IIT Madras

Most students at IIT Madras reside in the hostels, where extracurricular activities complement the academic routine. The campus has 18 hostels, of which four, Sharavati, Sarayu, Sabarmati and the recently (2017) constructed Tunga are exclusively for women. In earlier times each hostel had attached dining facilities but all of them have been closed down. Dining facilities are provided in three centralised halls namely Nilgiri, Vindhya and Himalaya. The hostels may accommodate undergraduate and graduate students, though they tend to keep the two apart. Students are assigned to hostels at the time of admission, where they usually spend their entire stay at the institute.

The hostels are named after the principal rivers of India and the campus buses used to be named after mountains, resulting in an epigram about IIT Madras that it is the only place where the mountains move and the rivers remain still. With the discontinuance of naming of buses and the mess halls being named Vindhya and Himalaya, this epigram is no longer meaningful.

Godavari Hostel

Brahmaputra Hostel

Entrance View of Newly opened Sabarmathi Hostel

The halls of IITM are:

Sindhu, Pampa, Mahanadhi and Tamiraparani are seven-storeyed whereas all the other (older, classic) hostels are three or four storeyed. These four hostels can accommodate more than 1,200 students.[16] The older hostels were all three-storeyed till the early 2000s when extra rooms in the form of an extra floor and rooms above the common room were added. An additional new floor in the three-storeyed hostels which generally house the undergraduate students and a new block in place of the mess halls of these hostels have been constructed to accommodate for the increased intake of the students. These new blocks could be used as entrances for these hostels.

IIT Madras provides residential accommodation for its students, faculty, administrative and supporting staff, and their families. The residential houses employ private caterers. The self-contained campus includes two schools (Vanavani and Kendriya Vidyalaya), three temples (Jalakanteshwara, Durga Peliamman and Ganapathi temple), three bank branches (SBI, ICICI, Canara Bank), a hospital, shopping centres, food shops, a gym, sleeping room and timepass hall, cricket, football, hockey and badminton stadiums. Internet is available in the academic zone and the faculty and staff residential zone. Earlier Internet was limited in hostel-zone from 2:00 pm till midnight and from 5:00 am to 8:00 am, but increasing demand during academic semester lead to full day Internet service.[17]

IIT Madras has the fastest super computing facility among educational institutions in India. The IBM Virgo Super Cluster installed with 97 teraflops was also ranked 364 among the top 500 in world in the Top500 November 2012 list. Apart from this, the institution already has a super computer with 20 teraflops.[18]

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.[19] Each institute has a Board of Governors responsible for its administration and control.

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 M. S. Ananth,[20] who stepped down at the end of July 2011.[21] As of September 2011, Bhaskar Ramamurthi has taken over as Director.[22]

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.

• Aerospace Engineering
• Applied Mechanics
• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Engineering Design
• Engineering Physics
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Mechanical Engineering
• Management Studies
• Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
• Mathematics
• Ocean Engineering
• Physics

For the undergraduate curriculum, admission to the BTech and Dual Degree (BSc + MSc or BTech + MTech) programme is done through the Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced (JEE-Advanced). IIT Madras conducted JEE Advanced in 2017. Admission to the five-year integrated Master of Arts (MA) programme is through the Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination (HSEE), an IIT Madras specific exam.[23]

For the postgraduate curriculum, admission to the MTech and MS programmes are through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). The Joint Admission Test to MSc (JAM) is the entrance exam for the two-year MSc programme, and other post BSc programmes. MBA candidates are accepted through the Common Admission Test (CAT).[23]

Internationally, IIT Madras was ranked 271 in the QS World University Rankings of 2020.[32] The same rankings ranked it 50 in Asia in 2020[25] and 17 among BRICS nations in 2019.[26] It was ranked 601–800 in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2020,[27] 125 in ASIA[28] and 63 among Emerging Economies University Rankings in 2020.[29]

IIT Madras also ranked first among engineering colleges by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2020[31] and first overall.[30] It ranked first in Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), Govt. of India in the year 2019.[33]

The Indian Institutes of Technology are under control of the Government of India and therefore have strict rules for grade. Depending on the course the evaluation is based on participation in class, attendance, quiz, exam and/or paper. Continuous evaluation is done by course instructors. The Evaluation System of IIT Madras[34] which is also used in other IITs is the Cumulative Grade Point Average with a scale from 0 to 10 which is converted to letters:

CGPA then gets calculated as the cumulative credit-weighted average of the grade points: CGPA = (Σ Ci • GPi) / (Σ Ci) where: N is the number of courses Ci is credits for the ith course GPi is grade points for the ith course CGPA is the cumulative grade point average

The CGPA is not the same as the one commonly used in the United States. In India some credits might be awarded during Bachelor studies for Co-curricular and Extra-curricular Activities, while during the Master Programme this is not allowed. Through agreements with numerous international organisations, IIT grades are accepted from many international organisations like NTU, NUS and DAAD.

