Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee - History

History

The institution has its origins in a class started in 1845 to train local youth in engineering to assist in public works then beginning. In 1847 it was officially established. It was renamed as the Thomason College of Civil Engineering in 1854 in honour of its founder, Sir James Thomason, lieutenant governor 1843–53. The first Indian to pass out from the Roorkee college was Rai Bahadur Kanhaiya Lal in 1852.

Initially, the college had engineers' class only for Europeans, upper subordinate class for Europeans and Indians and lower subordinate class for Indians only. Such was the reputation of the college, that the recruitment of the Engineering students was directly controlled by the Public Works Departments (PWD). Every student was guaranteed a post in the PWD/irrigation departments. Roorkee pass outs played a role in all the areas of engineering primarily civil, including maintenance of the Ganges canal, construction of dam and irrigation projects like Bhakra Nangal, the Rajasthan canal, the Aswan dam on the Nile in Egypt, and construction of Chandigarh.

Between 1934 to 1943, officers of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers received training at the Thomason College of Engineering and, even after the establishment of the School of Military Engineering (SME) at Roorkee in 1943, they continued to receive technical training at Thomason. In 1948 when SME was moved to Dapodi, Pune. It was given the status of University by Act No. IX of 1948 of the United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh) and was titled University of Roorkee. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, presented the Charter in November 1949, elevating the erstwhile college to the first engineering university of independent India. Soil scientist Jagdish Narain was the first student to be admitted into the university under this act.

On 21 September 2001, an ordinance issued by the Government of India declared it as the nation's seventh Indian Institute of Technology, renaming it to the current name, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. The ordinance was converted into an act by the Parliament to make IIT Roorkee an "Institution of National Importance".

The Department of Civil Engineering was established in 1847 and is the oldest engineering department in India. The department offers a four-year course leading to the Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering and two-year courses leading to Master’s degree in eight major specialisations of civil engineering (viz., Building Science and Technology, Computer Aided Design, Environmental Engineering, Geomatics Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulics Engineering, Structural Engineering and Transportation Engineering). These programmes are supported with strong doctoral programmes in all the specialisations. More than 100 Ph. D. research scholars work in the department on emerging research problems. The research programmes of the department are funded by various agencies such as UGC, CSIR, DST, MOST, ISRO, MHRD, AICTE, DRDO etc. Research fellows working on these programmes are also eligible to register for the PhD., as per the Institute’s guidelines. Teaching faculty of other engineering colleges under the Quality Improvement programme also conduct research at the department to earn Ph.D. Degree.

The Electrical Engineering Department of the Thomson College was established in the year 1897, and was one of the earliest such specializations in the world when the discipline itself was in its infancy. The first batch of Electrical Engineering students graduated in 1900. For a few years, between 1923 and 1946, a special committee had recommended that the College may be converted into a purely Civil Engineering Institution, but another special committee favored the reopening of the disciplines of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The present Department of Electrical Engineering came into being in 1946 and the first batch of electrical engineering graduates passed out of this college in 1949. Initially, the Department offered courses with options in both Electrical and Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering. Subsequently in 1964, the department was enlarged to have only Electrical Engineering, and a separate department of Electronics & Communication Engineering was created. Presently the Department conducts courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and provides excellent facilities to carry out research work for Ph. D. degree and sponsored/ consultancy projects.

The Department has specialization in research areas such as Artificial neural network and Fuzzy logic applications in Robotics and control, Distribution system planning and operation, Economic dispatch and planning, Flexible AC transmission system, Optimal system operation, Power system protection, monitoring, control and simulation, Power quality, Relay coordination, Power system automation, Artificial intelligence applications and Voltage stability of power system, Telemedicine, ECG signal analysis and classification, Digital signal and image processing, Intelligent instrumentation, Industrial instrumentation, Medical system modeling, Instrumentation and bio-informatics, Process instrumentation and control, System analysis and optimization, Data base management, FPGA based control, System automation and monitoring, Reliability engineering, Robotics, System modeling, Computer controlled system including process control, Computer controlled multi-quadrant solid-state converters, Condition monitoring of electrical machines/drives, High performance computer controlled DC and AC drives, Modeling and simulation of electric machines.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering came into being in the year 1946 and the first batch of Mechanical Engineers graduated in the year 1949. The department was renamed as Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering on its silver jubilee in 1974 when an undergraduate programme in Industrial Engineering was started. At present it offers both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in various facets of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. The department offers Master of Technology courses in Machine Design Engineering, Production and Industrial Systems Engineering, Thermal System Engineering, and Welding Engineering. The department has also started M.Tech programme in CAD, CAM and Robotics from the year 2005.

