Kerala's first IIT starts functioning at Palakkad

Scripting a new chapter in the higher education sector in Kerala, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) started functioning from a temporary campus on Monday.

The IIT-P campus was opened at a function here with Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani addressing the students through video conferencing. The official opening ceremony of the campus would be held later this month, official sources said.

In her address, Irani urged students to ensure that society benefits from their activities in the campus. IIT-Palakkad offers four B-Tech streams - Computer Science and Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering - in the initial phase.

As many as 117 students, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, have been admitted to the new campus. Classes began in a temporary campus near Valayar here and it would be shifted to a 500-acre permanent campus in Puthussery in the district in three years, after completion of land acquisition process and construction of buildings, the sources said. Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan was among the dignitaries who attended the opening function.