Additionally, the attendance of the students is evaluated with VG for very good (always present), G for good (not present every lecture) and P for poor (student was present less than 85% of lectures).

The institute has departments and advanced research centres across the disciplines of engineering and the pure sciences, and nearly 100 laboratories.[35]

Research programmes concern work undertaken by faculty members or specific research groups within departments that award an MS or PhD degree. Research is carried out by scholars admitted into these departmental programmes, under the guidance of their faculty. Each department makes known its areas of interest to the academic community through handbooks, brochures and bulletins. Topics of interest may be theoretical or experimental. IIT Madras has initiated 16 inter-disciplinary research projects against identified focus areas.

The institute maintains academic friendship with educational institutes around the world through faculty exchange programmes. The institute has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with foreign universities, resulting in cooperative projects and assignments.[36]

Through industrial consultancy, faculty and staff undertake assignments for industry that may include project design, testing and evaluation, or training in new areas of industrial development. Industries and organisations like the Indian Ordnance Factories,[37] reach out to the IIT faculty to undertake assignments channeled through the Centre For Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR).

National organisations sponsor programmes of research by funding projects undertaken by the faculty. Such research is time bound and allows project participants to register for a degree. Project proposals are usually prepared by the IIT faculty and forwarded to interested organisations, based on the nature of their research and their interest to fund such projects.

Sponsored projects are often vehicles for new resources within departments, and often permit their project staff to register for academic degrees in the institute. All sponsored research activities at the institute are coordinated by ICSR.

Park The IIT Madras Research Park,[38] the first of its kind to be established in India, functions to propel successful innovation in established companies and provide a nurturing ecosystem to startups through incubation efforts and technical infrastructure. Following its success, 50 research parks were planned as part of Start Up India initiative of the Central Government of India. Corporate clients of IIT Madras Research park include Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Saint-Gobain and Forbes Marshall. Ather Energy, Hyperverge and Gyandata are some of the startups incubated at the Research Park. The Research Park is primarily reason why a very large number of startups are incubated at IIT Madras.[39]

To improve the quality of higher education in India, IIT Madras came up with an initiative called NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning)[40] in the year 2003.[41] As per this initiative, all the IITs, along with the IISc Bangalore would come up with a series of video lecture based courses across all the streams of engineering.[42] This initiative has gained wide popularity in India and the lectures are being used by several engineering students from across India. It is the Largest online repository in the world of courses in engineering, basic sciences and selected humanities and social sciences subjects.

Shaastra is the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. It is typically held in the second week of January[43] and is the first ISO 9001:2015 certified student organised festival in the world. It is known for its organisation and activities. Forums include the symposia, workshops, video conferences, lectures, demonstrations, and technical exhibitions. Competitive activities cover design events, programming, simulations, quizzes, applied engineering, robotics, junk-yard wars and contraptions.

Saarang is the annual social and cultural festival of IIT Madras. It is a five-day-long event held in early January every year and attracts a crowd of 70,000 students and young people from across the country, making it the largest student run fest in India. Saarang events include speaking, dancing, thespian, quizzing and word games, professional shows (nicknamed proshows) and workshops on music, fashion, art, and dance.

Several departments organise department festivals. Samanvay, Biofest, ExeBit, Wavez, Mechanica, CEA Fest, Chemclave, Amalgam and Forays are some of the festivals organised by the Department of Management Studies, Computer Science and Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and Maths departments respectively. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences hosts Annual Academic Conference.

The Entrepreneurship Cell, IITM, abbreviated as E-Cell IITM, is a student-run body responsible for promoting and inculcating a spirit of entrepreneurial thinking among both the faculty and the student fraternity of IIT Madras. E-Cell was earlier known as "C-TIDES", and was rechristened in 2015 along with a series of organizational changes in an effort to promote greater engagement among students.

