IIT Mandi to increase teacher strength to over 300 & student to over 5000 in five years
IIT Mandi took multiple initiatives this year to ensure the holistic growth of its students. IIT Mandi launched a unique first-of-its-kind two-year MBA degree program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Along with this, two unique centers including, the Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health Applications (IKSHMA), and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR)were established to address the emerging societal needs in sectors such as healthcare, education, and agriculture, among others.
IIT Mandi also established the Center for Continuing Education (CCE), to focus on skill development, and collaborative efforts to empower the underprivileged. In collaboration with the state authorities under the Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam (HPKVN) scheme, the Institute launched five different courses to help Himachali Youth to enhance their abilities from industrial, academic, and research perspectives making them ready for the job market. One of the courses named ‘Prayas 1.0’ was organized in the summer of 2022 in which 100 school students from Himachal Pradesh joined the residential program and were trained in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. In addition to this, the CCE also collaborated with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to launch certificate and advanced certificate courses on Data Science, AI, and Machine learning.
In a major overhaul, considering the rising number of students and faculty, IIT Mandi restructured its academic framework and recalibrated the academic organization of the Institute in nine schools viz. School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE), School of Biosciences and Bioengineering (SBB), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCENE), School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (SMME), School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (SMSS), School of Chemical Sciences (SCS), School of Physical Sciences (SPS), School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS), and School of Management (SM).
On boosting the entrepreneurial culture in the Himalayan region, IIT Mandi’s Technology Business Incubator, Catalyst, organized the sixth edition of its annual flagship event, Himalayan Start-up Trek (HST) to bring together the stakeholders of the Indian start-up ecosystem. It is notable that IIT Mandi Catalyst has supported over 260 startups to date, in a range of sectors including clean energy, healthcare, enterprise management, agriculture, manufacturing, biotech, education, and consumer internet among others.
On the industry and academic collaboration front, IIT Mandi continuously worked towards expanding its outreach with national and international partners throughout the year. Currently, the Institute has over 50 active MoUs with national and international partners. Some of the collaborative initiatives with Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd., TCS, and MST Rolla are noteworthy. In addition, IIT Mandi has also signed MoUs with neighboring academic institutions, including NIT Hamirpur, Sardar Patel University Mandi, UIT-HPU Shimla, and IIT Ropar.
In this calendar year, 38 new externally sponsored projects have been sanctioned amounting to over 15 Crores rupees and 16 new consultancy projects have been executed for over 1 Crore rupees. One of the most notable projects is the Fund for Improvement of Science & Technology Infrastructure (FIST) grant of 4.60 Crore rupees to the School of Biosciences and Bioengineering for the establishment of state-of-the-art sophisticated instrumentation facilities for teaching and research.
IIT Mandi’s iHub is working on products related to human-computer interaction (HCI) with a special emphasis on healthcare applications. This year, in research and technology development, the iHub has developed 11 technologies and deployed 4 ranging in Human Performance Modelling, HCI-based head-mounted underwater simulation, low-cost Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Heart Rate Variation (HRV) detection analysis, and immersive audio-guided meditation for stress management. In skill development, iHub trained 1000+ resources through nearly 20 training workshops. About 200 undergraduates were engaged in industry-specific projects through hands-on engagement. Also, 40 start-ups were mentored and funded in HCI, and 6 have been able to get a market for their products in India and abroad. Collaborations have been active with organizations in US Silicon Valley like ICURO Inc. in Computer and AI vision, premier hospitals like PGIMER, Chandigarh, and AIIMS Bilaspur in India, where HCI-based technology interventions have been brought in the field of mental health and diabetes management.
Along with this, with an aim to nurture and develop creative, innovative, and managerial skills among students who also design and develop products in a time and resource-constrained scenario, the Institute reconfigured its Design Practicum and initiated a lab-based course titled Foundations of Design Practicum (FDP) to provide the students with hands-on experience that includes Fusion 360 CAD design software, 3-D printing, PCB fabrication, sensors, programming on-board computers, and communications. In this course, the students are required to demonstrate these skills in the form of a product built from the scratch.
This year, as many as 462 students graduated from IIT Mandi of which 64 were Ph.D. scholars graduates. In addition to this, the faculty members and research scholars from the Institute have published over 450 journal articles, 119 conference papers, 3 books, and 51 book chapters this year.
With the motto of scaling the height, IIT Mandi is looking forward to achieving greater milestones in the coming years. The current student strength of the Institute stands at 2350 while the faculty strength is over 160. In the next five years, the Institute plans to increase the faculty strength to over 300 and student strength to over 5000. The Institute also aspires to further increase its Ph.D. Scholar strength and work on solving real-life problems around us that will impact the lives of the people at large.
IIT Mandi has state-of-the-art infrastructure with a built-up area of 2.21 lakh sq. m. consisting of academic and administrative offices, housing for over 2300 students and 200+ faculty and staff members, laboratories, libraries, sports facilities, and extracurricular activities. Along with this, the Institute plans to build a hostel for students from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), new hostel blocks for 1500 students, an academic block, and a lecture hall complex in the near future.