Telecommunication education at IIT Roorkee dates back to 1957 when a B.E. programme in Telecommunication was started in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the then University of Roorkee. In view of the increasing importance of the Electronics Engineering discipline, a separate Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering was established in 1964 to offer Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communication and Master of Engineering degrees in Advanced Electronics and Applied Electronics & Servomechanisms. In 1968, the postgraduate programme was restructured with specializations in the areas of Communication Systems, Control and guidance, Microwaves and Radar, and Solid State Electronics. Two new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Computer Science and Technology were started in the year 1982. Keeping in view the activities of the department, the name was changed to Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering in 1987.

The Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering was established in 1963 with the intake of sixty students for undergraduate curriculum leading to Bachelors degree. Later, post-graduation curriculum was started in 1969. The Department has been actively involved in research since its inception and the first award of PhD degree is recorded in 1972. Earlier, the faculty members were engaged in research in the areas of Physical Metallurgy, Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Metal extraction and Powder Metallurgy. In the early 70's, a number of new faculty members joined and started activities in the areas of Ferrites, Composite Materials and Electroless coatings of amorphous and microcrystalline (now called nanocrystalline) Ni-P and Co-P. It was increasingly realized that the barriers between Metals, Ceramics and Polymers needs to be broken and an integrated approach to Materials should be evolved. The name of the Department was changed from Department of Metallurgy to Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering in the year 2001 with the introduction of courses in Polymers and Ceramics at the curriculum level through research on Metal-Ceramic joining, Metal-Ceramic composites and Metal-Polymer joining.

The Department of Chemical Engineering was established in 1963 with an Undergraduate programme in Chemical Engineering. A Master’s course in Equipment and Plant Design was initiated in 1970. Later on, two new Master’s courses namely Industrial Pollution Abatement and Advanced Transfer Processes were inducted. Subsequently, the specialisation of Equipment and Plant Design was redesigned, updated and re-christened as Computer Aided Process Plant Design. At present, the Department is running three post-graduate programmes leading to M.Tech. (Chem.) degree with specialization in Computer Aided Process Plant Design, Industrial Pollution Abatement and Industrial Safety & Hazards Management. A five-year integrated programme on Hydrocarbon Engineering offering dual degree of B.Tech. (Chem. Engg.) and M.Tech. (Hydrocarbon Engineering) has been started from the session 2003-04.

The Architecture Course was started at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee in the year 1956-57. In the year 1961, the Department was housed in its own independent building and premises. The B.Arch. course was recognized by the Indian Institute of Architects in December 1961. The Department has the singular distinction of being the first in INDIA in instituting a Masters degree course in Architecture (M. Arch.) in the year 1969-70. This was eventually raised to an independent course of Masters Degree in Urban and Rural Planning (MURP) in the year 1973-74.

The Department of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry were started in 1960 and currently offer Master of Sciences and Masters of Technology courses.

The Department of Paper Technology located at the Saharanpur Campus of IITR offers academic programs at various levels in Pulp and Paper Technology, Polymer Science and Technology, Process Engineering and Management. The Department is the predecessor of the School of Paper Technology established by the Government of India in 1964, with an aid from the Royal Swedish Government. This school was managed by a society created by the U.P. Government until its merger with the then University of Roorkee in 1978. The school was renamed as the Institute of Paper Technology in July 1968 and subsequently Department of Paper Technology in July 1992.

The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences was established in 1966 for teaching English and Social Sciences to engineering students. During the course of more than forty years, it has grown into a vibrant department with teaching and research programmes encompassing almost all the departments of the institute with its core, elective, and Pre-Ph.D. papers numbering thirty one now. There are, then, evening courses in German and French languages. Till date, seventy two scholars have been awarded Ph.D. degree in different disciplines of the department, and fourteen students are currently registered for this programme. The faculty members have been engaged in sponsored research projects and consultancy. So far 6 major and 12 minor projects and 10 consultancy projects have been undertaken by the members of faculty. Besides 405 research papers and book chapters, 25 books have also been published by the teachers, whose scholarship has been highlighted through various national and international recognitions.

The Centre of Biosciences was started in 1980 and upgraded to a full-fledged academic Department of Biosciences and Biotechnology in 1986. It was renamed as the Department of Biotechnology in the year 2002. The department has teaching and research programmes which encompass various basic and applied aspects of modern biotechnology. The M.Sc.(Biotechnology) course of the Department is being funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. A B.Tech.(Biotechnology) course has been started in 2005.