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The Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs, are a group of seven autonomous engineering
and technology oriented institutes of higher education established and declared
as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India. The IITs were created
to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce
to support the economic and social development of India after independence in 1947.
The students and alumni of IITs are colloquially referred to as IITians. In order
of establishment, the seven IITs are located at Kharagpur, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai
(Madras), Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, and Roorkee. Some IITs were established with
financial assistance and technical expertise from UNESCO, Germany, the United States,
and the Soviet Union. Each IIT is an autonomous university, linked to the others
through a common IIT Council, which oversees their administration. They have a common
admission process for undergraduate admissions, using the Joint Entrance Examination
(popularly known as IIT-JEE) to select around 4,000 undergraduate candidates a year.
PostGraduate Admissions are done on the basis of the GATE and CEED. About 15,500
undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students study in the seven IITs, in addition
to research scholars
- Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
- Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
- Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
- Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Admission Procedure
Admission to undergraduate
programs in all IITs is tied to the Joint Entrance Examination, popularly known
as IIT-JEE. Candidates who qualify admission via IIT-JEE can apply for admission
in B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), Dual Degree (Integrated Bachelor of
Technology and Master of Technology) and Integrated M.Sc. (Master of Sciences)
courses in IITs. IIT-JEE is a science-oriented entrance exam, testing
candidate's knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry. It is conducted by
an IIT chosen by a policy of rotation. Admission is very competitive, given the
huge population of India; the undergraduate acceptance rate through JEE has a
low ratio, around 1 in 55, with about 300,000 annual test takers for about 5,500
seats. Only about 4,000 of these seats are offered by IITs, the rest belonging
to other institutes that use IIT-JEE. Only students who have completed (or will
complete at the end of the current academic session) their higher secondary
studies from a recognised educational board are allowed to appear for IIT-JEE.
The IIT-JEE is well known for frequently changing the types of questions asked
in order to discourage study by rote. Since IIT-JEE 2006, the format of the
question paper was changed to a single objective test-based paper, replacing the
earlier system that employed two tests. The candidates belonging to the general
category must secure a minimum aggregate of 60% marks in the qualifying
examination of the XIIth standard organised by various educational boards of
India. Candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and
Physically Disabled (PD) categories must secure a minimum aggregate of 55% in
the qualifying examination. The upper age limit for appearing for the IIT-JEE is
25 years. The age limit is relaxed to 30 years for candidates classified in the
SC, ST and PD categories. Starting with IIT-JEE 2007, a candidate can take
IIT-JEE a maximum of two times, and students who are selected for an IIT cannot
attempt the examination again. The admissions into the postgraduate programmes
are made through various exams, primarily the Graduate Aptitude Test in
Engineering (GATE) for M.Tech. and some MS courses. Other prominent entrance
exams include JAM (Joint Admission to M.Sc.) for M.Sc., and JMET (Joint
Management Entrance Test) for Management Studies
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