Following
same selection process since 1972, in 2012 the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu
University was made a member of the IITs.
In 2015 to 2016, six new IITs in Tirupati, Palakkad, Dharwad, Bhilai, Goa and Jammu, approved
through a 2016 bill amendment, were founded, along with the conversion of ISM Dhanbad into
IIT Dhanbad.
The entire allocation by the Center for 2017-18 budget for all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
was slightly over ₹7,000 crores (70,000 millions). However, the aggregate money spent by Indian
students for tertiary education in the United States was about six times more than what the Center
spends on all IITs.[21]

Organizational structure[edit]

organizational Structure of IITs

The President of India is the most powerful person in the organizational structure of Indian Institutes
of Technology, being the ex officio Visitor,[22] and having residual powers. Directly under the
President is the IIT Council, which comprises the minister-in-charge of technical education in the
Union Government, the Chairmen of all IITs, the Directors of all IITs, the Chairman of the University
Grants Commission, the Director General of CSIR, the Chairman of IISc, the Director of IISc, three
members of Parliament, the Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource and
Development, and three appointees each of the Union Government, AICTE, and the Visitor.[23]
Under the IIT Council is the Board of Governors of each IIT. Under the Board of Governors is
the Director, who is the chief academic and executive officer of the IIT.[24] Under the Director, in the
organizational structure, comes the Deputy Director. Under the Director and the Deputy Director,
come the Deans, Heads of Departments, Registrar, President of the Students' Council, and
Chairman of the Hall Management Committee. The Registrar is the chief administrative officer of the
IIT and overviews the day-to-day operations.[24] Below the Heads of Department (HOD) are the
faculty members (Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors). The Wardens come
under the Chairman of the Hall Management Committee.[25]

The Institutes of Technology Act[edit]

Main article: Institutes of Technology Act
The Institutes of Technology act was later taken as the base for the following years up until date.
The Act primarily accepted few IITs as Institutes of National Importance and converted them from
'Societies' to University status.

Education[edit]
See also: Education in India

PK Kelkar Library, IIT Kanpur

The IITs receive comparatively higher grants than other engineering colleges in India.[26] While the
total government funding to most other engineering colleges is around Rs. 10–20 crores (USD 2–4
million) per year, the amount varies between Rs. 90 crores –130 crores (USD 18–26 million) per
year for each IIT.[19] Other sources of funds include student fees and research funding from industry
and contributions from the alumni. The faculty-to-student ratio in the IITs is between 1:6 and
1:8.[27] The Standing Committee of IIT Council (SCIC) prescribes the lower limit for faculty-to-student
ratio as 1:9, applied department wise. The IITs subsidise undergraduate student fees by
approximately 80% and provide scholarships to all Master of Technology students and Research
Scholars in order to encourage students for higher studies, per the recommendations of the Thacker
Committee (1959–1961).[28] The cost borne by undergraduate students is around Rs. 180,000 per
annum.[29] After students from SC and ST categories, physically challenged students will now[when?] be
the beneficiaries of fee waiver at the IITs in India.[citation needed]
The various IITs function autonomously, and their special status as Institutes of National
Importance facilitates the smooth running of IITs, virtually free from both regional as well as
student politics. Such autonomy means that IITs can create their own curricula and adapt rapidly to
the changes in educational requirements, free from bureaucratic hurdles. The government has no
direct control over internal policy decisions of IITs (like faculty recruitment and curricula) but has
representation on the IIT Council. The medium of instruction in all IITs is English.[30] The classes are
usually held between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm, though there are some variations within each IIT. All the
IITs have public libraries for the use of their students. In addition to a collection of prescribed books,
the libraries have sections for fiction and other literary genres[citation needed]. The electronic libraries allow
students to access on-line journals and periodicals. The IITs and IISc have taken an initiative along
with Ministry of Human Resource Development to provide free online videos of actual lectures of
different disciplines under National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning. This initiative is
undertaken to make quality education accessible to all students.[31]
The academic policies of each IIT are decided by its Senate. This comprises all professors of the IIT
and student representatives. Unlike many western universities that have an elected senate, the IITs
have an academic senate. It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and
results, and appoints committees to look into specific academic matters. The teaching, training and
research activities of the institute are periodically reviewed by the senate to maintain educational
standards.[32] The Director of an IIT is the ex-officio Chairman of the Senate.

