The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Tirupati) will soon look beyond the B.Tech. programme and offer MS and PhD programmes from the semester starting July 2017.
The institute, which is the first among the third generation IITs announced in 2014, is offering B.Tech. programme under civil, computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering streams.
Planning large-scale appointments of permanent faculty members next month, the institute plans to place research on an equal footing to attract and retain ‘qualified’ talent. The research focus areas are smart infrastructure, food technology, energy, material science, IT and communication, design and education technology.
Permanent campus
“Going by the enquiries we are receiving from candidates across the globe, we should get good faculty members,” said IIT-T Founder-Director K.N. Satyanarayana. In his maiden media interaction on Thursday after taking charge as the Director, Prof. Satyanarayana listed out the priorities and challenges before him. The IIT is presently running in a temporary campus on Renigunta Road, while the civil work is on at the permanent campus coming up in 530 acres in Merlapaka village on Yerpedu-Venkatagiri highway. With mountains providing a scenic backdrop, the permanent campus comprising a 600-bed hostel, buildings to house undergraduate laboratory, workshop, classrooms, dining hall, indoor stadium, playground etc. will be ready for the 2017-18 academic year. The institute will be developed at an estimated outlay of ₹2,500 crore for the first seven years of operation, including construction and creation of infrastructure.
A detailed project report (DPR), prepared by Prof. Satyanarayana, for developing a campus to hold 2,500 students is under process by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
“In the long run, it will have facilities to accommodate 10,000-12,000 students,” he said. Prof. Satyanarayana firmly believes in creating technologists who are conscious of social, environmental and sustainable issues and hence attaches due significance to courses offered in humanities and social sciences. Meanwhile, IIT-Madras, which is the mentor institute, will continue to hand-hold IIT-Tirupati till the latter develops the ability to brace up on its own.
