Education at IITK

Education at IIT Kanpur empowers the students with a critical thinking led approach, scientific temperament and knowledge in science, engineering, management and humanities fields to solve problems that challenge humanity. The globally acclaimed education prepares the students for rewarding and exciting careers. The excellent education has enabled the alumni to succeed in diverse fields.

Pic: Manoj Srivastava

Student Centric Teaching

At IITK teachers engage with the class. It is not a one way communication. Each student in the class is important to the faculty. The faculty is very approachable. No fear or awe is expected from the students. The classroom atmosphere while being focused on learning is student friendly.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

Teaching That Builds Critical Thinking Abilities

The education at IITK encourages critical thinking. That is why IITK encourages curiosity based learning. Often teachers will ask questions aimed at making the student think. Such introspection helps the student make connections and start to see the bigger picture.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

IITK Offers an Inspiring Learning Environment

The teaching at IITK inspires students to push their personal boundaries. Courses are taught in depth and with background to help students grasp concepts firmly. There is often optional content that challenges and motivates students. This takes them to the frontiers of research in the area.

The time spent at IITK makes a student go from being a good learner to being a good thinker and researcher in the student's field of choice. Even undergraduate research at IITK has won the institute many laurels.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

Innovative Teaching

Innovation is an integral part of teaching at IITK. While the curriculum represents the institute's vision for the course, the teaching methods are the choice of the individual teachers and reflect their vision. There is freedom for the faculty to experiment in the teaching.

The faculty enjoy this freedom and use it to impart indepth knowledge to the students. An example of innovative teaching is quasi open time exams where the emphasis is on how deep is your understanding of the subject and neither on how quickly you can recall it nor on how well you can reproduce the lecture notes in the exam.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

Undergraduate Education

IITK offers a liberal undergraduate education, where knowledge of science and technology is part of a broader knowledge platform. A student has the choice of opting for more than 50% of courses outside of the student's chosen department. Of these a student can opt for more than 25% of courses that are in fields such as management and humanities.

The student is therefore free to develop a wide knowledge base encompassing many disciplines. IITK recognizes an undergraduate degree as the start of a student's higher education learning and encourages the student to explore so that the student can know what to do next.

In its undergraduate education IITK has removed the artificial split between the two science streams of Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics (PCM) and Physics, Chemistry & Biology (PCB). This has been done by introducing life sciences courses for engineering students. This better meets the needs of society since greater interaction between the two streams is required to deliver the next generation of inventions and discoveries.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

Postgraduate Education

IITK has world class facilities and performs research at the highest levels so a student is able to work and learn with some of the best people in the world in their area.

IITK hosts conferences and seminars throughout the year. There are a lot of visitors making it a vibrant research environment

There is great interdisciplinary interaction at IITK since disciplinary boundaries no longer confine knowledge creation. The halls of residence are interdisciplinary.

The opportunity to teach some of the best students in the world, as a Teaching Assistant (TA), helps a researcher to grow.

The postgraduate programmes that cover science, engineering, humanities and management create a highly diverse atmosphere conducive to interdisciplinary interaction.

IITK offers travel support to PhD students for academic purposes, including, on merit, support for presenting research papers in international conferences held abroad.

Pic: Vikram Gupta

Financial Aid

Student loans are easily available for education at IITK. In addition, IITK provides financial support to deserving students. The aim of the financial aid programme is to ensure that financial circumstances do not prevent a meritorious student from studying at IIT Kanpur.

Pic: Manoj Srivastava

Beyond Formal Education

At IITK, education and learning does not end with the laboratories and the classroom. The culture of respect and desire for knowledge can be seen in all aspects of the campus life.

The Student Gymkhana and many clubs are supported by the institute to encourage student participation in a wide variety of activities. These promote sports, culture and science & technology related activities.

There is a high level of student participation in the institute's academic and non-academic administration as well. Students are part of key committees of the institute. There is an independent student senate for the students to manage their own affairs.

Pic: Alumni Association

A Proven Education System

Alumni of the institute have an edge due to the IITK education which builds their ability to grasp new concepts and acquire new knowledge. They have shown a strong sense of ethics and a courageous outlook born out of deep rooted self belief.

A measure of the high quality of the education received by the alumni is the fact that worldwide the academia, in the most discerning institutions, abounds with IITK alumni.

Their ability to understand, reason and analyze have led them to the forefront of diverse areas such as education, research, management and public service. IITK alumni have performed with great distinction in every field that they have chosen for themselves.