Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (commonly known as IIT Roorkee or IITR), formerly the University of Roorkee (1948-2001) and the Thomason College of Civil Engineering (1853-1948), is a public university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. Established in 1847 in British India by the then lieutenant governor, Sir James Thomason, it was given university status in 1949 and was converted into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2001, thus becoming the seventh IIT to be declared.

The IIT Roorkee has 18 academic departments covering Engineering, Applied Sciences,Humanities & Social Sciences and Management programs with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.

The IIT Roorkee has a strong entrepreneurial culture, with many alumni who have moved on to found technological and social ventures in India and abroad, and have played an important role in the development of India. Ten alumni have won the Padma Bhushanawards, two have won the Padma Vibhushan awards and twenty five alumni have won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology award. The institute has produced seven chairmen of the Indian Railway Board, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, more than a hundred secretary-level officers in the Government of India, two presidents of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Governors of states of India, Members of Parliament, chairmen of University Grants Commission (India), six Directors of the Indian Institutes of Technology, Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of prominent Indian Universities, and presidents of Engineering and Scientific organizations like the Indian Institution of Engineers, the Indian National Science Academy and theIndian National Academy of Engineering.

Academics 

IIT Roorkee offers academic programmes in Engineering, Technology, Applied Sciences, and Management. It runs eleven undergraduate (UG), five integrated dual degree, three integrated M.Tech., three integrated M.Sc., sixty one postgraduate (PG) and several doctoral programmes.

The institute admits students to B.Tech., B.Arch. and integrated M.Tech/M.Sc courses through the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination(JEE) conducted at centers all over India. Before being converted into an IIT, the university selected students through the Roorkee Entrance Exam (REE) conducted on an All-India level. The selectivity of REE was close to 2%. After IIT-JEE, it was considered to be the second toughest engineering entrance examination in India. Admission to PG programmes in engineering and architecture is on the basis of GATE score and/or a written test and interview. For PG programmes in fundamental sciences admission is based on theJoint Admission Test (JAM).

Along with the engineering courses, the institute offers a two-year residential MBA program for which the admissions, starting from 2011, will be done on the basis of Common Admission Test, thus replacing Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) previously conducted by IITs. The institute also offers an interdisciplinary program in computer applications leading to a degree in Master of computer applications (MCA). The MCA program is a three-year course and admission for the course is through JAM.

According to statistics published by institute in 2007–08 4137 students were enrolled in the institute across all programs. The student-to-academic-staff ratio was 2.6:1 and that of UG/PG students was 1.4:1.

As in other IITs, the institute follows a credit system for evaluating academic performance. The grade point average (GPA) is on a scale of 0 to 10. Courses are allotted number of credits according to their importance. Each academic year is divided into two semesters and teaching programmes are organized around the credit system. Teaching includes lectures, tutorials, practicals, projects, seminars, dissertations, and field and industrial training.

Rankings 

Internationally, IIT Roorkee was ranked 401–450 in general category and 194 in Engineering and Technology in the QS World University Rankings of 2011 and 65 in theQS Asian University Rankings of 2012. In India, among engineering colleges, it ranked 6 by India Today in 2012  and 6 by Outlook India in 2011 In the Mint government colleges survey of 2009 it ranked 7.

University and college rankings
General – International
QS (World)	401–450
QS (Asian)[	65
Engineering – India
India Today	6
Outlook India	6
Dataquest	—
Government colleges:
Mint	7

Campus 

The main campus in Roorkee has an area of 365 acres (1,480,000 m²).

IIT Roorkee has a campus of 25 acres (100,000 m²) in Saharanpur which offers courses in Polymer Science, Process Engineering and Paper Technology. In addition to this, a new ten-acre campus has been established in Greater Noida, Knowledge Park II, which was inaugurated on April 4, 2011. The Noida extension centre has 16 lecture rooms, software laboratories, faculty offices, a library and a computer centre.

Student housing (bhawans) 

Most students live in the hostels, where extracurricular activities complement the academic routine. The campus has 16 hostels, of which three (Sarojini, Kasturba and Indira) are occupied by girls. Hostels may accommodate undergraduate and graduate students along with doctoral students. Students are assigned to hostels by the school administration after their freshmen year. There are six hostels for married students, doctoral students and foreign students. Each bhawan has a mess. Mess administration consists of a staff advisor, a chief advisor, and a student mess secretary.

Student activities 

Students conduct two fests every year, Cognizance (Technical festival) and Thomso(Cultural festival). Cognizance, India's second largest technical festival is 9001:2008 certified and operates a quality management system in organizing its events. 

Student groups on the campus include STIFKI (Student Teacher Interaction Forum for Knowledge and Innovation), IMG (Information Management Group), SDSLabs (Software Development Section Labs), GIL (Group for Interactive Learning), EDC (Entrepreneurship Development Cell), HEC (Himalayan Explorers' Club), Literary Society (Active involvement in debating and quizzing),a local chapter of ShARE, Spic Macay in addition to student chapters of technical societies such as ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, IIT Roorkee Student Section), SAE, IEEE, etc. The Cultural Society (dramatics, music, choreography, cinematic, literary, audio, lights, Programme management, Kshitij, Watch Out) takes all initiative related to cultural activities in the institute. It organizes music concerts, dance shows, dramas and quiz competitions. 

IIT Roorkee has a hobbies club, one of its kind among IITs. It aims at facilitating activities like photography, philately, astronomy, fine arts, gardening, web design, etc. It is headed by a chief advisor, who is supported by two deputy chief advisors and a council secretary. It hosts SRISHTI, an annual techno-hobby exhibition.

IIT Roorkee Motorsports is the official Formula Student team of IIT Roorkee. It was founded in August 2010. The team designed and developed a formula style race car and represented India in the international competition Formula SAE Australasia in December 2011, held in Melbourne, Australia. This was the first Indian team to finish the endurance event of the competition and also finished first in fuel efficiency. The team also enjoys the rare feat of displaying their student-made race car at Auto Expo 2012. After a successful international debut, the team has plans to develop a series hybrid vehicle and participate in the Formula Student UK 2013.

Contact:

Century Road  Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667
01332 285 311