International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad


The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad is a nationally accredited public technical and research university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, established by the Government of India in 1998 under Not-for-Profit Public Private Partnership, laying focus on Information Technology and other fields such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communication, and their interdisciplinary applications across other domains.
In 1998, it was the first of the International Institutes of Information Technology to be established.Since then, IIIT-H has developed a lot and emerged as one of the premier institutions of India with prime focus on research and innovation. The institute is known for its excellence in research, extraordinary academic exposure and strong coding culture.

History

IIIT Hyderabad was set up in 1998 under the public private partnership model by MHRD, Government of Andhra Pradesh and NASSCOM, with the state government supplying a grant of land and buildings. As special officer for IIIT Hyderabad and Secretary IT for the state government, Ajay Prakash Sawhney was responsible for shaping the conceptual model and overseeing initial development of the institute. Prof. Rajeev Sangal, former director of Indian Institute of Technology Varanasi designed the syllabus and served as the first director of the institute until 10 April 2013.
The institution was founded under the name of Indian Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad as a foundation for the 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology under same model which was later renamed to International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad in 2001 when it attained a status of Deemed University.

Governing council

The institute is governed by a governing council, which is currently headed by Turing Award laureate Raj Reddy. Other notable members are Turing Award laureate Vint Cerf and Narendra Ahuja. Day-to-day operation is managed by a Director, currently P. J. Narayanan, assisted by a Dean of Research and a Dean of Academics.

Academics

IIIT Hyderabad offers a wide range of courses of study. The fields of study are:
The institute offers undergraduate, postgraduate and dual degree programmes. Undergraduate programmes award either Bachelor of Technology or B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Civil Engineering with courses in engineering, sciences, mathematics and humanities, while postgraduate programmes award either Master of Technology in Computer Aided Structural Engineering, Computer Science and Information Security, Master of Science or Master of Philosophy in Computational Linguistics. Dual degree Programmes award B.Tech. + MS by Research. The Dual Degrees offer MS in Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computational Natural Science, Building sciences , Bioinformatics, Computational Linguistics and Exact Humanities along with a BTech in Computer Science. Doctoral Programmes award part-time and full-time Ph.D. degrees and post-graduate diplomas in Spatial Informatics, Cognitive Science and other fields mentioned above.
The undergraduate students have a flexible academic structure where they can select their courses and projects. These students are also allowed to participate in ongoing research and development.
IIIT Hyderabad also offers Master of Science in Information Technology program in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, US. The institute lays great importance on "human values" and professional ethics.
In 2003, IIIT Hyderabad launched Research Exchange Programme for Ph.D. students in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley and various other institutions.
Recently, IIIT-H introduced a semester-long course on flexible electronics which is being referred as "one of its kind". It involves application of high-level electronics and material science. The course is considered unique because it provides an overview of building of a silicon processor.

Admissions

Admission to undergraduate programmes is based on one of five acceptance modes: Joint Entrance Examination , the institute's own Undergraduate Engineering Entrance Examination and interview, representing India in the International Olympiads during class XI and XII, International Physics Olympiad, International Chemistry Olympiad, International Biology Olympiad, International Astronomy Olympiad, International Mathematical Olympiad and International Linguistics Olympiad / Paninian Linguistics Olympiad, Direct Admissions for Students Abroad and lateral entry admissions to dual-degree programmes through Lateral Entry Entrance Examination and interview.
Admissions for postgraduate studies are on the basis of the Postgraduate Entrance Exam conducted by IIIT Hyderabad. Admissions to the MSIT programme run at this institute are based on a test conducted every year from April to May.

Rankings

Internationally, IIIT Hyderabad was ranked among 351-400 in QS World University Rankings for 2020. It was ranked among top 10 universities in South Asia by Cybermetrics Lab, Spain's largest public research institution. It was ranked 147 in the world and 34 in Asia for Computer Science and research publications in the period 2005-2020.
It was ranked 78th among universities in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2020, 43rd among engineering colleges and in the 101–150 band overall.
Among engineering colleges, IIIT Hyderabad ranked 16 by Outlook India in 2019. It was ranked 4th among engineering colleges by Dataquest India in 2019. The same rankings ranked it 3rd in government engineering colleges in 2019.

Faculty

IIIT-H has world class faculty with wide range of research interests for Computer Science and Electronics and Communication with a faculty per student ratio of 1:15 In the year 2017–18, eighteen faculty members have received highly reputed national awards such as Padma Bhushan and international awards/recognitions from central government agencies.

