Indian Institute of Technology - IIT Mandi

About Indian Institute of Technology - IIT Mandi

IIT Mandi is the youngest Indian Institute of Technology in India as of 2011. It is an autonomous University established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, in 2009. The B.Tech. programme at IIT Mandi is semester-based with a flexible credit system. It is being mentored by IIT Roorkee, which hosted the first batch of students. Presently, IIT Mandi Himachal Pradesh functions from transit campus at Mandi town. The site for the permanent campus of IIT Mandi Himachal is located at Kamand, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Mandi town. It is spread over a total of 565 acres (229 ha) of land. The IIT Mandi Cell was set up at the IIT Roorkee on 18th March 2009, to steer the activities of the IIT Mandi. A Preliminary Project Report (PPR) outlining a road map of 10 years for development of academic program, campus development and related issues was finalized initially on 25th April 2009. A major component of the report was development of a scaled drawing of the 538 Acres of land at Kamand and its land-use-plan. The report was submitted to Govt. of H.P. in April as well. The IIT Mandi was registered as a society in Uttarakhand, on 20th June 2009.

The admission of the First batch of students of IIT Mandi Himachal Pradesh took place in July 2009 and their classes were conducted from 27th July 2009, onwards. The Institute started with 3 B. Tech programmes in Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Occupation of the permanent campus in Kamand is slated for 2011. The Logo of Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi is composed of the suspension bridge of Mandi, which is an engineering marvel. It is the focal point of the logo with the symbolic representation of hills, sun and the Beas. 3 Colours have been used in the logo, viz., blue, green and orange. Blue signifies limitless sky, thus symbolizes the vast expanse of knowledge. Green signifies vegetation, youth and freshness of ideas. Orange signifies energy and the spirit of dedication. The depth in the logo signifies unending quest for excellence. The bridge is a specimen of the cutting edge engineering skills of the yesteryears. Thus, the logo depicts a youthful and a vibrant destination for the steadfast pursuit of knowledge and excellence.

Location - Mandi is located in 31^o72'N Latitude and 76^o92'E Longitude. It is built on the banks of the Beas River. Mandi is a small town located at the centre of Himachal Pradesh. The location of the IIT Mandi Himachal campus is in the forested hills of Kamand on the banks of the Uhl, a tributary of River Beas.

Transportation: How to reach?

The most common route to Mandi is through Delhi or Chandigarh.

From Delhi to Mandi: Distance about 475 kms.

By Bus - When you have reached Delhi, go to ISBT (interstate bus terminus), Kashmiri gate.
Here, buses to Mandi are available on platform 6-8. You can catch the buses going to Manali or Mandi.
The distance can be covered in approximately 12 hrs by bus depending upon the traffic, road and other conditions).
There are different varieties of bus facilities from Delhi - ordinary, deluxe and AC buses.
For more details, one can visit hrtc.gov.in (website of himachal road transport corporation). Other state buses and private buses are also available to Mandi.

By Train - The alternative to reach Mandi from Delhi is to travel by train up to Kiratpur Sahib by Delhi-Una himachal express (4553).
From Kiratpur, there is no option other than travelling by road.
All the buses going from Delhi and Chandigarh to Mandi have to pass through Kiratpur.

From Chandigarh to Mandi - Distance about 200 kms.

By Bus & Taxi - From Chandigarh also, one can get buses to Mandi and or Manali.
Buses from Delhi pass through Chandigarh and some buses start from Chandigarh itself.
The other choice from Chandigarh to Mandi is to travel by taxi.
Travelling distance can be covered in approximately 6 hrs by bus. By taxi, it may take around 5 hrs.

By Air

The nearest airport to Mandi is the Kullu Airport at Bhuntar, at a distance of about 75 km from Mandi town. Because it is a small airport, only small aircrafts fly to Kullu.
Flights to Kullu are restricted only from Delhi, and Shimla.
There are no international Flights to Kullu or from other major cities of the country.
Anyone interested in coming to Mandi by air needs to first take a flight to Delhi.
From Delhi, the travellers need to take any of the connecting Flights to Kullu which is a journey of about 90 minutes.
Two of the airways operating Flights to Kullu are Indian Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines. The latter has more frequent Flights to Kullu. In fact, Kingfisher Airlines operates daily Flights to Kullu. Flights to Kullu are prone to getting delayed or cancelled in the monsoons on account of bad weather conditions.

IIT Mandi Faculty

Facilities

Hostels – There are 4 hostels, each meant for candidates of different years. Renuka Hall is for girls; adjacent to the Administration Block, just above the Mandi Bus stand. Beas Kund Hall for MS/PHD students is also located here. Suvalsar for 1^st year students and Dashir for 2^nd and 3^rd year students are also nearby. The hostels provides all the basic facilities like mess, Wi-Fi connection in the rooms, visitors room, LCD TV, washing machine, badminton court etc.

NPTEL Program – National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning is an initiative of 7 IITs. NPTEL provides E-learning through online Web and Video courses in Engineering, Science and Humanities streams. The mission of NPTEL is to enhance the quality of Engineering education in the country by providing free online courseware. Supplementary content for 129 web courses in engineering/science and humanities has been already developed. Each course contains materials that can be covered in depth in 40 or more lecture hours. In addition, 110 courses have been developed in video format, with each course comprising of approximately 40 or more one-hour lectures.

Central Library - Library operations are automated using KOHA LMS. Library currently houses over 9500 books and provide access to more than 2000 e-journals.

It provides various facilities:

• ACM Digital Library
• Inter Library LoanOPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) – Intranet
• Web OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue)
• e-books
• Computing facilities

Computational Facilities - The campus is equipped with 1 Gb/s NKN connection and 45 Mb/s Internet connection.

Research Facilities

IIT Mandi is in the process of acquiring various types of  instruments for its laboratories

• Characterization Lab: FT-IR spectrophotometer, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer etc.
• Synthesis Lab: Rotary Evaporator, Muffle Furnace, Fume Hood, Deep Freezer, Vacuum Oven etc.
• Thermo-fluids and Design Labs: NI Data Acquisition Unit, Phantom high speed video camera, Coriolis flow meter etc.

Scholarships – Various scholarships are:

• HTRA scholarship for PHD and MS Scholars.
• Merit Cum Mean Scholarship for General Category Students.
• Institute Scholarship for SC/ST Students.

Sports – The institute provides facilities for football, cricket, badminton, lawn tennis (proposed), badminton, table tennis (proposed), volleyball, basketball, chess and swimming.

International Ventures

The important organizations / Institutions with whom collaborations have been finalized / under progress in respect of IIT Mandi are as follows:-

• Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden - MoU signed for exchange of faculty and students, and collaboration in research.
• IT University, Copenhagen, Denmark - exchange visits of students and faculty.
• Stuttgart University and the TU9 Institutions, Germany - MoU signed for exchange of faculty and students, and collaboration in research.
• Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland - joint research in atomic and molecular physics.
• University of Western Ontario, Canada - discussions in progress.
• India-UK Advanced Technology Centre www.iu-atc.com - participation in research on next generation networks.