The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (abbreviated IIT Delhi or IITD) is a public technical and research university located in Hauz Khas, Delhi, is one of the 7 old IITs in India.
Established in 1961, was formally inaugurated August 1961 by Prof. Humayun Kabir, Minister of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs. First admissions were made in 1961.
The current campus has an area of 320 acres (or 1.3 km²) and is bounded by the Sri Aurobindo Marg on the east, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Complex on the west, the National Council of Educational Research and Training on the south, and the New Ring Road on the north,and flanked by Qutub Minar and the Hauz Khas monuments.
The institute was later decreed in Institutes of National Importance under the Institutes of Technology Amendment Act, 1963 and accorded the status of a full University with powers to decide its own academic policy, to conduct its own examinations, and to award its own degrees.
In 2018 IIT Delhi was also given the status of Institution of Eminence (IoE) by Government of India which granted almost-full autonomy, leaving this institute to make its own decisions.
According to a government statement issued earlier, these IoEs will have greater autonomy in that they will be able to admit foreign students up to 30% of the admitted students and recruit foreign faculty up to 25% of the faculty strength with enhanced research funding.
Key Description:
Other Name: IITD, IIT Hauz Khas
Type: Public Technical university
Established: 1961; 59 years ago
Chairman: Kumar Mangalam Birla
Director V. Ramgopal Rao
Academic staff: 654
Students: 8,703
Undergraduates: 3,793
Postgraduates: 2,141
Doctoral Students: 2,769
Location: Hauz Khas, Delhi, India
Campus: Urban, 325 + 50 acres (1.32 + 0.20 km2)
Official Website Link
Social Network: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook
History of IIT Delhi
The concept of IIT was first introduced by Sh. N.M.Sircar, then member of Education on Viceroy's executive council. Following his recommendations, the first Indian Institute of Technology was established in the year 1950 in Kharagpur.
In his report, Shri Sircar had suggested that such Institutes should also be started in different parts of the country. The Government having accepted these recommendations of the Sircar Committee decided to establish more Institutes of Technology with the assistance of friendly countries who were prepared to help.
The first offer of help came from USSR who agreed to collaborate in the establishment of an Institute through UNESCO at Bombay. This was followed by the Institutes of Technology at Madras, Kanpur and Delhi with collaborations with West Germany, United States and UK respectively. Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati was established in 1994 and the University of Roorkee was converted into an IIT in 2001.
H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during his visit to India, laid the foundation stone of the college at Hauz Khas on 28 January 1959. The first admissions were made in 1961.
The College of Engineering & Technology was registered as a society on 14 June 1960 under the Societies Registration Act No. XXI of 1860 (Registration No. S1663 of 1960–61).
The students were asked to report at the college on 16 August 1961, and the college was formally inaugurated on 17 August 1961 by Humayun Kabir, Minister of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs. Initially, the college ran in the Kashmiri Gate campus of Delhi College of Engineering (now known as Delhi Technological University) before shifting to its permanent campus in Hauz Khas.
The Department of Textile Technology of Delhi College of Engineering was shifted out en-block to mark the beginning of the IIT Delhi at its new campus at Hauz Khas. The college was later accorded the status of a university and was renamed as Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
In 2018, IIT Delhi was one of the first six institutes to be awarded the Institute of Eminence status.
Academics of IIT Delhi
IIT Delhi offers Bachelor of Technology programs in various fields as well as dual degree B.Tech-cum-M.Tech programs. The admission to these programs is done through Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced.
IIT Delhi also offers postgraduate programs awarding M.Tech (by coursework), M.S. (by research), M.Sc., M. Des., MBA under various departments and centres. The admission to M.Tech program is carried out mainly based on Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). M.Des ( Master of Design ) admissions are through Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED), M.Sc. admissions are through Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) and MBA admissions are through Common Admission Test (CAT).