Central Library, IIT Roorkee

All the IITs follow the credits system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of
courses based on their importance. The total marks (usually out of 100) form the basis of grades,
with a grade value (out of 10) assigned to a range of marks. Sometimes, relative grading is done
considering the overall performance of the whole class. For each semester, the students are graded
on a scale of 0 to 10 based on their performance, by taking a weighted average of the grade points
from all the courses, with their respective credit points. Each semester evaluation is done
independently and then the weighted average over all semesters is used to calculate the
cumulative grade point average(known as CGPA or CPI—Cumulative Performance Index).

Undergraduate education[edit]
The Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree is the most common undergraduate degree in the IITs
in terms of student enrollment,[citation needed] although dual degrees integrating Master of
Science or Master of Arts are also offered. The BTech course is based on a 4-year program with
eight semesters,[33] while the Dual Degree and Integrated courses are 5-year programs with ten
semesters. In all IITs, the first year of BTech and Dual Degree courses are marked by a common
course structure for all the students, though in some IITs, a single department introduction related
course is also included.[34] The common courses include the basics from most of the departments like
Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Electrical and Physics. At the end of first year (the end of first
semester at IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Roorkee), an option to change departments is given
to meritorious students on the basis of their performance in the first two semesters.[35] Few such
changes ultimately take place as the criteria for them are usually strict,[35] limited to the most
meritorious students.
From the second year onwards, the students study subjects exclusively from their respective
departments.[36] In addition to these, the students have to take compulsory advanced courses from
other departments in order to broaden their education. Separate compulsory courses
from humanities and social sciences department, and sometimes management courses are also
enforced.[37] In the last year of their studies, most of the students are placed into industries and
organisations via the placement process of the respective IIT, though some students opt out of this
either when going for higher studies or when they take up jobs by applying to the companies
directly.[38]

Postgraduate and doctoral education[edit]

Master's degrees and postgraduate diplomas
The IITs offer a number of postgraduate programs including Master of Technology
(MTech), Master of Business Administration (MBA) (only for engineers and post graduates in
science), and Master of Science (MSc). Some IITs offer specialised graduate programmes such
as Master of Design (M.Des.), the Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology (PGDIT),
Master in Medical Science and Technology (MMST), Master of City Planning (MCP), Master of
Arts (MA), Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law (PGDIPL), and the Postgraduate
Diploma in Maritime Operation & Management (PGDMOM).
Some of the IITs offer an M.S. (by research) program; the MTech and M.S. are similar to the US
universities' non-thesis (course based) and thesis (research based) masters programs
respectively. Admissions to masters programs in engineering are made using scores of
the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), while those to masters programs in science
are made using scores of the Joint Admission Test to MSc (JAM).
Several IITs have schools of management offering master's degrees in management or
business administration.
Bachelors-Masters dual degrees
The IITs also offer an unconventional BTech and MTech integrated educational program
called "Dual Degree". It integrates undergraduate and postgraduate studies in selected
areas of specialisation. It is completed in five years[39] as against six years in conventional
BTech (four years) followed by an MTech (two years).[40] Integrated Master of Science
programs are also offered at few IITs which integrates the Undergraduate and Postgraduate
studies in Science streams in a single degree program against the conventional University
system. These programs were started to allow IITians to complete postgraduate studies
from IIT rather than having to go to another institute.
Doctoral degrees
The IITs also offer the Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) as part of their doctoral
education programme. In it, the candidates are given a topic of academic interest by the
professor or have to work on a consultancy project given by the industries. The duration
of the program is usually unspecified and depends on the specific discipline. PhD
candidates have to submit a dissertation as well as provide an oral defence for their
thesis. Teaching Assistantships (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA) are often
provided.
The IITs, along with NITs and IISc, account for nearly 80% of all engineering PhDs in
India.[41] IITs now allow admission in PhD programs without the
mandatory GATE score.[42][43]

