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Institute with its own airfield
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.
Established by an act of Parliament in 1959, IIT-K 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 10 years of its existence, IIT-Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme, where a consortium of nine US universities helped set up the research laboratories and academic programmes.
The first Director of the Institute was Dr PK 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 PhD and MTech degrees.
The Institute has a number of facilities, including the National Wind Tunnel Facility.
Spread in a sprawling campus of 1,200 acres, IIT-Kanpur has one of the best computer infrastructure 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 Indian Institutes of Technology need no introduction either in India or abroad, for their alumni have already made their presence felt everywhere. The Institutes were set up by the Government of India as 'Institutions of National Importance' and almost all reputed international academic benchmarks have given them high rating. Sakshi Arora takes you through the corridors of IITs.
