Praise for IIT’s

With such high profile alumni, the IIT's, it should be amply clear, are incredibly successful. Surely, no other institution has managed so much success, in so little time. Quite naturally, the IIT's are the toast of the world. Here are some interesting quotes.

From India

“My son wanted to do Computer Science. But to be in the IIT's, he had to be among the top 200 in the country. So he chose Cornell.”

- N R Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys.

“I know cases where students who couldn't get Computer Science at IIT's, they have gotten scholarships at MIT, Princeton, at Caltech.”

- N R Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys.

“When I finished IIT, Delhi and went to CMU for my masters, I thought I was cruising all along the way through Carnegie Mellon because it was so easy relative to the education I had gotten at IIT, Delhi.”

- Vinod Khosla, Venture Capitalist.

From Abroad

The IIT's are incredibly world class and unique. The impact of IIT's has been worldwide.

- Bill Gates, Microsoft

In a recent study, the United Kingdom-based Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) ranked the Indian Institutes of Technology as the third best technology universities in the world. Only Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of California, Berkeley, ranked higher.

In a statement, THES said:

"...The high praise for the Indian Institutes of Technology was no fluke. Up to third position, the IIT's are a source of Indian national pride as well as innovation and wealth.”

Praise has poured in from other sides, including the most powerful government in the world. The US Congress has praised the IIT's for their significant contributions to society in every profession and discipline - a first for any foreign university.

The full text of that accolade, known as House Resolution 227, is reproduced here.

In the House of Representatives.

Whereas the United States is deeply enriched by its Indian-American residents; Whereas the Indian-American community and the graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in the United States have made valuable and significant contributions to society in every profession and discipline;

Whereas IIT graduates are highly committed and dedicated to research, innovation, and promotion of trade and international cooperation between India and the United States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

1. Recognizes the valuable and significant contributions of Indian-Americans to American society;
2. Honors the economic innovation attributable to graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology; and
3. Urges all Americans to recognize the contributions of Indian-Americans and have a greater appreciation of the role Indian-Americans have played in helping to advance and enrich American society.

And, the IITian himself, is a character with no parallel. BusinessWeek magazine called the IITian 'India’s greatest export'. Is it any wonder then that the IITian has found his way into Dilbert, the world's most famous management cartoon strip? Asok, a character in Dilbert, is from the Indian Institute of Technology.

IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton

“IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton” , says CBS '60 Minutes'.

CBS' highly-regarded '60 Minutes', the most widely watched news programme in the US, told its audience of more than 10 Million viewers that “IIT may be the most important university you've never heard of".

“The United States imports oil from Saudi Arabia, cars from Japan, TVs from Korea and Whiskey from Scotland. So what do we import from India? We import people, really smart people," co-host Leslie Stahl began while introducing the segment on IIT.

“…the smartest, the most successful, most influential Indians who've migrated to the US seem to share a common credential: They are graduates of the IIT.”

“…in science and technology, IIT undergraduates leave their American counterparts in the dust.”

“Think about that for a minute: A kid from India using an Ivy League university as a safety school. That's how smart these guys are.”

There are “cases where students who couldn't get into computer science at IIT, they have gotten scholarships at MIT, at Princeton, at Caltech.”

Clearly, there is something about the IIT's that sets them apart. What could it be possibly? And how did they become that way? The answers to both questions are found in their genes.

"The winners in life think constantly in terms of 'I can, I will, and I am.' Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can't do.”

- Dennis Waitley