Culture and student life[edit]

All the IITs provide on-campus residential facilities to the students, research scholars
and faculty. The students live in hostels (sometimes referred to as halls) throughout their
stay in the IIT. Students in all IITs must choose among National Cadet
Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Sports Organisation (NSO)
in their first years.[44] All the IITs have sports grounds for basketball, cricket, football
(soccer), hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, and athletics; and swimming pools
for aquatic events. Usually the hostels also have their own sports grounds. Moreover,
an Inter IIT Sports Meet is organized annually where participants from all 23 IITs contest
for the General Championship Trophy in 13 different sports.[45]

Technical and cultural festivals[edit]

Further information: List of cultural and technical festivals in IITs and NITs
All IITs organise annual technical festivals, typically lasting three or four days. The
technical festivals are Shaastra (IIT Madras), Kshitij (IIT Kharagpur), Techfest (IIT
Bombay), Cognizance (techfest) (IIT Roorkee), Concetto (IIT-ISM Dhanbad), Nvision
(IIT Hyderabad), Amalthea (technical summit)(IIT Gandhinagar), Technex (IIT
BHU), Techkriti (IIT Kanpur), Tryst (IIT Delhi), Techniche (IIT Guwahati), Wissenaire (IIT
Bhubaneswar), Exodia (IIT Mandi), Fluxus (IIT Indore), Celesta (IIT Patna)
and IGNUS (IIT Jodhpur) has now become the biggest techno-cultural college festival in
Central India,. Most of them are organised in the months of January or March. Techfest
(IIT Bombay) is also one of the most popular and largest technical festival in Asia in
terms of participants and prize money involved. It has been granted patronage from
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for
providing a platform to students to showcase their talent in science and technology.
Shaastra holds the distinction of being the first student-managed event in the world to
implement a formal Quality Management System, earning ISO
9001:2000 certification.[46] Kshitij is the largest in terms of Sponsorship amounts and also
branded as a techno-management festival due to its emphasis on both technology and
management.
Annual cultural festivals are also organised by the IITs and last three to four days.
These include Thomso (IIT Roorkee), Alcheringa (IIT Guwahati), Exodia (IIT
Mandi), Saarang (IIT Madras, previously Mardi Gras), Spring Fest (IIT Kharagpur, also
known as SF), Rendezvous (IIT Delhi), Srijan, Previously Saturnalia (IIT Dhanbad),
Tarang (culfest) (previously Rave), Anwesha (IIT Patna), Kashiyatra (IIT BHU, also
known as KY), SPANDAN (IIT Jodhpur), Blithchron (IIT Gandhinagar), ELAN (IIT
Hyderabad), Alma Fiesta (IIT Bhubaneswar), Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay, also known as
Mood-I), Antaragni (IIT Kanpur) and Zeitgeist (IIT Ropar).

Academic rankings[edit]
IITs are generally ranked above other engineering colleges in India for Engineering.
According to Outlook India's Top Engineering Colleges of 2017, the top four engineering
colleges within India were IITs.[47] IIT Delhi was the highest-ranked IIT internationally,
ranking 172nd in the QS World University Rankings of 2018, followed by IIT Bombay
(179th), while 3 other IITs (IIT Madras at 264, IIT Kanpur at 293 and IIT Kharagpur at
308) make the top 310.[48]
In the 2019 QS World University Ranking, IIT Bombay ranked highest at 162, followed
by IIT Delhi (172), IIT Madras (264), IIT Kanpur (283), IIT Kharagpur (295), IIT Roorkee
(381) and IIT Guwahati (472).[49]