IIT Ropar

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (abbreviated IIT Ropar or IITRPR) is a public technical university located in Rupnagar, Punjab, India. It is one of the eight Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) established in 2008 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India under The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2011 to expand the reach and enhance the quality of technical education in the country.

History
IIT Ropar was established by MHRD in 2008. The classes for academic session 2008–2009 were held at IIT Delhi. The Institute started functioning from its transit campus in Rupnagar from 1st August 2009. Foundation stone for the permanent campus of IIT Ropar was laid down on 24 February 2009 by the then Union HRD Minister Shri Arjun Singh.

Permanent Campus


IIT Ropar has shifted to its permanent campus since June 2018, except for the departments of Humanities, Mathematics, Physics, Chemical Engineering and Civil Engineering, and some hostels and labs. Architecture of the entrance gate is inspired by Indus Valley civilisation with four 41 feet high stone carved pillars at the entrance. The institute started to operate from its permanent campus constructed on an area over 525 acre in July 2018. The campus is built on the land earlier known as Birla Seed Farms. IIT Ropar celebrates its Foundation Day on 24 February every year. The construction contract was awarded to CPWD, and a Bangkok-based construction company was assigned the task of finishing the first phase. The Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department has been shifted to the permanent campus in July 2018. A part of the administration office was shifted on 17 June 2018. By June 2019, the entire Administration and Departments of Electrical, Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering completely shifted to the permanent campus.

The institute, in the past, operated in two different transit campuses located in Rupnagar.

Transit Campus I
The transit campus I of IIT Ropar is the former Women's Polytechnic, Rupnagar. The academic and administration buildings of the Women's Polytechnic college, Ropar, were renovated to accommodate all the requirements of the institute.

The campus houses four hostels: three for boys (Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune Houses) and one for girls (Venus House). The day-to-day management of hostels is taken care of by a committee consisting of student representatives, faculty members (as Wardens) and administrative staff (caretakers, office-heads). This campus also offered a state-of-the-art central library, an independent post office and a branch of State Bank of India.

On the transit campus I, the sports facilities include a cricket field, three tennis courts, a football field, a gymnasium, a basketball court, two volleyball court and also a number of facilities for several athletics. The Students Activity Center (SAC) provided a gymnasium and rooms for different activity clubs.

Governance
All IITs follow the same organization structure which has President of India as visitor at the top of the hierarchy. Directly under the president is the IIT Council. Under the IIT Council is the board of governors of each IIT. Under the board of governors is the director, who is the chief academic and executive officer of the IIT. Under the director, in the organizational structure, comes the deputy director. Under the director and the deputy director, come the deans, the heads of departments, and the registrar.

Departments and Centres
The institute currently has 11 departments, 1 multi-disciplinary centre and 1 DST Technology Innovation Hub. The departments are:
 * Chemical Engineering
 * Chemistry
 * Civil Engineering
 * Computer Science and Engineering
 * Electrical Engineering
 * Humanities and Social Sciences
 * Mathematics and Computing
 * Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
 * Mathematics
 * Mechanical Engineering
 * Physics
 * Biomedical Engineering

DST Technology Innovation Hub
In 2020, the Department of Science of Technology (DST) has established a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) in the application domain of Agriculture & Water, named Agriculture and Water Technology Development Hub (AWaDH), at IIT Ropar in the framework of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) with a grant of Rs. 110 crore. IIT Ropar TIH is primarily working on (i) Water and Soil Quality Assessment Processes, (ii) Water Treatment and Management, (iii) Agriculture Automation and Information Systems, (iv) Stubble Management and Urban Farming, (v) IoT Systems, and (vi) Instrumentation for mapping hazardous substances in water and soil, towards eco-friendly farming practices and to make farming more profitable for the grower. The technology innovation hub is led by Prof. Pushpendra P. Singh.

Programmes
The institute offers undergraduate programmes awarding Bachelor of Technology in various engineering areas. Admission to these programmes is through JEE Advanced. The institute also offers postgraduate degrees awarding MTech and MSc (Research) in various engineering fields, as well as MSc in basic sciences. PhD courses in various fields are also offered.

Rankings
IIT Ropar has ranked 351–400 in the QS Asia Ranking 2022. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it 501–600 globally in the 2022 ranking. The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked it 22nd among engineering colleges in 2022

Research
The institute stresses in inter-disciplinary research areas including Renewable and Clean Energy, Artificial intelligence (AI), Bio-imaging and Bio-instrumentation, Agriculture & Water, Rural Technology Development, Hydrogen power, etc. A Central Research Facility has been established encompassing equipment from various departments.

From the academic year 2017–18, the institute organises Research Conclave every year.

Cultural festivals
Zeitgeist is the annual cultural festival of Indian Institute of Technology Ropar and is held annually as a three-day festival in October or November. It was conceived in September 2010. Advitiya, with its maiden edition in 2017, is the annual technical festival, which is held for three days in February or March. An annual sports festival, Aarohan is also held annually during February. It is currently in its second edition. These college fests are managed financially and conducted entirely by the students. An annual Indian classical music and dance event SPIC MACAY is also organized by the students and the faculty.

Events such as Inter Batch Cultural Championship (IBCC) and Inter Year Sports Championship (IYSC) are the intra-college events that are organized annually for the students of the institute.

The management of student activities is done by many boards functioning under the Student Affairs Department. These boards have elected student representatives known as General Secretaries, and an overall elected President of the Student Council. They have various societies and clubs to promote extra curricular and co-curricular activities.

Alumni Association
The IIT Ropar Alumni Association was founded on 1 February 2013.