Indian Institute of Technology

History

Main article: History of Indian Institutes of Technology

In 1956, the West German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement was signed in Bonn, West Germany in 1959 for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. IIT Madras was started with technical, academic and financial assistance from the Government of West Germany and was at the time the largest educational project sponsored by the West German Government outside their country. This has led to several collaborative research efforts with universities and institutions in Germany over the years. Although official support from the German government has ended, several research efforts involving the DAAD programme and Humboldt Fellowships still exist.

The institute was inaugurated in 1959 by Prof Humayun Kabir, the then Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. In 1961, the IITs were declared to be Institutions of National Importance that include the seven Institutes of Technology located at Kharagpur (established 1951), Mumbai (established 1958), Chennai (established 1959), Kanpur(established 1959), Delhi (established 1961), Guwahati (established 1994) and Roorkee (established 1847, renamed to an IIT in 2001). IIT Madras celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2009. Seven more IITs have been set up since 2008.

Campus

The main entrance of IIT Madras is on Chennai's Sardar Patel Road, flanked by the residential districts of Adyar andVelachery. The campus is close to the Raj Bhavan, the official seat of the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Other entrances are located in Velachery (near Anna Garden MTC bus stop, Velachery Main Road), Gandhi Road (known as Krishna Hostel gate or Toll Gate) and Taramani gate (close to Ascendas Tech Park).

The campus is located 10 km from the Chennai Airport, 12 km from the Chennai Central Railway station, and is well connected by city buses. Kasturba Nagar is the nearest station on the Chennai MRTS line.

Two parallel roads, Bonn Avenue and Delhi Avenue, cut through the faculty residential area, before they meet at the Gajendra Circle, near the Administrative Block. Buses and electric mini buses regularly ply between the Main Gate, Gajendra Circle, the Academic Zone, and the Hostel Zone.

Organisation and Administration

The Senate comprises all professors of the Institute and decides its academic policy. It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations, and results. It appoints committees to examine specific academic matters. The Director of the institute serves as the Chairman of the Senate. The Director from 2001 to 2011 was Dr. M. S. Ananth, who stepped down at the end of July 2011. As of September 2011, Prof. (Dr.) Bhaskar Ramamurthi has taken over as Director.The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, is an autonomous statutory organisation functioning within the Institutes of Technology Act. The sixteen IITs are administered centrally by the IIT Council, an apex body established by the Government of India. The Minister of Human Resource and Development,Government of India, is the Chairman of the Council. Each institute has a Board of Governors responsible for its administration and control.

Three Senate Sub-Committees - The Board of Academic Research, The Board of Academic Courses and The Board of Students - help in academic administration and in the operations of the Institute. The Finance Committee advises on matters of financial policy, while the Building and Works Committee advises on buildings and infrastructure. The Board of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research addresses industrial consultancy and the Library Advisory Committee oversees library matters.