E-Summit[44] is the flagship event of E-Cell and is a three-day-long event typically held in the first week of April.[45] It includes a myriad of events and competitions, such as the Startup Boot Camp, PitchFest, the Intern Fair, a social campaign and workshops, talks and panel discussions from some of the most eminent entrepreneurs of India. Past speakers have included the likes of Ritesh Agarwal and Nandini Vaidyanathan.[46][47]

2017 marked the second installation of E-Summit. It witnessed a footfall of approximately 1000 people from nearly 30 colleges, and it involved over 100 startups.

Centre For Innovation is a "Student Lab" set up in 2008.

The annual flagship event of CFI, the "OPEN HOUSE" displays the innovative projects of all CFI clubs, many of which have bagged international and national honours, along with the works of the Competitive Teams.[48]

Launched in 1980, by a group of students with support from the then Director of IIT Madras, Late Prof. P.V. Indiresan, the main aim of the Extra Mural Lectures series is to expose the IIT Madras community to the ideas and experiences of eminent personalities from diverse backgrounds. Over the years, the likes of late former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Nobel Laureate The 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, Chess Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, Honorable Governor Shri. E.S.L. Narasimhan, Honorable Minister of Railways Shri. Suresh Prabhu, Co-founder of Infosys Shri. Kris Gopalakrishnan and Ambassador of Japan to India H.E. Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu have been hosted at IIT Madras for Extra Mural Lectures, to motivate the students and broaden their perspectives.

Deer at IIT Madras, in the open ground between SAC and the stadium

The Sustainability Network (S-Net) is an alumni-student-faculty initiative launched in May 2009 to sensitise and highlight the need to preserve the unique niche of one of the best educational campus in India. S-Net was envisioned to work towards development and deployment of solutions for making a self-sustaining campus (focusing on energy/electricity, water, and waste management), which could eventually be replicated across the country through tie-ups with other educational institutions.[49]

Blackbuck deer at IIT Madras, IITM is also home to Endangered Species of Blackbuck deer

The Fifth Estate[50] is the official media body of IIT Madras and gives an insight into the happenings inside the campus and important news related to the institute. The Open Air Theatre hosts the weekly movie, a Saturday night tradition, besides other activities. It seats over 7,000.

The National Service Scheme[51] (NSS) in IIT Madras has been noted for taking up socially relevant initiatives, taken up as individual projects to create an impact on the society as well as the students. The wing of NSS at IITM has over 400 students every year, contributing to the cause of the scheme. Since its inception, NSS at IITM has achieved many milestones in its history as a unique, student-run organisation. Linked with several NGOs and social organisations both within and outside Chennai. By working out projects from Braille magazines to technology interventions, from teaching children in urban slums to educational video content, NSS (IITM) seeks to challenge the mediocre thinking, and reach out into the darkness, to pull a hand into the light.

Hobby clubs include the speaking club, the astro club, dramatics, music and robotics.

Student bodies such as Vivekananda Study Circle (VSC), Islamic Study Circle, IIT Christian Fellowship, Genesis and Reflections focus on spiritual discussions.

The campus has evolved a slang, attracting a published Master's thesis at a German University.[52] A mix of English, Hindi, Telugu (Gult), Malayalam (Mallu) and Tamil (Tam), aspects of the campus slang have been adopted by some other Chennai colleges.

Unlike its sister institutions, IIT Madras has no single Indian language used among its students: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, English and Hindi are all very commonly used. Consequently, all student participatory activities like debating, dramatics, short-film making, and others are held in English. This is even reflected in the slang that uses more of English and other Indian regional languages than Hindi, unlike in IIT-M's northern counterparts.

Entrance of the Heritage Centre at IIT Madras

The Heritage Centre was formally inaugurated by Dr Arcot Ramachandran, former Director IIT Madras on 3 March 2006. The centre is located on the ground floor of the administration building. The actual idea of a Heritage Centre was mooted in the year 2000 and has become a reality due to the efforts of the Professor-in-charge Dr. Ajit Kumar Kolar and his team. The centre will function as a repository of material of heritage value and historical significance of various facets of the institute.

The exhibits include photographs, documents, publications, paintings, portraits, products developed and other articles. Information regarding important events, laboratory development, visits of important dignitaries, Indo-German cooperative activities, and academic achievements of faculty and students also are included. Aspects of IITM campus features and development, campus life and student activities are also included, thus broadening the scope of the centre in the future to non-academic activities also.