Soon after India achieved independence, IITs were established as "Institutes of National Importance". They were set up as autonomous centres of excellence in the field of engineering and technology education. Today, IITs offer undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral degrees in over 25 different engineering, technology and business management disciplines.
The competition to enrol is fierce. Only the top 1 or 2 percent of candidates at a national Joint Entrance Examination gain admission.
The first IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) was formed in May 1950 in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Four other campuses were subsequently founded at Bombay (1958), Madras (1959), Kanpur (1960) and Delhi (1961). In 1995, a sixth campus at Guwahati was added and in 2001, a seventh campus was established by upgrading Roorkee University, one of India's oldest engineering institutions, into an IIT.
The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2011 added nine new institutes to the list. Of these, eight are new institutes, IIT Ropar (2008), IIT Bhubaneswar (2008), IIT Gandhinagar (2008), IIT Hyderabad (2008), IIT Patna (2008), IIT Rajasthan (2008), IIT Mandi (2009) and IIT Indore (2009). The ninth is Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), which was a faculty under the administration of Banaras Hindu University, and is now named Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, abbreviated IIT (BHU) Varanasi. The bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha on 30 April 2012.
2012 IITians Association of Australia Inc.
All Rights Reserved