Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

About College:

The Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay (IITB), like the other older IITs has become synonymous with excellence. It is often remarked how in India, kids hear more about the IITs when they are growing up, than about their cousins, such as the rush towards reaching this very top. Lakhs of students from all over the country enrol themselves over countless hours of coaching classes in order to secure a seat among these IITs. Within this elite list of institutions, there is a super- elite subgroup known as the original IITs, which is a group of the 7 original ones which are – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee. 

Securing a seat at the IITs is done through a rigorous selection process involving the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). This is the largest entrance exam in the country in terms of numbers and possibly amongst the largest in the world. This paper is given by more than 12 lakh people annually. It is a 3- hour exam worth 90 marks constituting 3 segments with equal weightage. Those segments are- Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics. The best of the performers, totalling roughly 2 lakhs of them are further shortlisted for the JEE Advanced which is for selection to the IITs. The JEE Advanced is conducted over 2 rounds on the same day. The morning paper which runs from 9 am till noon is followed by a break and then another 3 hour one. The pattern, however, is not so well understood as the marks pattern is not clearly defined. It keeps changing annually. All this effort means that the acceptance rate is minuscule, standing at around 0.5% for IITB in stark contrast to global luminaries such as MIT, Stanford or UC Berkeley standing at 7.5%, 4.8% and 17.5% respectively. Admissions to the master’s level programmes is via the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering).

The IITB is actually the second oldest within the IIT fraternity, having been founded back in 1958. It was established with funding help from the USSR and technical inputs from the UNESCO. Its campus is in the town of Powai in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The campus is spread over 550 acres of land. It is quite near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is what makes wildlife sightings a fairly common sight here. There are several courses run here at this campus, starting of course with the flagship 4- year B. Tech. In addition, there is the B. Des., M. Des., MBA, M Sc., M. Tech, M. Phil., plus dual and doctorate programmes. The academics is run individually by different departments which are for - Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Industrial Design, Mathematics, Biosciences & Bioengineering, Energy Science & Engineering, Physics, Earth Sciences and Metallurgical & Materials Science. Realizing its importance over the coming years, the IITB even has a specialized Humanities and Social Science wing. 

To facilitate further applied research and development, the IITM has set up several specialized centres within the campus. There are centres for- Policy Studies, Aerospace Research & Innovation, Technology & Design, Bioengineering, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Science & Engineering, Resources Engineering, Urban Science & Engineering, Mathematics and Technology & Design besides several others. In addition, there is the SJ Mehta School of Management (SJSOM) which runs independently for the MBA programme. Some interdisciplinary programmes are also run from the IIT- Powai campus. Here expertise from different areas is combined to develop broader solutions. These programmes are for Climate Studies, Educational Technology, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and for Systems & Control Engineering. 

All this has helped the IIT in Mumbai be featured very highly across most national or international rankings. It has been ranked the 2nd in the country among engineering colleges by the NIRF (National Institutional Rankings Framework) and 3rd overall. NIRF has also rated IITB as 5th best among management colleges for its MBA programme at SJSOM. The highly- acclaimed QS World University Rankings places it at 179th for the world, 34th for Asia and 9th among the BRICS nations. A lot of this has been possible due to the presence of its top-notch alumni network. The Government of India has also certified IITB as one of the Institutes of Eminence (IoE). A lot of this is to do with the alumni of the institute. Some of the luminaries to have passed through the walls of IITB include- Udaya Kumar, Colin Gonsalves, Nandan Nilekani, Shri Manohar Parrikar and Shri Jairam Ramesh among many others. 

As the IIT Powai has been associated with excellence for so long, placements have likewise been among the very best in the country. There were a total of 67 international offers in 2017 alone. The average package across the campus stood at Rs. 13.38 lakhs per annum. Core engineering was the profile was the maximum number of recruitments followed by IT, finance, analytics, consulting, research & development, education, FMCG and PSUs.