Indian Institutes of Technology

History

In the late 1940s, a 22-member committee, headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, recommended the establishment of these institutions in various parts of India, along the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 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, West Bengal. The name "Indian Institute of Technology" was adopted before the formal inauguration of the institute on 18 August 1951 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

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:

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 symbolically of the changes 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 locations of these campuses were chosen to be scattered throughout India to prevent regional imbalance. The Indian Institutes of Technology Act was amended to reflect the addition of new IITs.

In the tenth meeting of IIT Council in 1972, it was also proposed to convert the then IT-BHU into an IIT and a committee was appointed by IIT Council for the purpose but because of political reasons, the desired conversion could not be achieved then. IT-BHU had been taking admissions through Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) for undergraduate courses and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for postgraduate courses since 1972. Finally, in 2012 the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University was made a member of the IITs and renamed as IIT (BHU) Varanasi.

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 Guwahati under the Assam Accord in 1994.

Organisational structure

The president of India is the ex officio visitor, and has residual powers. Directly under the president is the IIT Council, comprising 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 Education, and three appointees each of the Union Government, AICTE, and the visitor.

Under the IIT Council is the board of governors of each IIT. Under the board is the director, who is the chief academic and executive officer of the IIT. Under the director, in the organisational 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. 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.

The Institutes of Technology Act

The Institute of Technology Act (parliamentary legislation) gives legal status, including degree-granting powers, to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). It was notified in the gazette as Act Number 59 of 1961 on 20 December 1961 and came into effect on 1 April 1962. The Act also declares these institutes as Institutes of National Importance.

Academics

The IITs receive comparatively higher grants than other engineering colleges in India. While the total government funding to most other engineering colleges is around ₹ 100–200 million ($2–4 million) per year, the amount varies between ₹ 900–1300 million ($19–27 million) per year for each IIT. 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. The Standing Committee of IIT Council (SCIC) prescribes the lower limit for faculty-to-student ratio as 1:9, applied department wise. The IITs subsidize undergraduate student fees by approximately 80% and provide scholarships to all Master of Technology students and Research Scholars (PhD) to encourage students for higher studies, per the recommendations of the Thacker Committee (1959–1961). The cost borne by undergraduate students is around ₹280,000 per year. Students from the OBC, ST, SC categories, female students as well as physically challenged students are also entitled to scholarships.

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 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. The electronic libraries allow students to access online journals and periodicals. The IITs and IISc, Bengaluru have taken an initiative along with Ministry of Education to provide free online videos of actual lectures of different disciplines under National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning. This initiative is undertaken to make quality education accessible to all students.

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. The director of an IIT is the ex-officio chairman of the senate.

Undergraduate education degrees

The Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree is the most common undergraduate degree in the IITs in terms of student enrollment, although Bachelor of Science (BS) degree, 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, while the Dual Degree and Integrated courses are 5-year programs with ten semesters. In most 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. The common courses include the basics from most of the departments like Computers, Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Electrical and Physics. At the end of the first year (the end of the first semester at IIT Madras, IIT Bhilai, IIT Palakkad, and IIT Roorkee), an option to change departments is given to meritorious students based on their performance in the first two semesters. Few such changes ultimately take place as the criteria for them are usually strict, limited to the most meritorious students. Many IITs, such as IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kharagpur have abolished the practice of branch-change to reduce stress. Department-specific courses also begin earlier.

From the second year onward, the students study subjects exclusively from their respective departments. In addition to these, the students have to take compulsory advanced courses from other departments to broaden their education. Separate compulsory courses from humanities and social sciences departments, and sometimes management courses are also enforced. 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.

Certain IITs, such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Gandhinagar, offer students the option to pursue a double major degree, allowing them to graduate with majors in different disciplines. Most IITs also allow students to graduate with undergraduate minors (from a different discipline) and/or honours (from the same discipline as the major).

Postgraduate education

The IITs offer several postgraduate programs including Master of Technology (MTech), Master of Business Administration (MBA), 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), Masters in Medical Science and Technology (MMST), Masters in 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 master's programs in engineering are made using scores of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), while those to master's programs in science are made using scores of the Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM).

Several IITs have schools of management offering master's degrees in management or business administration.

In April 2015, IIT Bombay launched the first U.S.-India joint EMBA program alongside Washington University in St. Louis.

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 as against six years in conventional BTech (four years) followed by an MTech (two years). 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 its graduates to complete postgraduate studies from IIT rather than having to go to another institute.

Doctoral

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 ins 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. IITs now allow admission in PhD programs without the mandatory GATE score.

Culture and student life

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. All the IITs have sports grounds for basketball, cricket, football (soccer), hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, athletics and swimming pools for aquatic events. Usually, the hostels also have their own sports grounds.

