INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROORKEE: The Oldest Warhorse

The famine of 1830 brought about a lot of misery to the people of western UP,
but along came with it the idea to build a canal to irrigate the region and
decrease dependence on rain. Little did the citizen of the era know that it
would give birth to an idea, an idea that would be instrumental in building the
IIT Roorkee of today.

A Long History

It was in 1842 that the construction of the canal started. Roorkee at the
time was an agglomeration of a few huts, but also became the center of hectic
engineering activity because of the aqueduct that had to come up there. James
Thomason, Lt Governor of the North Western Provinces, suggested setting up of an
institution at Roorkee to train civil engineers locally to meet the demand for
trained manpower.

Roorkee College became operational on January 1, 1848. It was the first
institution to train civil engineers in the entire British Empire at that time.

Soon after independence, the status of the Thomason College of Civil
Engineering was upgraded to that of a university under the Roorkee University
Act. And history repeated itself again in 2001, when University of Roorkee was
renamed to become the IIT, Roorkee. But name change or no name change, the
institution has always been regarded as a seat of learning that has produced
professionals that are valued by the industry and the academia. "Moreover
our graduates top the tally in the Indian Engineering Services as well,"
adds Prof MP Jain, Prof. (placement, training and industry liaison) and a
product of the institute himself.

Strong Industry Interface

The BTech (Computer Sciences) graduates produced by IIT Roorkee demand a
premium in the market. For instance, the highest salary offered during campus
recruitment for a domestic posting last year was as high as Rs 8.3 lakh, the
overseas figure even higher. Adds Prof Jain, "MNCs ironically end up paying
more than the figure they quote during their visits."

The other aspect of the institute’s interface with the industry and the
government is through the huge number of consulting and research projects that
the faculty works on. The institute allows the faculty to undertake unlimited
consultancy. The faculty of IIT Roorkee is presently working on 592 consulting
projects and nearly 50 research projects in close collaboration with the
industry.

The computer sciences department of the institute is working on a huge
assignment for the government of Uttaranchal. Says Prof Harsha Sinvhal, one of
the members of the committee working on the project, "The only way to
eradicate inefficiencies of the system is to give the citizen the right
information. And we will enable this in a manner that IT at the backend is
invisible."