One of the earliest tasks after the independence of India was to create or lay the path for the higher technical education in India. Hence in 1946 a committee was set up under the headship of Nalini Ranjan Sarkar to mull over the creation of the higher technical institutions for the post-war industrial development in India. In May 1950 the first Indian Institute of Technology was founded in Kharagpur. The Hijli Detention Camp was used as the site for the set up of the IIT Kharagpur. The establishment of the IIT was a revolution in the technological and industrial field in India and the rest was history. IIT’s were declared as the Institute of National Importance through the Institute of Technology Act of 1961. In the present time there are 23 IIT’s all over India, some of them has been recently constituted. The paradigm of technical education along with the best on campus facility can be witnessed at the seven oldest IIT’s of India.
IIT Kharagpur
The first and the oldest IIT of India, IIT Kharagpur was established in 1951. The campus of IIT Kharagpur is located 120 km west of Kolkata and 5 km away from Kharagpur railway station. The campus is spread over an area of 2100 acres providing residence to 22000 populace including students, faculty members and college staffs. The layout of the campus was designed by the prominent Swiss architect Werner M. Moser. The institute campus has a total 22 student hostels, 19 academic departments, six guest houses, four nationalised bank, a civic hospital, a police station, a railway reservation counter along with numerous halls and auditorium. IIT Kharagpur has its annual socio-cultural fest in the month of January known as Spring Fest, kshitij.
IIT Bombay
Founded in 1958, IIT Bombay is the second oldest IIT and the top ranked university of India. The campus is located at the Powai, a north eastern suburb of Mumbai between the Vihar and Powai lakes. IIT Bombay has 550 acres of lush green campus comprising over 500 major buildings. The institute campus has two swimming pools along with playgrounds for different sports like cricket, football, hockey; and tennis, badminton and basketball courts. IIT Bombay has 17 academic departments besides 13 multi-disciplinary centres and three schools of excellence. IIT Bombay’s science and tech festival, Techfest and the annual cultural festival, Mood Indigo which is held the month of December is the largest technical and college cultural festival in Asia respectively.
IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras is the third IIT founded by government of India, in the year 1959. The campus of IIT Madras is located in Chennai (Madras); it is 10 km from the Chennai airport and 12 km from the Chennai central railway station. Being a residential institute, IIT Madras has a 2.5 km2 campus which is home to 8000 students, 550 faculty members, and 1250 administrative and supporting staff. The campus of IIT Madras has been carved out of the adjoining Guindy National Park; it also has a natural lake which drains most of the rain water. IIT Madras has 16 academic departments including both undergraduate and postgraduate. IIT Madras has a research park of its own for the innovation of established companies and incubates start-ups in India. The annual technical festival of the college, Shaastra is held in the second week of January and the annual cultural festival, Saarang attracts a large number of crowds from all over India.
IIT Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur was established in the year 1959 with the assistance of US research universities as a part of the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP). The campus if IIT Kanpur is located 15 km west of the Kanpur city on the Grand Trunk Road. The campus is spread over an area of 1000 acres; it also has an extension centre in Noida for supporting outreach activities. IIT Kanpur has a unique helicopter ferry service which connects IIT Kanpur to Lucknow. The institute has a total of 6500 students, 395 administrative staffs and faculty members. Antaragni, Techkriti, Udghosh, Vivekanand Youth Leadership Convention and E-summit are some of the important events of IIT Kanpur.
IIT Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi was established in 1961 and is ranked among top 200 universities in the world. The 325 acre campus of IIT Delhi is located in Hauz Khas, South Delhi. IIT Delhi has stunning campus surrounded by monuments like Qutab Minar and Lotus Temple. IIT Delhi has 9 academic departments along with 11 multi-disciplinary centres. It has a total of 7900 students residing in 13 different hostels named after mountain ranges. The campus of IIT Delhi can be visualised as a city with gardens, lawns, residential complexes and wide roads. IIT Delhi organises two college festivals annually viz. Tryst the technical one and Rendezvous the cultural one. The only similarity in these two is both of them are crowd pullers.
IIT Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati was established in the year 1994, it is the sixth IIT of the country. The campus of IIT Guwahati is located on the northern banks of Brahmaputra in the town of Amingaon, northern Guwahati. The campus of IIT Guwahati is considered to be one of the most beautiful campuses of India which has Brahmaputra on one side and hills on the other. A total of 3950 students along with 215 faculty members and 300 support staffs reside in the 700 acre campus. IIT Guwahati has 11 academic departments besides 8 research centres. Alcheringa is the annual cultural fest of IIT Guwahati; some other important college events include Techniche, Udgam and Advaya.
IIT Roorkee
The University of Roorkee was granted the status of IIT in the year 2001, thus making it the seventh IIT of India. IIT Roorkee has 365 acre campus along with an extended centre in Saharanpur which has a 25 acre of land space. Being one of the biggest technical institutes in the country IIT Roorkee has 21 academic departments, 1 academic centre, 3 centres of excellence, 5 academic service centres and 3 supporting units. The campus of IIT Roorkee is home to 8000 students, 1000 administrative staff and 400 academic staffs. The campus has 16 hostels for the students. IIT Roorkee has two college fests every year Cognizance (technical fest) and thomso (cultural fest).