'Students experience what they might at larger IITs'

IIT Goa is one of the 'third-generation' IITs set up in 2016, but is still operating from a temporary campus at Farmagudi that also houses the Goa College of Engineering (GCE) and NIT Goa. In this interaction with Musab Qazi, director Dhirendra S Katti speaks about the institute's unique academic programmes, expansion plans and more. Edited excerpts:

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Q. Can you describe IIT Goa’s journey so far?

A. IIT Goa was among the six new IITs approved by the cabinet in 2015. We came into existence in the academic year 2016-17. As IITs are normally incubated in a local engineering institute, we too were born at GCE. This was our transit campus, but we are still here. We have entered our ninth year and have been able to start BTech, MTech and PhD programmes.

Since we are a residential institute, we have hostels for all students, in addition to laboratories, offices and classrooms. Some of it was given to us by GCE, some we constructed ourselves.

We offer BTech degrees in four disciplines - computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and mathematics and computing. MTech is available in computer and mechanical engineering, PhD in all disciplines - not just engineering, but also in science and humanities. We have also recently introduced courses in chemicals and material engineering as well as interdisciplinary life sciences.

Within humanities, we have economics as an emphasis area. We are going to start four MSc programmes in physics, chemistry, mathematics and economics. We are working on finalising the syllabus and approvals. These will be rolled out by the end of the year, with admissions slated to begin through the Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) in July 2026.

Because of our location, we emphasise research in marine science and technology and we are starting an MTech in the field from July; approvals are in place. The top students in the programme can earn a dual degree in computer science, applied physics or photonics from ENIB, France's national engineering college, with which we have signed an MoU. Their students will also come here for the master's course. Initially, we will have a small batch of 10-15 students.