[5] According to data obtained through Right to Information (RTI) applications, approximately 38% of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduates from the class of 2024 have not secured job placements.

This picture seems to me symbolically of the changes coming to India.On the recommendations of the Sarkar Committee, four campuses were established at Bombay (1958), Madras (1959), Kanpur (1959), and Delhi (1961).

On 1 October 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced plans to create more IITs "by upgrading existing academic institutions that have the necessary promise and potential".

[49] Subsequent developments led to the formation of the S K Joshi Committee, in November 2003, to guide the selection of the five institutions which would be converted into IITs.

Since the S K Joshi Committee prescribed strict guidelines for institutions aspiring to be IITs,[50] only seven colleges were selected for final consideration.

From 2008 to 2009, eight new IITs were set up in Gandhinagar, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ropar, and Mandi.

[34] The entire allocation by the central government for the 2017–18 budget for all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) was slightly over ₹70 billion (US$810 million).

However, the aggregate money spent by Indian students for tertiary education in the United States was about six times more than what the central government spends on all IITs.

Directly under the President is the IIT Council, comprising minister-in-charge of technical education in the Union Government, the Chairmen of all IITs, the Directors of all IITs, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, the Director General of CSIR, the Chairman of IISc, the Director of IISc, three members of Parliament, the Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Education, and three appointees each of the Union Government, AICTE, and the Visitor.

[61] The Standing Committee of IIT Council (SCIC) prescribes the lower limit for faculty-to-student ratio as 1:9, applied department wise.

Such autonomy means that IITs can create their curricula and adapt rapidly to the changes in educational requirements, free from bureaucratic hurdles.

The IITs and IISc, Bengaluru have taken an initiative along with Ministry of Education to provide free online videos of actual lectures of different disciplines under National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning.

It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and results, and appoints committees to look into specific academic matters.

The teaching, training and research activities of the institute are periodically reviewed by the senate to maintain educational standards.

All the IITs follow the credits system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of courses based on their importance.

[70] The common courses include the basics from most of the departments like Computers, Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Electrical and Physics.

[75] The IITs also offer an unconventional BTech and MTech integrated educational program called "Dual Degree".

[81] All the IITs have sports grounds for basketball, cricket, football (soccer), hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, athletics and swimming pools for aquatic events.

It has been granted patronage from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for providing a platform for students to showcase their talent in science and technology.

Shaastra holds the distinction of being the first student-managed event in the world to implement a formal Quality Management System, earning ISO 9001:2000 certification.

[85] IITs practice affirmative action and offer reservation to the "backward and weaker sections" of the society that includes SC/ST/OBC-NCL/EWS/PWD/Girl candidates.

[105][106] With the tripling the number of IITs in recent decades, the newly created institutes have struggled to establish themselves compared to their peers.

[109] Among the criticisms of the IIT system by the media and academia, a common notion is that it encourages brain drain.

Until liberalisation started in the early 1990s, India experienced large scale emigration of IIT graduates to developed countries, especially to the United States.

[112] The extent of intellectual loss receded substantially over the 1990s and 2000s, with the percentage of students going abroad dropping from as high as 70% at one time to around 30% in 2005.

Emerging scientific and manufacturing industries, and outsourcing of technical jobs from North America and Western Europe have created opportunities for aspiring graduates in India.

[116] He also said that his parents, being old-fashioned, did not believe in coaching classes to prepare for the IIT entrance exam and considered them to be "nonsense".

[117] The documentary further concludes, "Put Harvard, MIT, and Princeton together, and you begin to get an idea of the status of IIT in India" to depict the competition as well as demand for the elite institutes.

[121] A second petition was made in October by Navsari's Sayaji Vaibhav Sarvajanik Pustakalaya Trust.

[123] IIT council recommended major changes in entrance examination structure which is effective from 2017 onwards.