IIT - Kharagpur

IIT Kharagpur was the first of the seven IITs, established in 1951. On Sept.15, 1956, the Parliament of India passed an act known as the Indian Institute of Technology (Khragpur) Act declaring IIT Kharagpur as an institute of national importance. First session started in August 1951 with 224 freshers and 42 teachers in 10 departments of the institute. The class rooms, laboratories and the administrative office were housed in the historic building of the Hijli Detention Camp (now known as Shaheed Bhawan), where freedom fighters were imprisoned and executed.

IIT Kharagpur is located 120 kms west of Kolkata. Campus is a township of about 20,000 inhabitants. The Science and Technology Entrepreneurs’ Park (STEP) provides infrastructure facilities to alumni who want to become entrepreneurs but lack infrastructure to start their own corporation. There are eleven hostels for undergraduate students, in addition to post-graduate students’ hostels.

Kshitij (previously known as Ideon) is the annual techno-management festival organized in the month of January. It includes technical workshops, seminars and competitions. Robotix, the annual robotics competition is also organized during this period.

The cultural festival of IIT Kharagpur is known as Spring Fest, and is organized in the month of January. The Star-nights are the main attraction of the Spring Fest having nearly 10,000 strong audience packed in the Tagore Open Air Theatre built to carry 3,000 people. IIT Kharagpur is also known for its famed illumination and Rangoli festival, illu. An annual magazine called “Alankar” and a fortnightly newsletter called Scholar’s Avenue is published by The Gymkhana.

Sushantha Kumar Bhattacharyya, V.C.Kulandaiswamy. Mani Lal Bhaumik(excimer laser fame), Parvati Dev, Kirit Parikh, Srikumar Banerjee, Suhas.S.Patil, Kanwal Rekhi, Arjun Malhotra, Vinod Gupta, Ajit Jain and Arun Sarin among others are notable alumni of IIT Kharagpur who have contributed in development of the spirit of entrepreneurship among youth of India.

IIT Kharagpur provides much of its benefits to the local community through the Rural Development Center (RDC) located in the campus by developing technologies specific to the needs of the community. A new fundraiser project, vision 2020 has been initiated by IIT Foundation at IIT Kharagpur. The objective of vision 2020 is to raise a US $ 200 million endownment fund by the year 2020 to enable IIT Kharagpur maintain and enhance global leadership and excellence in technology education, research and innovation.