An Inter IIT Sports Meet is organised annually where participants from all 23 IITs contest for the General Championship Trophy in 13 different sports. This, along with Inter IIT Cultural Meet and Tech Meet, are usually held annually in December.

Technical and cultural festivals

All IITs organize annual technical festivals, typically lasting three or four days. The technical festivals are Shaastra (IIT Madras), Advitiya (IIT Ropar), Kshitij (IIT Kharagpur), Techfest (IIT Bombay), Technex (IIT-BHU Varanasi), Cognizance (IIT Roorkee), Concetto (IIT-ISM Dhanbad), Tirutsava (IIT Tirupati), Nvision (IIT Hyderabad), Meraz (IIT Bhilai), Amalthea, (IIT Gandhinagar), Techkriti (IIT Kanpur), Tryst (IIT Delhi), Techniche (IIT Guwahati), Wissenaire (IIT Bhubaneswar), Technunctus (IIT Jammu), Xpecto (IIT Mandi), Fluxus (IIT Indore), Celesta (IIT Patna) and IGNUS (IIT Jodhpur) Petrichor(IIT Palakkad). Most of them are organized in January or March. Techfest (IIT Bombay) is also one of the most popular and largest technical festivals in Asia in terms of participants and prize money involved. It has been granted patronage from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for providing a platform for 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. Kshitij, which is branded as a techno-management festival due to its emphasis on both technology and management, is the largest of these festivals by sponsorship money.

Annual cultural festivals are also organized by the IITs and last three to four days. These include Thomso (IIT Roorkee), Kashiyatra (IIT BHU Varanasi), Alcheringa (IIT Guwahati), Exodia (IIT Mandi), Saarang and Paradox (annual fests of IIT Madras BTech and BS Degree respectively), Spring Fest (IIT Kharagpur, also known as SF), Rendezvous (IIT Delhi), Meraz (IIT Bhilai), Tirutsava (IIT Tirupati), Srijan, (earlier known as Saturnalia, IIT Dhanbad), Tarang (culfest) (previously Rave), Anwesha (IIT Patna), SPANDAN (IIT Jodhpur), Renao (IIT Jammu), Petrichor (IIT Palakkad), 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

IITs have generally ranked as the top engineering colleges in India. In the 2025 NIRF rankings published by Ministry of Education, India, the IITs also hold the following top 10 positions in various categories:

9 out of 10 in Engineering

8 out of 10 in Innovation

7 out of 10 in Research

6 out of 10 in Overall Rankings

3 out of 10 in Sustainable Development Goals

2 out of 10 in Architecture and Planning

1 out of 10 in Management

IIT Madras has been ranked 1st for ten consecutive years in the Engineering Category and for seven consecutive years in the Overall Category.

According to Outlook India's Top Engineering Colleges of 2017, the top four engineering colleges in India were IITs. In 2026 QS World University Ranking, IIT Delhi ranked highest at 123, followed by IIT Bombay (129), IIT Madras (180), IIT Kharagpur (215), IIT Kanpur (222). Five IITs are ranked in the top 100 of the QS World Engineering ranking.

Reservation policy and discrimination

IITs practice Affirmative Action and offer reservation to the "backward and weaker sections" of the society that includes SC/ST/OBC-NCL/EWS/PWD/female candidates. About 50% of seats are reserved for candidates holding backward-caste certificates, and 10% seats are further reserved for candidates from the general category who fulfill the economically weaker section criteria. Furthermore, students from reserved categories pay significantly lower fees compared to students from the unreserved category. 20% of the seats are reserved for female students, and 5% of the seats are reserved for students with benchmark disability.

Despite the implementation of reservation policies, provision of economic assistance, and enforcement of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, IITs have faced allegations of caste-based discrimination. Instances of suicides among students from reserved categories are often cited to illustrate this ongoing issue.

However, it's important to note that the suicide rates appear to be consistent among students from both reserved and non-reserved categories.

Criticism

The IITs have faced criticism from within and outside academia. Major concerns include allegations that they encourage brain drain and that their stringent entrance examinations encourage coaching colleges and put heavy pressure on students. Recently, some prominent IIT students have also questioned the quality of teaching and research in IITs.

With the tripling the number of IITs in recent decades, the newly created institutes have struggled to establish themselves compared to their peers. A 2021 report by Comptroller and Auditor General of India criticized the newer IITs for not meeting targets for research, faculty and student recruitment, students retention, as well as for being beset with infrastructure delays.

In the recent past, the number of student suicides has attracted significant attention.

According to data obtained through Right to Information (RTI) applications, approximately 38% of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduates from the class of 2024 have not secured job placements. This is the highest percentage in the past three years, with a steady increase from 19% in 2021 and 21% in 2022.

