The International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) is a prestigious private technical and research University (Deemed) located in Bengaluru, India, with the motto 'Knowledge is Supreme'. IIITB is a non-profit organisation governed by a board, having Kris Gopalakrishnan, the Co-founder of Infosys Ltd. It offers Integrated M.Tech with a dual degree of B.Tech and M.Tech, Master of Technology, Master of Science by Research, PhD, M.Sc (Digital Society) with different specialisations, PG Diploma and several certificate programmes.
The government of Karnataka is the first-ever government body to initiate the idea of IIITB as a part of its IT Policy in 1997-1998. The official classes kicked off on 15th September 1999 after the institute had commenced in June 1999.
The ultimate mission of IIITB is to build a world-class research-led institution that can enhance the emerging IT industry in India. The inspiration behind this mission is two textile research institutes – SITRA (South India Textile Research Institute) in Coimbatore, and ATIRA (Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research) in Ahmedabad, that have made massive contributions to the Indian textile industry.
An interesting fact is that Information Technology was the third 'T' involved in Indian exports right after Tea and Textiles in 1999. It has been more than twenty years since the IT sector has emerged with exports of $200 billion, providing 4.5 million jobs while Tea and Textiles cater to $40 billion in export with currently around 40 million jobs!
IIITB offers a cutting-edge Analysis and Data Science Programme that scores over other institutes with the following key differentiators:
• Expert Faculty: The faculty members have strong academic backgrounds with PhD from reputed world-class institutions while being actively involved in the advanced research in this particular field.
• Tight linkage with industry experts: Right from the inception, IIITB has striven to involve industry-relevant case studies, tools, practices, and many more such proven practices to enhance the practical knowledge of students.
• Strong mentorship and guidance: The institute takes great care of its students by providing personalized attention through mentors who help the students navigate the complex world of professional education and overcome the different obstacles that they face.
Prof. Chandrashekar Ramanathan is widely acknowledged as an expert in Analytics and Data Science in the country and is a senior faculty member in this program in IIITB. He successfully designed and delivered a short certification course – Analytics Essential, in 2015. He has held eminent positions as Associate Dean and later Dean (Academics) in IIITB. He was the administrative in-charge of the online version of the programs, in partnership with upgrade where he is currently serving as a faculty teacher in one of the courses of this program.
The courses in the IIITB curriculum has been carefully designed to ensure that students enhance the integrated know-how through different practical exposures such as providing assignments and projects by using tools and techniques through several videos and lectures. This constant exposure prepares the students to meet the needs of the industry effectively and efficiently.
• IIITB achieved its recognition as a "Deemed University" in 2004 and currently, holds the status as a Ph.D. granting Research University.
• The institute was placed in the highest category along with IISc and other Deemed Universities by Tandon Committee Report.
• NAAC accredited IIITB in the highest-level category, A, in 2009.
• IIITB has held its place in the Top 50 Institutes for three consecutive years— 2018, 2019, and 2020, competing with 100+-year-old IISc and 50+ years old IITs and NITs.
• The Government of India sought the services of IIITB for the National Information Infrastructure Project formulation (NII 2.0), leading to more than Rs. 20,000 crores known as 'BharatNet' that the Government had initiated in 2013.
• The Government of India also asked this institution to be a mentor for the Greenfield Project at the Myanmar Institute of Technology (MIIT) in 2015, where at present around 24 IIITB faculty and staff are involved.
• IIITB also hosts MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identity Project), which is designed to make software tools available under an Open Source Framework for identity management for any government, the same way Aadhaar is working in India since 2009. MOSIP has been postponed for the last thirteen months due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, and Tata Sons with projects that are underway in Morocco, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
According to Prof. Chandrashekar, any educational institute that wants to become the premier institute in the country has to negotiate with numerous roadblocks on the way to success. The prime challenge includes attracting and retaining the top-notch faculty, who in turn will attract the best students across the country. IIITB started overcoming this challenge by initiating various high impact courses – Data Mining/ Data Warehousing in 2002, Bengaluru's Data Mining Special Interest Group in 2003-2005, Analytics Essential Courses in 2011 while renaming the Data and Information Stream as Data Science in the same year, and launched the Online PGP on Analytics in collaboration with upGrad in 2016.
Prof. Chandrashekar believes that Analytics Education will dramatically expand in the next five years, as the demand for people who strive for domain knowledge will leverage Analytics expertise.
The primary motive of the Analytics and Data Science Programmes conducted by IIITB is to bridge the gap between the demand in the IT sector and the supply of IT experts. IIITB is now offering a unique consulting-led training program besides research-led education to the students. This new programme will deliver sector-specific data science programmes for organisations that have a long-term commitment to enlighten the skills of employees with appropriate training.
