IIT Ropar

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

Type	Public, Education and Research Institution
Established	2008 (2008)
Director	Dr. M. K. Surrapa
Undergraduates	326
Doctoral students	22
Location	Rupnagar , Punjab , India 30.975374°N 76.537752°E / 30.975374; 76.537752
Campus	Spread over 520 acres (2.1 km2)
Website	www.iitrpr.ac.in
IIT Ropar Logo

The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, or IIT Ropar, (Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान रोपड़) sometimes also referred to as Indian Institute of Technology Punjab (IIT Punjab) is one of the 8 new IITs which have recently become functional. It was set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, to expand the reach and enhance the quality of technical education in the country. This institute is committed to providing state-of-the-art technical education in a variety of fields and also for facilitating transmission of knowledge in keeping with latest developments in pedagogy. These two areas of focus will enable students to gain exposure to recent trends in their chosen domains of study and gain practical experience through a wide variety of activities the institute facilitates in its own campus and arranges for in collaboration with industry and other institutes.

The 15 IITs are located in Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, and Roorkee, Rajasthan, Patna, Hyderabad, Mandi, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Gandhinagar and Ropar.

History

This new institute was established by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) of the Government of India in year 2008. The classes for academic session 2008-2009 were held at IIT Delhi. The Institute started functioning from its transit campus in Rupnagar since August 2009.

Campus & Location

IIT Ropar is located at Rupnagar (formerly known as Ropar) town of the district Rupnagar. Rupnagar was founded in the 11th century and named after Rup Sen son of Raja Rokeshar. Recent excavations and explorations conducted at Rupnagar indicate that the first settlements here were the Harappans, who reached the upper Satluj towards the close of third millennium B.C. The district has rich historical and religious significance.

Rupnagar town, the district headquarters is 42 km. from Chandigarh, the state capital. Rupnagar is well connected by road on National Highway NH-21. The Delhi-Ambala-Una railway line passes through Rupnagar and provides good rail connectivity. The nearest airport is at Chandigarh at a distance of about 60 km. The Satluj river passes close to Rupnagar.

The climate is characterized by its general dryness, except during the south-west monsoon season, a hot summer and a cold winter. The winter is from mid-November to February, summer from March to June and the monsoon from late June to mid-September. The average annual rainfall in the district is about 776 mm with about 78% in the period of June to September.

Permanent Campus

The location for permanent campus of IIT Ropar is Birla Seed Farms, Ropar (Rupnagar), district headquarter of Ropar (Rupnagar) near to Chandigarh. The Institute is expected to be operational from its permanent campus by 2013. The Government of Punjab has already approved land for permanent campus of about 525 acres (2.12 km²) in Rupnagar. Foundation stone for permanent campus of IIT Ropar was laid down on 24 February 2009 by former Union HRD Minister Mr. Arjun Singh.

Temporary Campus

The temporary campus of IIT Ropar is former Women's Polytechnic, Rupnagar. The academic and administration buildings have been completely renovated to accommodate all the requirements of the Institute . It has all the basic infrastructure to run Academic programmes specially designed by IIT Delhi. The transit campus is equipped with state of art lecture halls along with well maintained playgrounds to nurture the bright minds and enhance their overall development. Special emphasis has been laid to set up advanced laboratories to help students gain practical insight of the courses that are a part of their curriculum. The current temporary campus is a brief 1 km walk from Rupnagar railway station and the permanent campus is about 4–5 km from it.

Academic system

The curriculum followed at IIT Ropar provides for a science-based engineering education, with a view to produce quality engineer-scientists. If facilitates broad-based knowledge acquisition and, simultaneously, nurtures a temper for life-long learning and exploration. Students are encouraged to go beyond the classroom to conduct and carry out independent work by means of research projects, guided reading, and by allowing them to join the research activities undertaken by faculty members. The idea behind such a fashioning of the curriculum is the belief that classroom activities must be supplemented by independent study and also by individual research that broadens one's horizon and provides for opportunities to bring one's ideas to fruition.

The academic programme at the institute follows a semester-based credit system. The prominent feature of the credit system is the process of continuous evaluation of a student's performance and the flexibility to allow a student to progress at an an optimum pace suited to his/her ability or convenience, subject to fulfilling minimum requirements for continuation. A minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) is necessary for satisfactory progress and continuation in the programme.

Academic programmes

In its first year, i.e. academic year 2008-2009, three undergraduate programmes were offered. Admission to these programmes is through the JEE and students are admitted after completing 10+2 schooling.

• Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering

IIT Ropar also offers admissions for Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Philosophy.

Academic information

The institute campus developed almost fully by the winter semester of academic session 2009-2010. The first half of academic year 2009-2010 was overseen by faculty from IIT Delhi. IIT Ropar has also been in talks with three of UK's best universities.

UK institutes, with being quite impressed by the state of art facilities, have extended their support by signing MoU's in various direction. The director of the institute, along with HRD minister Mr. Kapil Sibbal formally visited them in UK to share experiences, with their response reciprocated by a senior official from UK visiting the campus in the month of February.

Students from IInd year have been a great opportunity to explore themselves under the able guidance of collaborated UK universities in the months of May–June.

Collaborations in hand and the future plans

IIT Ropar is keen to start collaborative ventures with university (both in India and abroad), industry, and other research institute. In sequel to the agreement signed between the Prime Minister of India and its counterpart in UK in June 2008, a number of universities and their consortia have expressed keen interest in collaborating with IIT Ropar. In the last few months, the Director, Prof. Surappa, has signed a number of MOUs with his counterparts in various universities in the United Kingdom. They have also had several visitors from universities abroad with a view to establish partnership in research and teaching.

The details are well elaborated at

Research or inspiration from the innovation

The institute, apart from establishing robust teaching environment, is keen to facilitate and support cutting-edge research in a variety of areas. This aspect, we believe, will enable the students to acquaint themselves with latest development in their respective areas of study and pursue their own research interests. This would also result in a constant revision of the contents of courses that are being taught.

The institute encourages its faculty members to initiate research work and provides an initiation grant and also the basic facilities for its sustenance. It also encourages faculty members to establish collaborative research ventures with other research lab and industry. In this regard, the institute is keen to establish Central Research Facility. The institute has already started its PhD programme, so that the research environment is further augmented, expanded, and made even more vibrant.

Campus life/Infrastructure

Hostel Facilities

The Institute campus houses four hostels: three for boys and one for girls. The hostels are well equipped for comfortable lodging and boarding of approximately 380 students. All hostels are provided with water coolers and RO systems. Each hostel has a common room that provides facilities for indoor recreation and games. The hostel complex also includes four shops that cater to the basic needs of the residents, and also a few washing machine facility. High speed internet is available via wi-fi and LAN connections provided by BSNL. The day-to-day management of hostels is taken care of by a committee consisting of student representatives. Each hostel has a warden, who guides the students to manage the affairs of the hostels. Institute has its own independent post office opened for the facilities of staffs and students of the institute. SBI (State Bank of India) has a well operational branch inside the campus premises, with talks of ATM being introduced in near early future.

Medical Facility

The institute has allocated a separate building, which adjoins the hostel complex, for its medical facility. A doctor and a nurse have been appointed to attend to medical emergencies of the campus residents. In addition the institute relies on a few super-specialty hospitals in the city of Ropar for providing medical care to its members.

Sports Facilities

The three batches of students are, apart from showing excellent academic progress, keen to pursue their interests in sports and games. To nurture these interests, the institute has several facilities. At present, the institute has cricket field, three tennis courts, a football field, a hockey field, a gymnasium, a basket ball court and also a number of facilities for several athletic events. The institute also encourages its students to participate in inter-IIT sport events and other competitions. The appointment of a coach has further augmented sports-related activities in the campus.

Central Library

The Central Library functions as the primary information resource and repository for all teaching and research activities at the institute. Apart from textbooks and recommended reading material prescribed for each course offered at the institute, the library houses a growing collection of research monographs, reports, multi-volume reference works, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and so on. In addition, the library also facilitates access to a number of journals through its participation in consortia such as INDEST-AICTE. At present, users can consult more than 4000 books (available on shelves) and hundreds of journals (through electronic subscription).

Security

The institute has ensured that its campus and residents are safe and secure. To accomplish this, a security agency has been entrusted with the task of providing security to its personnel and resources.

The beautiful campus has a peaceful environment.

Extra Curricular Activities

Clubs

There are various clubs being run at the institute like Chess, Athletic, Creative Writing, Science and Technology, etc. managed by the respective representatives and a secretary to guide them.

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist is the annual cultural fest of IIT Ropar. It is typically held in autumn(Sept/Oct) and aims at being one of the biggest student festival in Punjab.

External links

• IIT Ropar (Punjab) official site
• IIT Punjab Permanent campus
• IIT Ropar Cultural Festival ZEITGEIST