Top Universities of India
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
IIT Bombay, set up by an Act of Parliament, was established in 1958, at Powai, a northern suburb of Mumbai. Today the Institute is recognised as one of the centres of academic excellence in the country. Over the years, there has been dynamic progress at IIT Bombay in all academic and research activities, and a parallel improvement in facilities and infrastructure, to keep it on par with the best institutions in the world. Institutes in positions of excellence grow with time. The ideas and ideals on which such institutes are built evolve and change with national aspirations, national perspectives, and trends world - wide. IIT Bombay, too, is one such institution.The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) is one of the seven higher Institutes of Technology in the country set up with the objective of making available facilities for higher education, research and training in various fields of Science and Technology.

The Institute on an average admits 500 candidates for the undergraduate programme through Joint Entrance Exam(JEE), 100 candidates for M.Sc. programmes, 550 candidates for different postgraduate programmes and 110 for Ph.D programmes every year.

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is one of the seven Institutes of Technology created as centres of excellence for higher training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India, the others being at Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Bombay, Guwahati and Roorkee. Established as College of Engineering in 1961, the Institute was later declared an Institution of National Importance under the "Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963" and was renamed "Indian Institute of Technology Delhi". It was then accorded the status of a deemed university with powers to decide its own academic policy, to conduct its own examinations, and to award its own degrees.

HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, laid the foundation stone of the Institute on January 27, 1959. The Institute was inaugurated by Prof.Humayun Kabir, the then Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs on August 21, 1961. The Institute buildings were formally opened by Dr.Zakir Hussain, the then President of India, on March 2, 1968.

Objectives
  • Offering instruction in engineering and applied sciences at a level comparable to the very best in the world.
  • Providing best facilities for postgraduate studies and research.
  • Providing leadership in curriculum planning and laboratory development.
  • Developing programmes for faculty development both for its own staff and for teachers of other engineering institutions.
  • Developing close collaboration with industry through exchange of personnel and undertaking consultancy projects.
  • Developing strong collaboration links with other academic and research institutions in the country and abroad.
  • Anticipating the technological needs for India and to plan and prepare to cater to men.
  • Developing continuing education programmes.
  • Preparing instructional resource material in the conventional as well as the audiovisual me video and the computer based modes.
  • Catering to the development of a culture for maintenance and conservation.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research. In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement in Bonn, West Germany for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras was signed in 1959.

The Institute was formally inaugurated in 1959 by Prof. Humayun Kabir, Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs.  The IIT system has seven Institutes of Technology located at Kharagpur (estb. 1951), Mumbai (estb. 1958), Chennai (estb. 1959), Kanpur (estb. 1959), Delhi (estb. 1961), Guwahati (estb. 1994) and Roorkee (estb. 1847, joined IITs in 2001). 

IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 460 faculty, 4500 students and 1250 administrative & supporting staff and is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares. It has established itself as a premier centre for teaching, research and industrial consultancy in the country.

The Institute has fifteen academic departments and a few advanced research centres in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 100 laboratories organised in a unique pattern of functioning. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical & supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The campus is located in the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras. Chennai is the state capital of Tamilnadu, a southern state in India.

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur is engaged in carrying out original research of significance and technology development at the cutting edge.It imparts training to students so that they become competent and motivated engineers and scientists. The Institute celebrates freedom of thought, cultivates vision and encourages growth, but also inculcates human values and concern for the environment and the society.

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/GATE/JMET/JAM). 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.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
The history of the IIT system dates back to 1946 when a committee was set up by Hon'ble Sir Jogendra Singh, Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, Department of Education, Health and Agriculture to consider the setting up of Higher Technical Institutions for post war industrial development in India. The 22 member committee headed by Sri N.R.Sarkar, in its report, recommended the establishment of four Higher Technical Institutions in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern regions, possibly on the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, with a number of secondary institutions affiliated to it. The report also urged the speedy establishment of all the four institutions with the ones in the East and the West to be started immediately. The committee also felt that such institutes would not only produce undergraduates but they should be engaged in research, producing research workers and technical teachers as well. The standard of the graduates should be at par with those from first class institutions abroad. They felt that the proportion of undergraduates and postgraduate students should be 2:1.

With the above recommendations of the Sarkar committee in view, the first Indian Institute of Technology was born in May 1950 in Hijli, Kharagpur, in the eastern part of India.

Initially the IIT started functioning from 5, Esplanade East, Calcutta and very soon shifted to Hijli in Sept. 1950. The present name 'Indian Institute of Technology' was adopted before the formal inauguration of the Institute on August 18, 1951, by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.IIT Kharagpur started its journey in the old Hijli Detention Camp where some of our great freedom fighters toiled and sacrificed their lives for the independence of our country.

