Something monumental took place in the 1950s that prompted then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to say, “Here I stand at this place and my mind inevitably goes back to that infamous institution for which this place became famous not now but 20 or 30 years ago — the Hijli detention camp. Here in the place of that Hijli detention camp stands this fine monument of India today representing India’s future in the making.”
The Parliament had earlier passed the Institutes of National Importance Act to set up the first Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur in 1951. Now with 16 such institutions across the country, IIT is synonymous with excellence in technical education. Standing at its threshold, I knew this was the best start to a journey through some of the finest institutions in east India, despite the rains.
IIT-KGP, which started off with 224 students and 42 teachers now has a sprawling campus of 2,100 acres with over 550 faculty members, 9,000 students and 1,700 staff members. Owing to its remote location, one that interestingly houses the world’s longest railway platform, IIT-KGP is a township on its own.
Growth
In the 1960s, research was kick-started in various fields of engineering. Seventies brought in an era of sponsored research and consultancy. The next decade was dedicated to the establishment of niche centres and courses in computer science, biotechnology and industrial engineering. Many multi-disciplinary centres, R&D centres and Vinod Gupta School of Management came into existence in the 90s. The new millennium ushered in advanced centres in water resources, bioenergy, intellectual property law, telecommunication and entrepreneurship. This decade, however, proves to be the most exciting, as Vision 2020 aims to make IIT-KGP a global leader in technical education and research.
Programmes
Being a public, autonomous body, this centre of excellence has 19 departments, 17 centres and 25 R&D units. IIT-KGP also has been setting an example for younger IITs through the years with their initiatives. Academic programmes include a four-year BTech (hons) in 17 areas, five-year BArch (hons), its popular five-year integrated MSc and dual degree (BTech and MTech), joint MTech/MSc and PhD programmes, two-year MCP, MBA, MHRM, three-year MMST, MTech, LLB and PhD programmes. Several interesting courses are offered in BTech — aerospace engineering, agriculture and food engineering, biotechnology and biochemical engineering, civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical and mining engineering, computer science, industrial engineering, ocean engineering and naval architecture, etc.
MSc programme is offered in the fields of chemistry, exploration geophysics, applied geology, economics, mathematics, computing and physics. MTech programmes in farm machinery and power, soil and water conservation, water resource development and management, aquacultural engineering, post harvest engineering, structure, geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering, hydraulics, environmental engineering, microwave engineering, fibre optics and lightwave engineering, machine drives and power electronics, etc. Admission to their courses is through IIT-JEE.
Vision 2020 is a roadmap developed by IIT-KGP to build an advanced research ecosystem in India with funding of Rs 400 crore and help from government and industry. It is also part of the fundraising efforts by the institute which will help to set up and promote new schools of interdisciplinary research, a technology-driven medical school and also engage in knowledge transfer with institutes abroad.
The campus
Replete with a man-made lake, there are academic blocks, library, laboratories and a museum. The Technology Students Gymkhana is complete with amenities for all clubs and sporting activities. All the new buildings will have solar panels to help make the campus greener. Students use bicycles around the campus. They will begin measuring carbon credits in the near future. A fully residential campus, there are 18 hostels/halls of residence (named after freedom fighters) and staff quarters.
A technology guest house, CEC guest house and alumni guest house are always open for visitors. You can flag a cycle rickshaw on the campus to take you around. Apart from their regular catering facilities, the campus has many eat outs where you will find students huddled late into the night, snacking and studying. The tech market is the go-to place for all grocery needs and there are three banks on campus. A post office, BC Roy Technology Hospital, make the campus complete.
Promoting the brand
Professor Amit Patra, dean of alumni affairs and international relations, says, “The alumni members of IIT-KGP help in counselling, guiding, providing internship opportunities, and help even when one wants to establish startups. The My Imprint programme has been started by students who would like to leave their mark when they leave. They pledge to donate Rs 1,000 per month or a percentage of their annual pay (minimum one per cent) for the institution’s development.
The funds will be used to assist with student participation in global events, giving financial aid to needy students, building student amenities or improving infrastructure, institutional development and brand building.” Their Alumni Affairs and International Relations cell enables a free-flow of information and updates. He continues, “The Institutional Development programme was launched to strengthen the domestic ranking of the institute as well as enhance their international image. Several alumni and non-alumni members are involved in supporting growth plans and promoting the KGP brand.”
The domestic and global chapters of IITs help in bringing back real-world knowledge and in uniting students of IIT. The Pan-IIT global conference was held in New York last year and will be held in Houston this year. Batch endowments also take place.
Student activities
Alankar is the annual magazine of IIT-KGP. Their Spring Fest and techno-management fest, Kshitij, are very popular among the students. They believe that it encourages them to innovate and compete. Guest lectures and workshops are also conducted regularly. The various societies housed in the Gymkhana include Adventure, Robotics, Dance, Western music and Dramatics. Rinshul Chandra, vice-president, Technology Students Gymkhana, and a final-year student of chemical engineering, says “Our days are packed with academics and extracurricular activities. As someone who represents the student community, I can confidently say that students have a voice in the decisions made by the authorities. We are consulted for feedback and are given complete freedom to take our brand forward. There is a great sense of belonging among students. Since Kharagpur is a small industrial town, our life is completely on campus. Authorities have ensured we have all comforts within our reach.”
Placements
Prof Sudhir Kumar Barai, professor-in-charge of training and placements cell, says, “Around 212 companies offered campus placements last year and the total number of students placed amounts to 1,416. Three students bagged salaries of Rs 80 lakh per annum while eight others have got annual offers of Rs 75 lakh each from Google and Microsoft respectively.
Other organisations like Facebook, Schlumberger, Deutsche Bank, IBM, Capital One, Rio Tinto, ITC, Samsung, Flipkart, Times Internet, E-Bay and American Express also hired our students.” Prof Barai was also enthusiastic about the training programmes conducted to help students get placed and excited to share that a large number of their students received pre-placement offers right after their internships.
R and D output
They have developed 187 technologies and incubated 12 new companies in the last three years. In the last five years, sponsored research and consultancy amounting to Rs 650 crore through 1,578 projects have taken place.
An advanced VLSI design laboratory, Centre for Railway Research, Centre of Excellence in Information Assurance, General Motors Collaborative Research Laboratory in Electronics Controls and Software, National Program in Marine Hydrodynamics, PK Sinha Centre for Bioenergy, R&D centre in collaboration with DBC, Rural Technology Action Group, Steel Technology Centre, Tea Engineering Research Centre, Vodafone Essar-IIT Kharagpur Centre of Excellence in Telecommunications are some of the pioneering initiatives undertaken on the campus.
Some student innovations have won several awards and accolades like the autonomous underwater vehicle, Formula 1 car and LOCUS technology solving water crisis.