CHENNAI, India – In order to reach the various buildings that comprise the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (ITT), you have to catch one of the big yellow buses that periodically comes to transport students, visitors and others from the security checkpoint at the front gate.
From there the bus takes you away from the steady horn-honking, hustle and bustle of the city, and down several kilometers of road that winds through a forest full of banyan, mango and coconut trees on nearly 600 acres of land traversed by monkeys and deer.
Nature seems to serve as both an ideal and idyllic environment to nurse the creativity that engineering students must develop in order to make a meaningful impact on the world. That, administrators say, is the primary mission at ITT, which was launched in 1959 with assistance from the former West Germany.
“Right from the beginning, our objective was to create a pool of engineers who are very competent,” says Professor V. G. Idichandy, an oceanography engineer who currently serves as interim director at ITT. “We wanted to create a pool of engineers to build India.”
As he speaks, Dr. Idichandy—whose career has involved a significant amount of defense contract work that is classified—is seated on a comfy, carved wooden chair with orange upholstery in an air-conditioned office on the second floor of the Administration Building.
A plaque that bears the name of the institute’s half dozen previous directors and the length of their terms hangs on the wall. A stack of education magazines sits on the inlaid shelf of a glass table.