The history of IIT Kharagpur is thus intimately linked with the history of the Hijli Detention Camp. This is possibly one of the very few Institutions all over the world which started life in a prison house.Pandit Nehru in his first convocation address in 1956 said "Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges,India's future in the making. this picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India."

University of Roorkee
Roorkee College was established in 1847 AD as the first engineering college in the British Empire. The College was renamed as Thomason College of Civil Engineering in 1854. It was given the status of University by Act No. IX of 1948 of U.P. in recognition of its performance and its potential and keeping in view the needs of post-independence India. Pandit 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.

Since its establishment, the University of Roorkee has played a vital role in providing the technical manpower and knowhow to the country and in pursuit of research. The University ranks amongst the best technological institutions in the world and has contributed to all sectors of technological development. It has also been considered a trend-setter in the area of education and research in the field of science, technology, and engineering. The University is entering 150th year of its existence in one or other form in October 1996 and so, Sesquicentennial Celebrations are being organised during the period from October 1996 to October 1997. In this moment of jubiliation, the University can surely look back with pride on the achievement of its alumni over the last century and half.

Bachelor's Degree courses are offered in 10 disciplines in Engineering and Architecture; 55 Postgraduate Degree courses are offered in Engineering, Applied Science and Architecture and planning. The University has facility for doctoral work in all Departments and Research Centres.

The University admits students to B.E. and B.Arch. courses through and entrance examination conducted at varios centres all over India without any considerations for domicile. There are no consideration of domicile in the sphere of postgraduate education and research either.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science
The Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani is an all-India Institute for higher education. The primary motive of BITS is to "train young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods, techniques and information".

The Institute is a dream come true of its founder late Mr G.D.Birla - an eminent industrialist, a participant in Indian freedom struggle and a close associate of the Father of Indian Nation late Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi). What started in early 1900s as a small school, blossomed into a set of colleges for higher education, ranging from the Humanities to Engineering until 1964 when all these colleges amalgamated to culminate into a unique Indian University of International standing. This university was christened as the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, known to many as BITS, Pilani.

Anna University, Chennai
Anna University strives to be recognised as a world class center of learning in engineering, technology and applied sciences. To achieve this, Anna University is committed to
  • Raising the quality of education and maintaining the University as an effective human resource development institution under all changing conditions
  • Contributing to the growth of technical education and upholding the highest ethical    and professional standards
  • Serving society to lead to its enrichment and advancement
  • Discharging duties and obligations to the students and staff efficiently
  • Improving the effectiveness of the Quality Management System continually
Objectives
  • To provide facilities and offer opportunities for higher education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sceiences by Instruction, Training, Research, Development and Extension, and by such other means as the University may deem fit.
  • To devise and implement a programme of education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Science that are relevant to the current needs of the society, alive to the long term requirements, and responsive to the anticipated changes and developments, in terms of breadth of diversity and depth of specialization.
  • To further advancement of knowledge in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences, to promote research to disseminate and advance the knowledge thereon for the betterment of society and to bring about a widespread awareness of the tools and methods continuously generated by the advances in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences.
  • To serve as a centre for fostering co-operation and exchange of ideas between the academic and research community on the one hand and the Industrial community and Government employers on the other to promote entrepreneurship among the students.
Jawaharlal Nehru University
The JNU campus is a microcosm of the Indian nation, drawing students from every nook and corner of the country and from every group and stratum of society. To make sure that this is so, annual admission tests are simultaneously held at 37 center spread across the length and breadth of the country, and special care is taken to draw students from the underprivileged castes and ethic groups by reserving 22.5 per cent of seats for them. Overseas students form some 10 percent of the annual intake.Students' hostels and blocks of faculty residences are interspersed with one another, underlining the vision of a large Indian family.

Even as class room teaching and,work in the library and the laboratories have their share in the mode of instruction, personal interaction between students and teachers and among students themselves form an extremely important and lively medium of generation and transmission of knowledge. Sometimes high decibel disputes about the validity of theoretical premises or cultural substructures of a particular scientific or economic thesis do spill over from the class and hostel rooms onto the middle of the campus roads, at times causing traffic bottlenecks. Happily, these have never caused a road accident! The annual Students Union elections are conducted entirely by students. Fierce poster and cartoon wars, verbal duels and competitive yet peaceful group meetings are a viewers' delight during the elections. Violence is the only alien on the campus.

