It was back in 1951 that the seed of the IIT system was planted in a town tucked in the eastern corner of India. Soon IIT Kharagpur saw success and this lead to sprouting of four younger IITs around the country. The inspiration for the formation of IITKGP came from the model of education imparted at institutions like MIT. IIT Kharagpur is not just the place to study technology, it is the place where students are taught to dream about the future of technology and beam across disciplines, making difference enough to change the world.
IIT Kharagpur started with 224 freshers, 42 teachers and 10 departments in August 1951 and now the institute has grown to 40 academic units, 11500 students and 650 faculty members. In the past 70 years, IITKGP has witnessed new and pioneering developments. The motto of the institute is "Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam," which literally means "Excellence in action is Yoga."
The mission of IIT Kharagpur is:
IIT Kharagpur is the first one and the oldest of 23 IITs namely IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhi Nagar, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Jodhpur, IIT Indore, IIT Mumbai, IIT Ropar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Patna, IIT Mandi, IIT Jammu, IIT Varanasi, IIT Palakkad, IIT Tirupati, IIT Goa, IIT Bhilai, IIT Dharwad and IIT Dhanbad.
