The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (known as IIT Kanpur or IITK) is one of the Indian Institutes of Technology, set up in the then-industrial city of Kanpur in 1960. IIT Kanpur has grown into one of the top technological institutes in India, primarily focused on research in engineering and science, and the teaching of undergraduates.

History
IIT Kanpur was established by an Act of Parliament in 1959. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room in the Canteen Building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the Institute moved to its present location, on the historic Grand Trunk Road near the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district. During the first ten years of its existence, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme, where a consortium of 9 US universities namely M.I.T, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Case Institute Of Technology and Purdue University helped set up the research laboratories and academic programmes.[1] The first Director of the Institute was Dr. P. K. Kelkar (after whom the Central Library was renamed in 2002).

Under the guidance of eminent economist John Kenneth Galbraith, IIT Kanpur was the first institute in India to start Computer Science education. The earliest computer courses were started at IIT Kanpur in August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system, a novelty then even in many North American and European universities. In 1971, the institute initiated an independent academic program, leading to M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees.

Students

The undergraduate students at IIT Kanpur are selected through the Joint Entrance Examination of the IITs. The Post Graduate students are selected through various entrance exams. Master in Business Administration (MBA) - Joint Management Entrance Examination (JMET); Master of Science (M. Sc.) - Joint Admission Test (JAM); Master of Technology (M. Tech.) - Graduate Aptitute Test of Engineering (GATE). Presently, the institute has around 4,000 students, with an equal distribution of graduate and undergraduate students.

Students at IIT Kanpur reside in the hostels, or 'halls of residence', there are eight hostels (Hall 1-5, 7-9) for boys and two for girls, called GH-1 (Girls Hostel 1) and GH-2 (formerly Hall 6).

Course Details of IIT Kanpur

The Institute awards Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in various branches of technology and science. It has been making special efforts to recruit talented faculty on a world-wide basis and to admit bright students from all over the country by a careful selection process (JEE). The Institute has about 1450 undergraduate and 850 postgraduate students, 300 faculty, and more than 1500 supporting staff. It has one of the finest scientific & technological library with an online information retrieval system over the campus LAN.