IIT Madras

Most students at IIT Madras reside in hostels, where extracurricular activities complement the academic routine. The campus has 20 hostels, of which four, Sharavati, Sarayu, Sabarmati and the recently constructed Tunga are exclusively for women. In earlier times, each hostel had attached dining facilities but all of them have since been closed down. Dining facilities are provided in three centralised halls: Nilgiri, Vindhya and Himalaya. Students are assigned to hostels upon matriculation, where they usually reside for the entire duration of their course of study.

Godavari Hostel

Brahmaputra Hostel

Sabarmathi Hostel

The halls of IITM are:

Sindhu, Pampa, Mahanadhi and Tamiraparani are seven-storeyed whereas all the other hostels are three or four storeyed. These four hostels can accommodate more than 1,200 students.[20] The older hostels were all three-storeyed till the early 2000s when extra rooms 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. As of 2020, Mandakini has been demolished and a multi-storey block is under construction, with provision to accommodate approximately 1000 students.

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), three bank branches (SBI, ICICI, Canara Bank), a hospital, shopping centres, food shops, a gym, sleeping room and 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 led to round-the-clock Internet service.[21]

IIT Madras also has supercomputing capability, with the IBM Virgo Super Cluster with 97 teraflops worth of computational power.[22]

IIT Madras is an autonomous statutory organisation functioning within the Institutes of Technology Act. The twenty three IITs are administered centrally by the IIT Council, an apex body established by the Government of India. The Minister of Human Resources and Development is the chairman of the council.[23] Each institute has a Board of Governors responsible for its administration and control. The Finance Committee advises on matters of financial policy, while the Building and Works Committee advises on buildings and infrastructure.

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 current director is Kamakoti Veezhinathan.[24]

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 Board of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research addresses industrial consultancy and the Library Advisory Committee oversees library matters.

• Aerospace Engineering
• Applied Mechanics
• Biotechnology (Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences)
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Engineering Design
• 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 criteria to the five-year integrated Master of Arts (MA) programme is changed as Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination (HSEE), an IIT Madras specific exam is not conducted from 2023.[25] Admissions to the online degree programme for BS in Data Science and Applications[26] are done through a Qualifier Process which includes four weeks of instruction in Computational Thinking, Mathematics, Statistics and English.[27]

For the postgraduate curriculum, admission to the MTech and MS programmes are through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE); after 2022, with the discontinuation of 5 year integrated MA program and the same becoming a 2 year PG program,[28] admissions will be through GATE for the MA program also. 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).[29]

Internationally, IIT Madras was ranked 255 in the QS World University Rankings of 2022.[31] The same rankings ranked it 50 in Asia in 2021[32] and 17 among BRICS nations in 2019.[33] It was ranked 701–800 in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2021.[30]

IIT Madras also ranked first among engineering colleges by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2022[35] and first overall.[34] It ranked first in Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021.[36][37]

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[38] 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.[39]

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.[40]

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,[41] 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,[42] 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.[43]

To improve the quality of higher education in India, IIT Madras came up with an initiative called NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning)[44] in the year 2003.[45] 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.[46] 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.

The institute launched the country's first online BS program in Data Science and Applications. The 136 credit program consists of three levels—Foundation (32 credits), Diploma (48 credits), and Degree (56 credits).[47] The faculty of the program include Madhavan Mukund (Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Chennai Mathematical Institute),[48] Rajesh Kumar (Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras),[49] Andrew Thangaraj (Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Madras),[50] Sudarshan Iyengar (Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Ropar),[51] and several more faculty, instructors and mentors.

The first batch of 8,154 students who joined the program in 2020 have brought unprecedented diversity:

Prathap Haridoss, professor in charge of the online degree programme, said nearly 30% of the learners are working professionals from IT, banking, manufacturing, finance, law, healthcare, marketing and other

1. '[[]]'sectors.[52]

The institute has been working with experts from NPTEL to manage the program. Instruction is via recorded videos followed by activity questions. There are at least three sessions per week for each course subject that allow students to interact, discuss and study. Weekly graded assignments, monthly quizzes and an end term final exam are used to award grades as per the IIT Grading System. The in-person quizzes and exams are conducted at the test centres across the country.

In additional to a challenging academic curriculum, the students are encouraged to participate in various professional development, skill development and social activities organized by the institute, students and their clubs. In April 2021, the BS program department organized the 'Cricket Hackathon 2021' for students, professionals, and data science enthusiasts. The academic competition was designed for beginners to learn and compete, as well as for professionals to showcase their capabilities in programming, data science, and analytics.[53]

Visit: https://onlinedegree.iitm.ac.in

Shaastra is the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. It is typically held in the second week of January[54] 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, speedcubing, robotics, and junk-yard wars.

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, ChemPlus, 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[55] is the flagship event of E-Cell and is a three-day-long event typically held in the first week of April.[56] 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.[57][58]

The second instance of E-Summit in 2017 attracted about 1,000 attendees from nearly 30 colleges and 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.[59]

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, current Vice President of India Shri. M.Venkaiah Naidu, Music Composer Ilayaraja, 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.[60]

An albino blackbuck at IIT Madras, IITM is also home to Endangered Species of blackbuck

The Fifth Estate[61] 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[62] (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.[63] 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.