There are just four B Tech streams, a total of 117 students and 10 faculty , not to mention the makeshift campus, but the modest beginning only throws into relief the milestone nature of the event: On Monday , IIT-Palakkad will start functioning as Kerala's longcherished dream of having such an elite institution gets fulfilled.
The majority of students are from north India, with only 12 from Kerala. “ Almost 65% students are from north India, with maximum number of students from Uttar Pradesh and then Rajasthan,“ said Prof P B Sunil Kumar, the man incharge of IIT-Palakkad.
To begin with, IIT-Palakkad will have four B Tech streams -civil engineering, computer science & engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering -with 30 seats each.
Students arrived at the Palakkad campus on Sunday and an orientation programme for them has been planned on Monday . The classes will commence from August 5, with 10 faculty appointed to teach students the basic common courses in the first year.
“The branch specific courses will start from next year and by then we will recruit more faculty . Till then, we will make do with retired and existing faculty from IIT-Madras“, said Sunil Kumar.
The institute is facing some initial hiccups as it doesn't have a Board and director both of which the Union cabinet has to approve. However, the students are not complaining.“Though the institute is new, I have no fears. After all what is important is the IIT brand,“ said Divyansh Gupta, a mechanical engineering student from Uttar Pradesh.
Added Ishan Agrawal, a civil engineering student from Madhya Pradesh, “The main attraction to join IIT here is that it's in Kerala, the most literate state in the country . I am sure that in few years IIT-Palakkad will be a premier institute. Also its mentor institute is IIT-Madras“. (With inputs from G Prab hakaran)
