The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Kharagpur- home to the world’s third longest railway platform in the world
The first IIT to be established, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur opened its doors in 1951. IITKGP was established to train scientists and engineers after India gained its independence. It is located 120 km west of Kolkata.
Among all the IITs, IIT Kharagpur has the largest campus (2,100 acres), the most departments and the highest student enrolment. When the first session started in August 1951, there were 224 students and 42 teachers in the ten departments of the institute. Today the campus is home to nearly 20,000 inhabitants. The campus has grounds for cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, and athletics and swimming pools for aquatic events. Most of the hostels have their own individual sports grounds.
There are a total of 21 hostels of which 10 are for undergraduate males and two for undergraduate females. The rest are used by the post graduate and doctoral students. The campus has six guest houses, a civic hospital, four nationalised banks, four schools, a railway reservation counter and a police station. The campus also has its own water pumping station, electrical sub-station, telephone exchange, a market, and six restaurants. The institute has an extension centre at Kolkata to provide venues for continuing education programmes, distance learning courses, and guesthouse accommodation.
Academic Programs at IITKGP
IIT Kharagpur has 19 academic departments, 7 multi-disciplinary centres, and 8 schools of excellence in addition to laboratories and central research facilities. It has innumerable research projects running and has many consultancy projects. These projects have generated huge income for the institute. IITKGP has filed over 125 patents and 25 of them have been granted.
Candidates who qualify for admission through JEE can apply for admission to the four-year B.Tech, five-year BArch degree, five-year Dual Degree and five-year integrated MSc courses at IITKGP. Admissions to the postgraduate programmes (MTech) are through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). Other postgraduate entrance exams include Joint Admission to MSc (JAM) for MSc, and Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by IIMs for management studies. IIT Kharagpur is a member of LAOTSE, a network of universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Shaurya, an annual inter-collegiate sports and games meet is held in October. Spring Fest, the annual socio-cultural fest of IIT Kharagpur is held in January. Kshitij, the techno-management festival is held in January or February and offers a total prize money of Rs 5 million. Robotix, the annual robotics competition is held during Kshitij. Illumination, known as Illu, is a festival unique to IIT Kharagpur. It is usually held on Diwali day as it is inspired by the festival. As part of the festival, vertical panels of bamboo called Chatais are built. Thousands of lamps (diyas) are mounted on the chatais forming outlines of people or things, depictions of events, or a place of importance. Bitwise, an online programing contest annually in February attracts participation from around the globe. Kharagpur Automobile Racing Team, known as “Team KART” is a team that designs and builds formula student prototype race-cars and represents IIT Kharagpur at The Formula Student UK.
Program-wise placement data 2012-2014
