On Tuesday, April 26, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) celebrated its 63rd Institute Day. IIT Madras has achieved many milestones by contributing to the technological, economical and societal development of the nation in the past 60 years.
Notably, IIT Madras unceasingly swept away the top honours in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Education, and Government of India. As per the rankings, the institution is the number one in the Overall category for three consecutive years and in the Engineering category for six consecutive years from 2016 to 2021. The institution ranked number two in the country in the recently added category of Research Institutions in 2021.
The chief guest for the event was N Lakshmi Narayanan, Former Vice-Chairman of Cognizant Technologies.
Addressing the Institute Day celebrations, Lakshmi Narayanan, Former Vice-Chairman, Cognizant Technologies, said, “IIT Madras has created innovative platforms like NPTEL that are benefiting the community. The institute has also pioneered upskilling of virtual education and has introduced a virtual BSc degree programme in Programming and Data Science. The IIT Madras Research Park is also doing exceptional work in fostering an innovative ecosystem. So, it is a great pride to be part of the Institution Day Celebrations of IIT Madras.”
Further, Lakshmi Narayanan, said, “Collaborative research between industry and academia which can result in phenomenal outcomes is the need of the hour.”
Narayanan also bestowed Institute Research and Development Awards to junior-level and mid-career faculty members. The chief guest presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to the former director of IIT Madras, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, who is also a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering.
The institution had topped several national-level rankings under the tenure of Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi as the Director of IIT Madras. In 2019, IIT Madras was also selected as an Institution of Eminence, under his leadership.
Delivering the presidential address, Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, "I am very happy to announce that the pandemic did not stop IIT Madras from its growth — be it the number of research, consultancy and Corporate Social Responsibility projects that were executed; the placements and internships, as well as the number of patents that have been filed. I thank everyone who has been responsible for this growth."
During the event, the achievements of the students and contributions of faculty members who have excelled in their endeavours were recognised by the institution. The Institution Day was also an occasion to recognise the distinguished alumni who have carved out a name for themselves in academia and industry with their contributions to research, made their marks as entrepreneurs or have developed key technologies for the country. The alumni were honoured for their achievements with the Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA).
