IIT Palakkad

Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad (IIT Palakkad or IIT PKD) is a public autonomous engineering and research institute located in Palakkad, Kerala. Proposed in the 2014 Union budget of India^[2] alongside five other new IITs, IIT Palakkad was established in 2015 as an institute of national importance by the Government of India.

Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad

भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान पालक्काड
Inspired from the (5,3) torus knot, the logo highlights the notion of synergy and dynamic inter-relationship between research, theory and practice in academics.
Motto	Nurturing minds for a better world.
Type	Public engineering school
Established	2015 (8 years ago) (2015)
Director	Seshadri Sekhar^[1]
Academic staff	100+
Students	1000+
Location	Palakkad , Kerala , India Coordinates: 10°47′38″N 76°49′36″E / 10.79389°N 76.82667°E / 10.79389; 76.82667
Campus	Nila Campus: IIT PALAKKAD, Nila Campus, Near Gramalakshmi Mudralayam, Kanjikkode, Kerala 678623 Temporary campus: Ahalia Integrated Campus, Kozhippara, Palakkad, Kerala 678557
Website	iitpkd.ac.in

The institute started functioning in August 2015 from a temporary site located inside the Ahalia Integrated Campus, Palakkad.^[3][4] In February 2019, academic activities commenced on the Nila Campus, sometimes referred to as the transit campus.^[5] The Nila Campus is nestled in the corner of the under-construction 500-acre permanent campus at Kanjikode. The institute has 120 faculties, 1122 students (including alumni), and 70 non-teaching staff as of 2022.^[6]

History

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were established by the Government of India as Institute of National Importance through a Central Statute, the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. The success of the IITs led to the demand for establishing more such institutions across our country. Kerala, one of India's most educationally advanced states, had a long pending demand for an IIT. In 2012, then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the Centre was seriously considering a proposal to set up an IIT in Kerala under the Twelfth Plan.^[7]

In July 2014, an IIT in the state of Kerala was proposed in the 2014 Union budget of India. On November 20, 2014, IIT Madras was designated as the mentor institute by the Ministry of Human Resources and Human Development, and the director of IIT Madras, Dr. Bhaskar Ramamurthi assumed the role of Mentor Director. The institute's first academic session commenced on August 3, 2015 with a sanctioned strength of 120 students – 30 each in Civil Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. IIT Madras deputed a batch of experienced professors including the ones recently retired, former deans and heads of various departments to the new campus as both permanent and visiting professors.^[8]

IIT Palakkad was incorporated in the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, through the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2016, in September 2016. In January 2017, Dr. P. B. Sunil Kumar, who was the Professor-in-charge, was appointed as the Director by then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.^[9]

A. Seshadri Sekhar, professor and head of the department of mechanical engineering at the IIT Madras, succeeded Dr. P. B. Sunil Kumar as the director of the institute in October 2022. ^[10]

Campus and location

 

IIT Palakkad Entrance

 

Temporary campus of IIT Palakkad

IIT Palakkad currently functions in two campuses - the temporary campus and the Nila campus - which are separated by about 13 km. Both of them have on-campus housing facilities. The temporary campus is situated inside the Ahalia Integrated campus in Kozhippara, Palakkad, which is about 20 km from Palakkad city. The academic block of the temporary campus is 55,000 sq. ft. in area and consists of well-equipped academic classrooms, a seminar room, an auditorium, conference room, workshop, library, cafeteria, laboratories and faculty offices. It also provides hostel and sports and recreational facilities with access to high-speed internet.^[4]

The Nila Campus is set up in 30 acres out of the 504 acres allotted to the permanent campus site in Kanjikode.^[5] The campus has an excellent infrastructure in place, which comprises an auditorium, multimedia enabled small and large classrooms, student laboratories, library, canteen, and fully Wi-Fi enabled hostels with mobility in Internet access. The academic space and the laboratory complex are named Samgatha and Manogatha respectively. The students in the Nila Campus are accommodated in the three newly built hostels - Bageshri, Brindavani and Tilang.^[11] The construction of phase I of the permanent campus is ongoing.^[5]

Academics

Programmes

IIT Palakkad currently offers four-year Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) and two years MS programmes in different engineering disciplines. Similar to the other IITs, admission to undergraduate programmes is based on qualification through the extremely competitive Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). In addition to that, Ph.D programme is also offered in all the disciplines of Science and Engineering. It is also offering Master of Technology (M.Tech) in two disciplines from the year 2019 in which candidates having valid GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) scores are eligible to apply. From 2019, M.Sc programmes in Physics and Chemistry will also be offered. The admissions to these programmes are through IIT-JAM.

In 2022, the institute introduced flexible choice based B.Tech programs and degree options alongside a new B.Tech program in Data Science and Engineering.

IIT Palakkad is currently functioning with 8 disciplines.^[12][13]

• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science & Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Humanities

Grading Scheme

Each student is awarded a final letter grade at the end of the semester, for each course undertaken. The letter grades and the corresponding grade points are as follows:

Grade	Grade Points	Remarks
S	10
A	9
B	8
C	7
D	6
E	4
U	0	Fail
P	-	Pass, Completed successfully and credits not included for GPA / CGPA calculations
W	0	Mandatory repeat of the course due to insufficient attendance
I	0	Incomplete / withheld, to be resolved
X	0	Completed successfully
Y	0	Incomplete

See also

• Indian Institutes of Technology
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras
• Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati

References

1. "Seshadri Sekhar appointed director of IIT-Palakkad". 20 September 2022.
2. http://indiabudget.nic.in/budget2014-2015/ub2014-15/bh/bh1.pdf 9 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 28 June 2015, 13:17 IST.
3. "Palakkad IIT to start functioning from August". The Hindu. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
4. "Temporary Campus". IIT Palakkad.
5. "കേരളത്തിന്റെ ഐ.ഐ.ടി. സ്വന്തം ക്യാമ്പസിലേക്ക്; 2020ഓടെ യാഥാര്‍ഥ്യമാകും". Mathrubhumi. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
6. IIT Palakkad | IIT Palakkad. iitpkd.ac.in. Retrieved on 2019-03-01.
7. "Kerala may get an IIT during 12th Plan, says Prime Minister". THG Publishing PVT LTD. 12 September 2012.
8. "IITs in Tirupati, Palakkad now Open for Intake". The New Indian Express. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
9. "President nod for appointment of 5 new IITs directors". The Indian Express. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
10. "Seshadri Sekhar appointed director of IIT-Palakkad". The Hindu. 20 September 2022.
11. Transit Campus | IIT Palakkad. iitpkd.ac.in. Retrieved on 2019-03-01.
12. "IIT temporary campus to open on August 3". The Hindu. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
13. "IIT Palakkad Offers Free, Online 12-Week Artificial Intelligence Course for Students". Retrieved 25 July 2022.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to IIT Palakkad.

• Official website