In March 2018, IIT Delhi formally inaugurated a new Department of Design to bolster Research and Education on Design. The 25-year-old design course was earlier functioning under the ambit of IDDC (Instrument Design and Development Centre).
Campus of IIT Delhi
The primary campus of IIT Delhi is located in Hauz Khas, South Delhi, with Sonipat and Jhajjar being the two satellite campuses. The campus of 325 acres (132 ha) is surrounded by the Hauz Khas area and monuments such as the Qutub Minar and Lotus Temple.
The campus is also close to other educational institutions such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Fashion Technology, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Indian Statistical Institute.
The inside of the campus resembles a city, with gardens, lawns, residential complexes and wide roads. The campus has its own water supply and backup electricity supply along with shopping complexes to cater to the daily needs of residents.
The IIT-D campus is divided into four zones:
- Student Residential Zone
- Faculty and Staff Residential Zone
- Student Recreational Area, that includes the Student Activity Center (SAC), football stadium, cricket ground, basketball courts, hockey field, lawn tennis courts and swimming pool
- Academic Zone that includes department offices, lecture theatres, libraries and workshops.
- The student residential zone is divided into two main sectors—one for boys hostels and another for girls hostels.
Hostels: There are 13 hostels (11 for boys and 2 for girls), There are also apartments for married students. All the hostels are named after mountain ranges in India. These are:
Boys
- Jwalamukhi Hostel
- Aravali Hostel
- Karakoram Hostel
- Nilgiri Hostel
- Kumaon Hostel
- Vindhyachal Hostel
- Shivalik Hostel
- Satpura Hostel
- Zanskar Hostel
- Girnar Hostel
- Udaigiri Hostel
Girls
- Kailash Hostel
- Himadri Hostel
The residential apartments are named after ancient Indian universities.
- Takshashila
- Nalanda
- Vaishali
- Indraprastha
- Vikramshila
Each Hostel has its own distinct characteristic of sports and cultural activities. The Hostels compete in inter-hostel events to bring home various trophies which include the BRCA trophy for cultural activities and GC for Sports.
The academic year ends with an annual function of hostels known as 'House day' in which the passing out batch and the freshers give various cultural performances and awards are distributed for outstanding contribution to various hostel activities.
Entrepreneurship Development Cell, IIT Delhi
The Entrepreneurship Development Cell (eDC), IIT Delhi is a cell that aims to support and augment the efforts of budding entrepreneurs in the college, so as to get them established as successful and independent entrepreneurs.
The cell works to inculcate and enrich the entrepreneurial environment in India by creating an easily accessible and exhaustive set of resources for the entrepreneurs, which including the students, the budding professionals, mentors, angel investors and the venture capitalists through various fun-filled yet educating sessions such as Startup Showcases, competitions, e-Talks and so on and so forth.
E-summit:
One of the biggest entrepreneurial platforms for academicians, new-age entrepreneurs, eminent business personalities, venture capitalists and the students to gather at one place in the IIT Delhi campus. The summit enables the participants to share their entrepreneurial endeavors and experiences and to pledge to take entrepreneurship to greater scales.
Technology Business Incubation Unit (TBIU), IIT Delhi
The Technology Business Incubator Unit (TBIU) is the incubation cell at IIT Delhi. It has been in active operation in the institute since the year 2000.
The objective of the TBIU is primarily to promote partnership with new technology entrepreneurs and start-up companies. Every year, startups are selected into the incubation program and provided support to create innovative technology companies.
