Indian Institute of Technology | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Motto | Gyanam Paramam Dhyeyam (Knowledge is the Ultimate Goal) |
| Established | 1958 |
| Type | Education and Research Institution |
| Director | Dr. Ashok Misra |
| Staff | 400 |
| Undergraduates | 2,300 |
| Postgraduates | 2,000 |
| Alumni | 35,000 |
| Location | Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Campus | Urban, Spread over 550 acres in North Central Mumbai |
| Acronym | IITB |
| Website | http://www.iitb.ac.in/ and http://www.iitbombay.org/ |
IIT Bombay was the second IIT to be established in 1958 with assistance from UNESCO and with funds contributed by the Soviet Union. UNESCO agreed to provide equipment and technical experts mainly from the Soviet Union, while the Government of India accepted the responsibility for all other expenses including the cost of the building project and recurring expenses.
The site chosen for the Institute was Powai, eighteen miles from the city of Bombay (Mumbai), with an area of 550 acres which was given by the then Bombay State Government. While construction was being completed, the first academic session of the Institute opened on July 25, 1958, in its temporary home at the Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Research Association (SASMIRA) building in Worli (Bombay) with 100 students. These students were selected from over 3,400 applicants for admission to the first year undergraduate programmes in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering. One of the main objectives of establishing the Institute was to develop facilities for studies in a variety of specialised engineering and technological sciences. The need for establishing adequate facilities for postgraduate studies and research was kept uppermost in mind in the founding years.
While the Institute was functioning provisionally at Worli, an effort was made to expedite the progress of the building project at its permanent location. When Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the Institute at Powai on March 10, 1959, water and electric supply lines were just being laid and one approach road to the site was under construction.
Today, nearly fifty years later, IIT Bombay continues to contribute significantly to the advancement of science and technology in India in a number of ways. It has produced world class engineers and scientists, and alumni of IIT Bombay are achieving success in various capacities as entrepreneurs, managers, technocrats, consultants and advisers, and as faculty members and researchers, in India and abroad.
CampusThe IIT Bombay campus is located at Powai, a suburb in north western Mumbai, between the Vihar and Powai lakes. The closest railway stops to IIT Mumbai on the Mumbai Suburban Railway are Kanjurmarg and Vikhroli, on the Central line. The four main entrances to the campus are the Main Gate, the Middle Gate (now closed for security reasons), the Y-Point Gate (also called the Market Gate) and the Lake Side Gate. The Main Gate is the only one which is open 24 hours a day, while the Y-Point Gate is open only between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The campus is divided into clusters of buildings. The academic area chiefly comprises the Main Building, various Departmental annexures and auditoria. All department annexures are connected by a corridor named Infinite Corridor. Beyond the Convocation Hall lies the hostels (with the exception of Hostel 10, which is abutting the departmental annexure). The hostels are numbered from 1 through 13, with Hostel 10 (under-graduate and post-graduate) and Hostel 11 (post-graduate) specially reserved for women. Tansa House is a housing complex exclusively for the single male project staff. It is the smallest hostel in IIT Bombay with 128 rooms. The Tulsi House is meant for married research scholars. Apart from these, few students also reside in Type -1 quarters, Vihar House, QIP quarters and DRDO building which are situated in the campus.
Due to its proximity to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the campus is extremely clean, green and mostly untouched by the pollution of the rest of the city. The proximity of the campus to the national park has also led to occasional sightings of panthers and Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) crocodilians along the banks of Lake Powai. A popular weekly newspaper Planet Powai reports events and happenings of this campus regularly.
The institute has a swimming pool; football, hockey and cricket grounds; and tennis, basketball, squash and volleyball courts. It also has a Students' Activity Center (SAC) for various cultural and other extra-curricular activities.
Cultural activities like dramatics also mark an important feature in the life of a student of IIT Bombay. Many students are very passionate about the annual inter-hostel Performing Arts Festival (PAF).
The annual science and technology festival Techfest is usually held in the month of January and is the largest of its kind in Asia.The most attractive feature of this 3 day event are the exhibitions,impressive display of technology developed from all parts of India and from all over world.
The annual cultural and arts festival Mood Indigo is held in the month of December and is one of the largest of its kind in India.This festival attracts a huge crowd from colleges all over the city of Mumbai and also from those in the other states of India.The most popular event are the PRONITES.These are organised on each successive night of this festival and are characterised by a performance from various popular Indian artists and occasionally the International artists.
Both these college festivals are organised,financially managed and conducted entirely by the students of this Institute.Both these festivals are sponsored by various companies and even some of the public banks.
These festivals receive huge sums of money from their sponsors This is one of the primary reasons for these festivals being able to afford the organisation of various big events.
