The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are making a joint effort to inform, encourage and make it easier for foreign nationals to apply and study in the various institutes in India. This is being undertaken by the umbrella body IIT Council of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD),
- Presentation and interactive meetings with students and parents in specially arranged venues in various cities in select countries (Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh; Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Mekele in Ethiopia; Kathmandu in Nepal; Singapore; Colombo and Jaffna in Sri Lanka; Dubai, Sharjah, Abu-Dhabi in UAE)
- Entrance examination facilitation (JEE-Advanced for undergraduates, and GATE for postgraduates)
- Common admission portal for undergraduates
- Common admission portal for postgraduates (to be released soon)
About IITs
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 of Govt. of India which has declared them as institutions of national importance, and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance etc. In May 1950, the first in the series was established in Kharagpur at the site of the Hijli Detention Camp, where the British had incarcerated political prisoners; the institution was named the "Indian Institute of Technology" before its formal inauguration on August 18, 1951. Within a decade of the launch of the first IIT, four more were set up: IIT Bombay (1958), IIT Madras (1959), IIT Kanpur (1959), and IIT Delhi (1961). Decades later, the sixth IIT was established in Guwahati (1994). India's first technical institute, set up in 1847 and known as the Thomson College of Engineering and subsequently the University of Roorkee, was ordained as the seventh IIT in September 2001. In the year 2008, six new IITs were started: IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Patna, IIT Rajasthan, and IIT Ropar. This was followed by two more IITs in 2009: IIT Indore and IIT Mandi. In 2012, Institute of Technology, BHU was designated the sixteenth IIT. Over the years IITs have created world class educational platforms dynamically sustained through internationally recognised research based on excellent infrastructural facilities. The faculty and alumni of IITs have made a significant impact in all sectors of society, both in India and abroad. The institutes are globally recognised as centres of academic excellence and are reputed for the outstanding calibre of the students graduating from them. In 2015, additional two new IITs, viz. IIT Tirupati and IIT Palakkad were started. Again, in 2016, IIT Goa and IIT Dharwad were started. Each IIT is an autonomous institution, linked to the others through a common IIT Council, which oversees their administration. The Union HRD Minister is the ex-officio Chairperson of IIT Council.
About JEE (Advanced) and GATE
The IITs have a common admission process for undergraduate (B.Tech., BS degrees) admissions, called IIT Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE), which was replaced by Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced in 2013. Details about JEE (Advanced) is available at http://www.jeeadv.ac.in/
The post-graduate level program in IITs awards M.Tech, MS degrees in engineering. Admissions are done on the basis of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). Details about GATE is available at http://www.gate.iitr.ernet.in/