IIT Mandi which began its journey in 2009 has completed 10 glorious years of teaching and research and development. The institute which is placed at 20th rank in the NIRF ranking for engineering institutes is at the top spot among institutes in Himachal Pradesh.
Prof. Timothy Gonsalves, who has been the Director of the Institute since its inception, addressed a Press Conference on campus on February 12 and highlighted institute's successes and achievements.
Addressing the media's query on "How did IIT Mandi rise to the top position in Himachal overall (NIRF) in the short span of less than 10 years?", Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves said, "In 2010, IIT Mandi adopted a strategy of working on research directed towards solving major challenges of the Himalayan Region and of India. We crafted a unique project-based learning approach and a collaborative inter-disciplinary culture. These factors enabled our exceptionally talented and dedicated faculty and students to crack challenging societal and academic problems."
In 10 years, the institute has moved to its permanent campus in Mandi. Starting with 97 students in 2009, the institute currently hosts 1,655 students including 750 in B. Tech., 179 in M.Sc., 257 in M.Tech., 24 in M.A, 361 in Ph.D., 66 in M.S. and 18 n I-Ph.D. programmes.
The institute also successfully surpassed the female enrolment target for undergraduate courses. The target was set at 17% by the JEE Apex Board Committee for 2019-20 and IIT Mandi enrolled 20.22% female students in the said year.
The institute, in the past ten years, has introduced several specialized courses and is currently offering B.Tech. programmes in 7 disciplines and Masters programme in 11 disciplines, in additional to Doctoral programmes in Science, Engineering and Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2019, the Institute became the first IIT to introduce a full-fledged B.Tech. degree in Data Science and Engineering which emphasizes the integration of theory and practice.
IIT Mandi faculty have been involved in over 275 Research and Development (R&D) projects worth more than Rs. 120 crores. The faculty from the four schools (School of Engineering, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, School of Basic Sciences, and School of Humanities and Social Sciences) have published a total of 306 publications in the year 2019. Dr. Manu V. Devadevan, faculty member in the School of Humanities and Social Science, was awarded the prestigious 2019 Infosys Prize for Humanities for his path-breaking research in Indian history.
The institute is also involved in social impact projects and has also collaborated with Academia and Industry to conduct joint research activities. It also has the first Technology Business Incubator (TBI) in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
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