Inter-Disciplinary Centres:
IIT Delhi has 11 multi-disciplinary centres. An inter-disciplinary centre differs from a department in the fact that it deals with an overlap of two or more disciplines of engineering or science. Similar to the departments the centres also offer programs though they offer these courses only at the post-graduation level. The following multi-disciplinary centres are located in IIT Delhi:
- Centre for Applied Research in Electronics (CARE)
- Centre for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS)
- Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBME)
- Computer Services Centre (CSC)
- Centre for Energy Studies (CES)
- Educational Technology Services Centre (ETSC)
- Industrial Tribology, Machine Dynamics and Maintenance Engineering (ITMMEC)
- Sensors Instrumentation and Cyber Physical Systems (SeNSE)
- Centre for Polymer Science and Engineering (CPSE)
- Centre for Natural Resources and Environment
- Centre for Rural Development and Technology (CRDT)
- National Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineering (NRCVEE)
- Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP)
Externally funded schools
IIT Delhi has four externally funded schools functioning as a part of the institute:
- Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management
- Amar Nath and Shashi Khosla School of Information Technology
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences
- Centre of Excellence in Cyber Systems and Information Assurance
Sonipat Campus
Initially announced in 2012, the new IITD-Sonipat campus was unveiled in April 2018 by the Chief Minister of Haryana at the Technopark at Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Sonipat. The Technopark, of which this campus is part of, itself was established at a cost of INR175crore (1.75 billion).
The Campus in Sonipat focuses on Executive MBA and Faculty Development programs for the engineering and technical colleges of Haryana state, as well as design and development of advanced technology, incubate more start-ups and promote industry collaboration.
Facilities include research & development labs set up by corporates jointly with IIT Delhi, business incubators, Impact Lab for Path, a global health innovation hub, high-end central research facility and Centre of Excellence in Smart manufacturing, training centers, and convention facilities. It can incubate and house 100 startups with residential facilities.
Jhajjar campus:
IITD-Jhajjar campus is located next to the AIIMS-Delhi's Jhajjar campus at Badsa village in Jhajjar district of Haryana. IIT-Delhi and AIIMS are jointly setting up a biomedical research park at this campus, including a joint PhD supervision program and provision for adjunct faculty. IITD-Jhajjar is funded by the IITD and managed by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT).
Ranking of IIT Delhi
Internationally, IIT Delhi was ranked 182 in the QS World University Rankings of 2020, the top-ranked university in India. The same rankings ranked it 43 in Asia in 2020 and 18 among BRICS nations in 2019. It was ranked 401–500 in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2020, 91 in Asia and 38 among Emerging Economies University Rankings in 2019.
IIT Delhi ranked first among government engineering colleges in India by India Today in 2018. It ranked second among engineering colleges by Outlook India in 2019 and first by The Week in 2019.
It ranked second among engineering colleges by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2019 and third overall. In the 2020 NIRF ranking released on June 11, 2020, it was ranked in the second position in the Engineering category and ranked third Overall.
The Department of Management Studies ranked ninth among management schools in India by NIRF in 2019, 17th by Business Today's "India's best B-schools 2019".
In the 2020 NIRF Rankings released on June 11, 2020, it was placed in the eighth position among Management schools.
Notable People:
| Name | Class
Year |
Degree | Notability |
| Anurag Dikshit | 1994 | B.Tech. (Computer Science and Engineering) | co-founder of Partygaming |
| Binny Bansal | 2005 | B.Tech. (Computer Science and Engineering) | co-founder of Flipkart |
| Manvinder Singh Banga | 1975 | B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) | former chairman, Unilever |
| Mohit Aron | 1995 | founder and CEO of Cohesity and co-founder and former CTO of Nutanix | |
| Padmasree Warrior | 1982 | B.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) | chief technology and strategy officer Cisco Systems; former chief technology officer of Motorola, Inc. |
| Patu Keswani | 1981 | B.Tech. (Electrical Engineering) | founder of Lemon Tree Hotels |
| Sachin Bansal | 2005 | B.Tech. (Computer Science and Engineering) | co-founder of Flipkart |
| Sameer Gehlaut | 1995 | B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) | co-founder of Indiabulls |
| Vikrant Bhargava | 1994 | B.Tech. (Electrical Engineering) | co-founder of Partygaming |
| Vinod Khosla | 1976 | B.Tech. (Electrical Engineering) | one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems,s |
| Yogesh Chander Deveshwar | 1968 | B.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering) | chairman at ITC |