Several Centres in these Schools have been declared by the UGC to be Centres of 'Excellence'. These are Centre for Historical Studies, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Centre for Political Studies, Centre for Economic Studies and Planing, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, all in the School of Social Sciences. In addition three Science Schools--School of Physical Sciences, School of Life Sciences and School of Environmental Sciences have also received the UGC recognition as Centers for Excellence.

University of Mumbai
The University of Mumbai (known earlier as University of Bombay) is one of the oldest and premier Universities in India. It was established in 1857 consequent upon "Wood's Education Dispatch", and it is one amongst the first three Universities in India.

As a sequel to the change in the name of the city from Bombay to Mumbai, the name of the University has been changed from "University of Bombay " to "University of Mumbai " ,vide notification issued by the Government of Maharashtra and published in the Government Gazette dated 4th September, 1996.

The profile of this University carved out in 150 years of its functioning attests to its manifold achievements as the intellectual and moral powerhouse of the society. The University has always given its best to the country in general and to the city of Mumbai in particular by enthusiastically shouldering an ever-growing load of social values and opportunities.

Initially, the University concentrated its efforts on controlling teaching at the undergraduate level and in conducting examinations. Later on it took up research and the task of imparting instructions at the Post-Graduate level. This resulted in the establishment of the University Departments beginning with the School of Sociology and Civics & Politics. The independence of the country led to the re-organization of the functions and powers of the University with the passing of the Bombay University Act of 1953.

It is now granted a Five Star status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It has two campuses of area 230 acres and 13 acres, with 1.25 million square feet of built-up area, 22 thousand sq. feet of class-rooms and 84 thousand sq feet of laboratory space. It has two post-graduate centers, 354 affiliated colleges and 36 Departments. It has established its name in industrial collaborations and runs various professional courses.

At national level, it has excelled in sports, cultural and out-reach activities. In the last five years it has seen 104% increase in under-graduate students, 112% increase in post-graduate students and 147% increase in distance - education students. There is 156% increase in the number of research papers published in International journals. 12 Department/sections are recognized under various national programmes, such as SAP/CAS/DRS/DSA/COSIST/FIST. More than 80 teachers are on various professional bodies. 18 National/International awards are won by teachers in the last five years. Every year about 20 teachers visit abroad for academic activities. Recently more than 10 self-supporting courses have been started by the University.
 
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is the premier university of the country and is known for its high standards in teaching and research and attracts eminent scholars to its faculty.The University of Delhi was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly.

Only three colleges existed then in Delhi: St. Stephens College founded in 1881, Hindu College founded in 1899 and Ramjas College founded in 1917, which were affiliated to the University. The University thus had a modest beginning with just three colleges, two faculties (Arts and Science) and about 750 students. In October 1933, the University offices and the Library shifted to the Viceregal Lodge Estate, and till today this site is the nucleus of the University (Main Campus).

Apart from central administrative offices, examination offices and the sports complex, the main departments of the Faculty of Science are housed in the Viceregal Lodge Estate.Sir Maurice Gwyer, who was the then Vice Chancellor, realizing the importance of a distinguished faculty, searched for talent all over the country and brought men of eminence to this University, such as Prof. D S Kothari in Physics, Prof. T R Sheshadri in Chemistry, Prof. P Maheshwari in Botany and Prof. M L Bhatia in Zoology. Over the last even decades the University has grown into one of the largest universities in India. At present, there are 14 faculties, 86 academic departments and 79 colleges spread all over the city, with about 2,20,000 students.

In an effort to cope with this enormous expansion, the University in the early seventies initiated a new organizational pattern based on the multi-campus concept. The South Campus made a beginning in 1973 by starting postgraduate programmes in some departments of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in a rented building. The campus acquired land near Dhaula Kuan where the building of Arts Faculty was first constructed. Offices and teaching activities shifted to this campus in 1983. A beginning has been made towards establishing the East and West Campuses of the University. The East Campus is being developed with the University College of Medical Science as its nucleus, while the West Campus will have as its focus on Engineering and Technology. When the University Grants Commission started establishing Centres of Advanced Studies in the country, 6 were awarded to the University of Delhi out of a total of 18 such centres in the early sixties. These were in Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Economics and Sociology. These Centres of Advanced Studies are now the centres of excellence in teaching and research in their respective areas. In addition, a number of these and other University departments received grants under the Special Assistance Programme of the UGC in recognition of their outstanding academic work. The University has 15 libraries. These are in addition to Libraries in the Colleges. The University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC) has a number of sophisticated research instruments which are used by several departments of the University and by other institutions in Delhi and its the neighbourhood. The University has just completed the implementation of fibre-optic networks on the North and South Campuses.