Brain drain

Among the criticisms of the IIT system by the media and academia, a common notion is that it encourages brain drain. Until liberalisation started in the early 1990s, India experienced large scale emigration of IIT graduates to developed countries, especially to the United States. Since 1953, nearly twenty-five thousand IIT graduates have settled in the US. Since the US benefited from subsidized education in IITs at the cost of Indian taxpayers' money, critics say that subsidising education in IITs is useless. Others support the emigration of graduates, arguing that the capital sent home by the IIT graduates has been a major source of the expansion of foreign exchange reserves for India, which, until the 1990s, had a substantial trade deficit. A 2023 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that among the top 1,000 JEE scorers, 36% migrated abroad, while for the top 100 scorers, the rate was 62%, primarily to the U.S. and for graduate school.

This trend has been reversed somewhat (dubbed the reverse brain drain) as hundreds of IIT graduates, who have pursued further studies in the US, started returning to India in the 1990s. The extent of intellectual loss receded substantially over the 1990s and 2000s, with the percentage of students going abroad dropping from as high as 70% at one time to around 30% in 2005. This is largely attributed to the liberalization of the Indian economy and the opening of previously closed markets. Government initiatives are encouraging IIT students into entrepreneurship programs and are increasing foreign investment. Emerging scientific and manufacturing industries, and outsourcing of technical jobs from North America and Western Europe have created opportunities for aspiring graduates in India. Additionally, IIT alumni are giving back generously to their parent institutions.

One factor of brain drain has been attributed to the reservation of seats in IITs, particularly for underprivileged and scheduled castes and tribes. The reservation system, without reforms, has denied fair opportunities to unreserved students, who opt for other universities worldwide, many of which are top ranked.

Entrance competition

The highly competitive examination in the form of JEE-Advanced has led to the establishment of a large number of coaching institutes throughout the country that provide intensive, and specific preparation for the JEE-Advanced for substantial fees. It is argued that this favours students from specific regions and richer backgrounds. Some coaching institutes say that they have individually coached nearly 800 successful candidates year after year. According to some estimates, nearly 95% of all students who clear the JEE-Advanced had joined coaching classes. Indeed, this was the case regarding preparation for IIT entrance exams even decades ago. In a January 2010 lecture at the Indian Institute of Science, the 2009 Nobel laureate in Chemistry, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan revealed that he failed to get a seat at any of the Indian engineering and medical colleges. He also said that his parents, being old-fashioned, did not believe in coaching classes to prepare for the IIT entrance exam and considered them to be "nonsense".

In a documentary aired by CBS, Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, states, "The IITs probably are the hardest schools in the world to get into, to the best of my knowledge". The documentary further concludes, "Put Harvard, MIT, and Princeton together, and you begin to get an idea of the status of IIT in India" to depict the competition as well as demand for the elite institutes. Furthermore, the IITs, despite being premier institutions, do not accept SAT scores for entrance and admission, which have been noted to be comparatively easier than the JEE.

Not all children are of a similar aptitude level and may be skilled in different paradigms and fields. This has led to criticism of the way the examinations are conducted and the way a student is forced in the Indian community. The IIT-JEE (Now JEE-Advanced) format was restructured in 2006 following these complaints.

After the change to the objective pattern of questioning, even the students who initially considered themselves not fit for subjective pattern of IIT-JEE decided to take the examination. Though the restructuring was meant to reduce the dependence of students on coaching classes, it led to an increase in students registering for coaching classes. Some people (mostly IIT graduates) have criticized the changed pattern of the JEE-Advanced . They reason that while JEE-Advanced is traditionally used to test students' understanding of fundamentals and their ability to apply them to solve tough unseen problems, the current pattern does not stress much on the application part and might lead to a reduced quality of students.

Curriculum and academic issues

In comparison with other universities worldwide, the IITs have been consistently plagued with quality issues in curriculum and academics, which has caused mental stress to students. The response from administration has been noted to be insensitive, after several students have complained from stress, besides unhealthy competition. This has led to an increase in students dropping out of the IITs at a high pace, prompting concerns. Furthermore, across almost all IITs, caste discrimination and institutional bullying of students who come under reserved quota is rampant, which affects academics and eventually leads to student suicides or dropping out.

In 2022, IIT Delhi began to revamp the curriculum to keep up pace with new trends in technology. IIT Kharagpur brought major changes to the curriculum in 2024. IIT Hyderabad introduced fractal academics for increased academic flexibility for the students; since its inception, the curricula are frequent updated. It has led IITs in removal of branch change to reduce student stress, a bachelor's program on AI, introduction of double major and minor, among other academic options.