The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are ranked among the top engineering institutes in the country. Each year lakhs of students appear for their entrance examination but only a few are able to make it to these esteemed institutes. While this is something that most of you may already be aware of about IITs, here is a look at some of the interesting and lesser known facts about IITs.
25 Interesting Facts About The IITs
- IITs were established on the basis of an interim report. The final report was never submitted by the Sarkar committee.
- The IIT Act was passed by the Parliament in 1961. Five IITs had already been established by that time and were completely functional.
- IITs receive approximately 100-200 million grant from the Indian government each year.
- There was no entrance examination for IITs when these were initially established. Students were given admission based on their performance at school level and an interview that was conducted by the institute.
- The first batch in IIT constituted only of boys. These were among the top ten rankers in their respective universities.
- In 2005, US Congress passed a House Resolution acknowledging the contribution of IITians in the research and innovation field.
- It was in 1981 that a woman metallurgist graduated from IIT. It was the same year IIT Bombay admitted a girl for Mechanical Engineering course for the first time.
- IIT Bombay was established with help from UNESCO and former Soviet Union.
- Mood Indigo, IIT Bombay’s cultural festival is known to be Asia’s largest cultural festival. The budget for Mood Indigo 1997 was Rs. 24 lakhs which was higher than any fest organized in Bombay.
- The foundation stone of IIT Delhi was laid back in the year 1859 by H.R.H. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
- The mother institute of IIT Delhi is the Delhi Technological University. The department of Chemical Technology and Textile Technology of DTU were shifted to IIT Delhi and this marked the beginning of this prestigious institute.
- The roof of Dogra Hall at IIT Delhi is a hyperbloc parabolid. It is supported just at the ends.
- IIT Kanpur is said to have its own airstrip for Aeronautical Engineering students.
- IIT Kanpur was established under the Kanpur Indo-American Programme that was a conglomerate of nine American universities.
- IIT Madras is spread across a vast area that was earlier a part of the Guindy National Park. Interestingly, most part of the institute’s premises still has a protected forest area where you can find endangered species such as Chital.
- The annual festival at IIT Madras, Shaastra is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
- The Australian cricket team came to IIT Madras for net practice.
- The Thomason Engineering College set up in the year 1847 was designated as an IIT in 2001 and came to be known as IIT Roorkee. It is the oldest engineering college in the country.
- IIT Roorkee has numerous collaborations with a number of international universities and students from more than 50 countries seek admission here each year.
- IIT Roorkee is said to have a campus with the highest internet speed in India. It is much over the world’s average internet speed. It is almost 6 times that of India’s average internet speed.
- IIT Kharagpur is built on an area of 2,100 acres which is three times the area of Vatican City and Monaco combined.
- IIT Kharagpur has a steel tank that has the capacity of storing 10,000 imperial gallons of water that can be used during emergency.
- The staff quarter in IIT Kharagpur was called Bomb House as the British used to store bombs at that place during World War.
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