IIT Kanpur

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Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
File:IITKLogo.jpg
MottoTamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya
TypeEducation and Research Institution
Established1959
DeanDr. S G Dhande
Undergraduates2,000 (approx)
Postgraduates2,000 (approx)
Location
Kanpur
,
Uttar Pradesh
,
India
Campus1200 acres
Websitehttp://www.iitk.ac.in

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) is one of the Indian Institutes of Technology, set up in the then-industrial city of Kanpur in 1960. Today, IIT Kanpur has grown into one of the top technological institutes in India, primarily focused on research in engineering and science, and the teaching of undergraduates.

History

IIT Kanpur was established by an act of Parliament in 1959. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room borrowed in the Canteen Building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the Institute moved to its present location, on the historic Grand Trunk Road near the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district. During the first ten years of its existence, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme, where a consortium of 9 US universities helped set up the research laboratories and academic programmes. The first Director of the Institute was Dr. P. K. Kelkar (after whom the Central Library was renamed in 2003).

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur was the among the first Institute in India to start Computer Science education. The earliest computer courses were started at IIT Kanpur in August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system, a novelty then even in many North American and European universities. Gradually, the Institute drew upon some of the brightest young Indians in Computer Science to serve on its faculty and initiated an independent academic program in 1971, leading to Ph.D. and M. Tech. degrees.

Laboratories and other facilities

The Institute has a number of facilities, including the National Wind Tunnel Facility.Spread in a sprawling campus of 1200 acres, IIT Kanpur has one of the best computational facilities in India. Apart from a large number of engineering laboratories, IIT Kanpur also has its own airfield, for flight testing and gliding activities. Other large research centres include the Advanced Centre for Material Science, one of the country's best Bio-technology centre, the Advanced Centre for Electronic Systems, and the Samtel Centre for Display Technology. The P.K. Kelkar library has one of the most exhaustive collections of academic textbooks, peer-reviewed journals and other research material in the country, and boasts of an excellent reference section (where course material is reserved for students). In addition, the various departments have their own smaller libraries. The Computer-Centre (referred to by the campus residents as "C-C") is quite an impressive facility in comparison to other academic institutions in the country. It has about 100-150 Linux terminals, about 50 Windows-NT terminals, and is continuously available to the students for academic work and recreation. Disk storage is provided using a networked file server system. Internet access is provided by the means of two proxy servers, one for students and another for faculty (the computer science department in IIT Kanpur has its own independent network). In addition, it hosts about 50 SUN workstations that are considered powerful workhorses for heavy computational tasks. It is a major intellectual, social and cultural hub for the technokrati on campus. The IIT's (and especially IIT Kanpur) are among the first large academic institutions in India to be extensively networked, with an institute-wide LAN and Ethernet access to every student room in the residence halls.

PK Kelkar Library, IIT Kanpur

Students

The undergraduate students at IIT Kanpur are selected through the Joint Entrance Examination of the IITs. The graduate students (Masters) are mainly selected through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). Presently, the institute has around 3800 students, with an equal distribution of graduate and undergraduate students.

Students at IIT Kanpur reside in the hostels, or 'halls of residence', most of which have their own unique history and lore. There are seven hostels for boys and two for girls called GH and hall 6.

The annual cultural festival is called Antaragni. It is held around the end of October every year. The annual science and technology festival, Techkriti, is held at the end of February each year. The annual sports festival, Udghosh/Galaxy, is held around the end of November each year and the annual film festival, Umang. All four are amongst the most popular college events in North India.

Another highlight of the student community is the self governance achieved in the form of the Students' Gymkhana, which is a democratically elected body.

Alumni

Miscellaneous

It was rated the no. 1 engineering institute in India by India Today in 2004. It was rated the no. 1 engineering college in India by Data Quest in 2005

External links