Campus

IIIT Hyderabad is located west of Hyderabad city. The area of the institute campus is 66 acres. This land was allotted by Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1998. Four buildings house the corporate schools and research centers. In addition to this, the academic building has the lecture halls, tutorial rooms, computer and electronics labs and offices of the administration and faculty. The buildings are named after the mountain ranges, Nilgiri, Vindhya and Himalaya. Campus also has incubation centers, research centers, library and an amphitheater which hosts multiple cultural events and college festivals. The campus is host to many tech companies/startups.
The campus has swimming pool; football, hockey and cricket grounds; and tennis, badminton, basketball and volleyball courts. In addition to these facilities, the campus is also a host to an elementary school called Sanskaar Campus School.
The institute has high bandwidth Internet connectivity round the clock and air-conditioned computer laboratories. Students undertaking research can access computational facilities 24/7. All notices and information are sent over the campus email. From couriers to mess registration, everything is notified via specific portals. Some areas of the institute, like a few parts of Himalaya, Nilgiri, KCIS and library, are connected by Wi-Fi.

T-Hub

IIIT-H hosts T-Hub, which is said to be India's biggest incubation center. It was established in collaboration with Telangana State Government, Indian School of Business and Nalsar University of Law. Its aim is to provide a supportive environment, along with financial and mentorship support to new startups in the region. In 2019 it raised more than 180 million dollars of funding., In 2017, the CEO of T-Hub announced the successful development of India’s fourth fastest supercomputer.

Art on campus

Hostels

IIIT-H has five hostels :

All students are provided with hostel rooms and it is compulsory to live on-campus. First-year and second-year students who have enrolled in a bachelor's or dual-degree program are required to share rooms whereas, from the third-year onward, the students have single occupancy. The institute has a guest house with four air-conditioned suites. Two hostels for men and one for women have a total of about 1200 rooms. An optical fiber network connects all buildings on campus including the hostels.

Workshops

IIIT-H is structured around research centers instead of conventional departments.
Combined
Technology
Domain Specific Centers
Development Centers
With about 1800 students, IIIT Hyderabad has cultural and athletic activities throughout the year. Clubs include Quiz Club, Literary Club, Movie Discussion Club, Theory Reading Club, Chess Club, Astronomy Club, Arts Society, Campus Canine Management Cell, Dramatics Club, Programming club, Photography Club, Cycling Club and Music Club.
Students have access to gymnasium with personal trainers.
The students are divided into four houses upon their intake in the college: Agni, Akash, Prithvi and Vayu. All cultural and sports competitions are based around the house system where the houses battle it out for the top position.
IIIT-H has various student bodies and clubs. Undergraduate students get a chance to volunteer for National Service Scheme which aims to inculcate social values in students. Volunteers work to provide a better lifestyle to everyone who is needy. They also provide help to the regions affected by natural disasters by raising funds, providing essential resources like food, money, clothes. Students learn how to live good life when there is scarcity of resources.

Apex Body

Apex is an official student welcoming body whose objective is to help the administration in handling the logistics for the admission process, creating and implementing an induction schedule for freshers, ensuring a smooth transition of freshers into the college, mentoring the freshers, etc.
There is an undergraduate as well as postgraduate Apex body. Undergraduate Apex consists of students from the third and fourth year and Postgraduate Apex consists of one student from each branch.
New apex members are selected each year by faculty and current apex members.

E-cell

Entrepreneurship Cell, IIIT Hyderabad is a non-profit organization run by students and has been established with the objective of creating, manifesting and guiding the entrepreneurial spirit in the student community and to encourage them to be successful entrepreneurs. The organization aims to build an ecosystem where networking and knowledge sharing can happen. To achieve that, they conduct several events, seminars and workshops both for students of and beyond their institute for the purpose of cultivating this entrepreneurial spirit. Currently, the organization consists of a team of around 50 members divided into 12 sub teams.

Ping! - Student Magazine of IIIT-H

Students run an independent media body called Ping! Content ranges from creative writing to journalistic pieces on campus issues. It was founded in 2009.
Controversy surrounding an article related to ragging pushed the editors, also student members of Anti Ragging Committee of that year, to take the Ping website outside the IIIT domain because they did not follow the confidential policy of being members of ARC, and to explore independent funding sources.

Clubs

The institute hosts numerous clubs that are active throughout the year and conduct several events and meetings to cater to the specific interest groups. The list of currently active clubs include:
AshaKiran : A non-profit organization founded in May 2006. It aims at the welfare of underprivileged people.

Felicity

Felicity is IIIT's annual cultural and tech fest. Held every year at the beginning of the spring semester, it is the highlight of an IIITian's year and is an event that everybody looks forward to.

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