IIT Madras, the jewel in crown of Indian education

New Delhi: IIT Madras is the third among the seven IITs to be established by the Government of India in 1959.It was founded with technical and financial assistance from the government of the former West Germany. This institute has nearly 550 faculties, 8,000 students and 1,250 administrative and supporting staff. All Sponsored Research and Consultancy activities in the Institute are coordinated by the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC & SR). Some of major recent initiatives at the Institute include three new Departments (Bio Technology, Engineering Design and Management Studies), 5 – Year integrated programme in Humanities, IIT Madras Research Park and Inter-Disciplinary Research Projects. In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement was signed in Bonn, West Germany in 1959 for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. IIT Madras was started with technical, academic and financial assistance from the Government of West Germany and was at the time the largest educational project sponsored by the West German Government outside their country. This has led to several collaborative research efforts with universities and institutions in Germany over the years. Although official support from the German government has ended, several research efforts involving the DAAD program and Humboldt Fellowships exist. The institute was inaugurated in 1959 by Prof. Humayun Kabir, the then Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. In 1961, the IITs were declared to be Institutions of National Importance that include the seven Institutes of Technology. IIT Madras celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2009. Internationally, IIT Madras was ranked #312 in the QS World University Rankings of 2012 and 45 in the QS Asian University Rankings of 2012. In India, among engineering colleges, it ranked 4 by India Today in 2012, 5 by Outlook India in 2012 and 2 by Dataquest in 2011. In the Mint Government Colleges survey of 2009 it ranked 5. Departments: Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mechanics, Biotechnology, 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, Mathematic, Ocean Engineering, Physics