The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a public institution established by the government of India in 1951. It is the first of the IITs to be established and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India.
The institute was initially established to train scientists and engineers after India attained independence in 1947. However, over the years, the institute's academic capabilities diversified with offerings in management, law, architecture, humanities, etc. IIT Kharagpur has a 8.5 square kilometres (2,100 acres) campus and has about 22,000 residents. The students and alumni of IIT Kharagpur are informally referred to as KGPians.
