Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM)

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (abbreviated IIT Madras or IITM) is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.Founded in 1959 with technical and financial assistance from the former government of West Germany, it was the third IIT established by the Government of India. IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for five years in a row (2016–2020) by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

IIT Madras is a residential institute that occupies a 2.5-square-kilometre (0.97 sq mi) campus that was formerly part of the adjoining Guindy National Park. The institute has nearly 600 faculty, 10,000 students and 1,250 administrative and supporting staff. Growing ever since it obtained its charter from the Indian Parliament in 1961, much of the campus is a protected forest, carved out of the Guindy National Park, home to large numbers of chital (spotted deer), black buck, bonnet macaque, and other rare wildlife. A natural lake, deepened in 1988 and 2003, drains most of its rainwater.

In 1956, the West German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement was signed in Bonn, West Germany in 1959 for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. IIT Madras was started with technical, academic and financial assistance from the Government of West Germany and was at the time the largest educational project sponsored by the West German Government outside their country. This has led to several collaborative research efforts with universities and institutions in Germany over the years. Although official support from the German government has ended, several research efforts involving the DAAD programme and Humboldt Fellowships still exist.