In the decade that it has been operating, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has become one of India’s leading engineering schools. Set upon a 576 acre campus near to the town of Sangareddy, around 50 kilometres west of Hyderabad, it is home to around 2,500 students and nearly 200 faculty members.
IITs are a special category of university in India. They generally receive more public funding than other engineering schools in the country. The government also has no control over the curriculum or recruitment of the faculty. All of the teaching at IITs is in English. Hyderabad was one of eight new IITs founded in 2008.
As well as PHDs, the university’s currently offers nine Btech, 16 Mtech, three MSc. and five MPhil programmes, as well as one MDes. The university is in the process of adding nine more academic buildings to the three it currently has, with other planned future developments including a new cultural complex and a technology incubation park.
IIT Hyderabad has close links with Japanese universities and industry. As well as Japanese architects leading the new developments on its campus, collaborative research projects include work on how India’s transport system can utilise big data. This project is a collaboration with Nihon University and Tokyo Institute of Techology. The university has one of India’s five Shiru Cafes, where students get free coffee in exchange for being given information by companies that sponsor the drinks.
All undergraduate students enrolled at IIT, Hyderabad have to pick a creative arts course each semester. Their options include western classical music, theatre and ceramics. IIT Hyderabad students also have a sub-chapter named Spicmacay, dedicated to traditional Indian art, including organising performances from well regarded artists.
