What can you tell me about IIT Madras' infrastructure?

Moving to a new environment, particularly one spanning over 600 acres, presents a significant challenge. But luckily, IITM offers its students almost every essential campus resource they would need. IITM boasts an impressive infrastructure to support its academic and research endeavours.‍

Academic Facilities

The Central Library:  The institute library is easy to spot once you have reached the heart of the campus: Gajendra Circle. Spacious, air-conditioned (making it a popular workspace during Chennai summers) and well-equipped with modern facilities, the library is always buzzing with students for studies, meetings, or recreational gaming. Your institute ID card is required to enter the library.

Spread across four floors, this WiFi-enabled facility has separate Reading Halls for Journals, Books and References; a Book Bank; Back volumes for Humanities, Social Sciences, Management, Engineering, Technology, and Science; and a Children's Library Corner.

The Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub: Opened in 2023, this is the new home for all the clubs and teams in the Centre for Innovation. Situated near the Institute Hospital, this elegant and modern building houses the vision of the Centre for Innovation. It offers a beautiful workspace and guidance from faculty and students for young innovators. You can read more about this fascinating building here.

The P G Senapathy Centre: Apart from providing computational resources for the academic and research community of the institute, the Centre offers training and software development, as well as catering to various projects from government organisations. Today, the Centre has expanded into almost all areas of information technology support, including connectivity and networking. The Centre is now gearing up for a High-Performance Computing setup as part of the National Supercomputing Mission. Here is a little bit of history about the institute's computing hub.

Departmental Computing Facility (DCF): Every department is equipped with digital laboratories with high-quality computers to be accessed by students of the respective department for study and research. 

Research Facilities: IIT Madras has also been formally recognised as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) under the GoI scheme. This prestigious recognition is a testament to the institute's commitment to excellence in higher education and research. With its new IoE status, IIT Madras has embarked on a journey to establish itself as a world-class teaching and research institution, focusing on a wide range of contemporary fields. A total of 68 research initiatives belonging to 21 identified technology clusters are presently underway. Here is an overview of the various facilities and initiatives.

Health, Safety and Recreation

Institute Hospital: The Institute Hospital has 24/7 services for handling students' general health issues. In addition to general practitioners, a team of visiting specialists includes an orthopedic doctor, cardiologist, psychiatrist, ophthalmologist, general surgeon, and ENT surgeon. All diagnostic laboratories, X-ray facilities, and in-patient rooms are well-equipped, and an ambulance facility is accessible. Kauvery Hospital manages the hospital's pharmacy. More about the available facilities at: https://sustainability.iitm.ac.in/sustainability-at-iitm/health-and-wellbeing.html

Sports Facilities: Sports Facilities: The institute has excellent sports facilities, including an Olympic-standard swimming pool, a well-equipped gymnasium with professional instructors, the impressive IIT-Chemplast cricket ground, tennis courts, and a high-tech wood-floored multipurpose indoor stadium available in the Students' Activities' Center. Other facilities include basketball and volleyball courts, a table tennis facility, a weightlifting arena and a skating rink around the Sangam ground. The Manohar C Watsa stadium on Delhi Avenue is the home for athletics and a popular place for an evening/morning walk. 

More about sports at: https://www.iitm.ac.in/campus-life/sports

Open Air Theatre (OAT): Between the Gajendra Circle and the hostel zone, you will spot a large arena called the Open Air Theatre, where the Film Club screens weekend movies. The best new movies in English, Hindi, Tamil and other regional languages are screened here. Occasionally, live sports are streaming, too. The OAT is also where the Saarang professional shows (like the EDM Night, Rock Night, etc.) are held. 

‍The Student Activity Center (SAC): A hi-tech, wood-floored, multipurpose indoor stadium where lectures, convocations and cultural events are held. It also has a music room that students can book. The SAC is also where music events, cultural club weekenders, and the Willkommen for final-year students are held. 

Student and Hostel Life

Prime Mart: Located near Pampa Hostel, this is the students’ go-to for purchasing hostel essentials.  

Student Facility Centers:

• Narmada Hostel Complex: This contains GBS electronics (with laptop services), 7 Star Saloon (unisex salon) and Srivari Xerox Shop.  
• Students Facility Center (opposite to Sharavathi Hostel): This has a convenience store, Usha Cafe, CoolBiz and an ironing shop. 

Shopping Complex: Situated in the Residential Zone, the shopping centre has stores for groceries, clothes and accessories. It also has a Xerox shop and a tea shop in its vicinity.

Other Infrastructure:

Banks: The Institute has two banks situated on the campus: State Bank of India and Canara Bank. Both banks have regular branches on the campus and are housed in separate buildings. Application forms for important national-level exams such as JEE, GATE and CAT are sold in these banks.

Hostel Facilities: Hostel facilities include a garden and a library from which students can borrow books. Every hostel has washing machines, some sports facilities, and music/tech/television rooms. Most hostel-level meetings take place in common rooms. Every hostel is now equipped with vending machines, which is a move that the students have widely welcomed. 

Discuss with other aspirants and IITM students on our AskIITM community!