Institute of Chemical Technology

History

The ICT was founded in 1933 as a University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT) of the University of Mumbai. Robert Forster was first Head of the Department (1933–38), followed by K. Ventakaraman, who continued its development. It was considerably improved under the guidance of Man Mohan Sharma. The university conferred the autonomous status on the UDCT in 1994, with concurrence from the Maharashtra State Government and the UGC.

UDCT was renamed as the Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology (Autonomous) (MUICT) on 26 January 2002. ICT is considered to be the best post-graduate center in India and comparable to other top-level centers in the world.

In June 2004, in accordance with the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) of the Government of India, under which the institute was selected as a Lead Institution, the Government of Maharashtra granted complete autonomy to the institute. On 12 September 2008, it was granted the deemed university status and renamed as the Institute of Chemical Technology.

Institute of Chemical Technology was the first institute to be granted the elite badge by the government of the state of Maharashtra. This status put the institute on a par with other reputable schools such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. It also makes the institute, which has plans to set up a satellite campus, eligible for various special grants from the union and the state governments.

Campus

ICT is located on a 16 acres (65,000 m²) campus at 19.024°N 72.859°E / 19.024; 72.859. The main building faces Nathalal Parikh Marg and has a beautiful architecture with fine dressed stone.Other buildings including three boys hostels, two girls hostels, faculty and staff apartments are located behind the main building. The rear boundary of the institute runs along Kidwai Road. The Institute is opposite to Veermata Jijabai Technical Institute.

Departments

At present ICT offers three degrees at undergraduate level: B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), B.Chem.Eng. (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering), B.Pharm. (Bachelor of Pharmacy). The institute offers several courses at the masters level which specialize in Chemical Technology, Chemical Engineering and Pharmacy. Ph.D. from ICT is highly sought after program and is arguably among the best ones in the country.M.Sc. from ICT boasts of accreditation from Royal Society of Chemistry. ICT is only second institute in India to receive this accreditation.

The department of Textiles is still known to offer the most prestigious degree in the field of textiles in India.

ICT has specialization and runs several courses in the following ares:

Research

ICT has a very strong and celebrated research culture. The first ever Ph.D. in India in engineering was awarded by the ICT in 1941. ICT has strong relationships with the industries and many government as well as industry sponsored projects take shape in ICT. In 2011, the Ministry of Textiles sanctioned ICT as National Centre of Excellence in Sportswear with a grant of ₨ 24.5 crore for researching sports-related apparel and goods. With this, ICT has become the first institute in India to conduct research on sports fabrics.

ICT graduates 100 Ph.Ds annually which is about 10% of India's engineering Ph.D.s.

Library

The Library attracts a variety of readers, students, scholars, technologists and industrialists. The library has a specialized collection in the field of chemical engineering / chemical technology and possesses some of the rarest reorts and books. It has 38,200 books, 25,290 journals and 10,000 standards and subscribes to 120 international and 25 national journals. It has MOU with BONET for participating in exchange program devised by MISSAT, DST, New Delhi.

Fellows of Royal Society

Till date ICT has produced two fellows of Royal Society out of 60 odd fellows from India. One of them is Man Mohan Sharma who has been director of the institute and other is Raghunath Anant Mashelkar who currently serves as the chancellor. G. D. Yadav, current Vice Chancellor of ICT and Bhalchandra Bhanage, Head of Department of Chemistry were bestowed with Fellowship of Royal Society of Chemistry.

Academic Collaborations

ICT has signed several Memoranda of Understanding with Indian as well as foreign universities for faculty and student exchange. These include:

Technological Association

Technological Association (TA) is an organisation that conducts co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in ICT. Currently, the Vice Chancellor, G.D. Yadav is the President of TA and S.S.Bhagwat is its Vice President. A 24 Member Core student body organises these activities.

Entrepreneurship cell

ICT inaugurated its entrepreneurship cell in April 2013 with inaugurative lecture from Ashwin Dani (Founder of Asian Paints) and Yogesh Kothari (Founder of Alkyl Amines). A fellowship for visit to Korea was offered at the time of inauguration. The primary purpose behind the entrepreneurship cell was to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture at ICT.

ICT also has international dignitaries visiting regularly for contributing in the research as well as guidance students. Some of the international dignitaries include Ahmet Uzumcu, Director General of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Hostels

Several on-campus hostels provide accommodation to students from all educational streams.

There are 5 hostel buildings which cater to the students' need of accommodation.

Old Boys Hostel

The Hostel No. 1, better known as old hostel, was established in 1952. It has accommodations for 160 students and four faculty members. It has 48 single rooms and 48 double rooms.

New Boys Hostel No. 5

This hostel was built and inaugurated in 2005. The money for this Rs. 70 million building was raised by the alumni of the college. It has 7 floors, about 190 double rooms, 3 large guest rooms, 4 faculty flats, a dining hall, and a health clinic and a gym.

Rangotsav

Rangotsav is a Conference on Advances in Polymer and Coating, Technical Festival of Polymer and Surface Coating Technology Department.

Sportsaga

Sportsaga is the annual sports festival of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. Since its inception in the year 2005, Sportsaga has drawn to it sports enthusiasts from all over the city, state and nation. The 2013 edition featured over 20 events including the All Mumbai ICT Marathon and a closely contested athletics meet. The level of competition included not only the State’s top athletes but every type of sporting enthusiast, through both mainstream sporting events and informal events.

Vortex - The Chemfest

In 2013, it was decided by the Technological Association (Student Council) of ICT that Exergy would be merged with the other technical festivals of the Institute, YICC (Young Innovators Choice Competition) and YRC (Young Researchers Competition). This led to the creation of Vortex - The Chemfest. It saw over 5000 participants from various colleges across the country coming in to the ICT to showcase their Chemical Engineering skills.

Manzar

Manzar is the cultural festival of the Institute of Chemical technology. It has completed 10 years since it first began in 2007, and 2016 saw the 10th edition of this festival. Every year, Manzar proudly hosts a variety of events in music, dance, literary arts and fine arts. The Dance and Fashion Show events are the most popular, with active participation of students from all over the city. Manzar has a social initiative called Awaaz, through which students are able to do their bit for all-round societal development and improvement of underprivileged lives. Apart from all this, Manzar also has the Cultural Night and the Popular Night. Many famous artists have performed on the Manzar stage, including Shaan, Kailash Kher, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shalmali Kholgade, Sachin-Jigar, Niladri Kumar, Arijit Singh and Armaan Malik. Manzar attracts a crowd of over 20,000 people every year .

Texpression

The division of Fibres and Textiles Processing annually holds Texpression, a cultural festival. Texpression also brings the alumni of the division together to foster camaraderie and network among them.

The Spirit

The Spirit is the official bimonthly cultural magazine cum newsletter of ICT. There are typically 5-6 issues a year. The newsletter highlights the achievements of current students and alumni, has news and information about institute and is also a platform for current students to showcase their art and literary skills. The first issue was released in October 2006.

Sportsaga Publications

Sportsaga is the ICT's annual inter-college sports festival. It began in 2005 and has continued on since.

The Bombay Technologist

The Bombay Technologist is the annual peer reviewed journal of the institute, started in 1951. The journal publishes technical articles in the thrust areas of science and technology, written by both Undergraduate as well as Graduate students of the Institute.

Annually, the three best articles published are awarded prizes. The Best Post-Graduate student in the Institute is given the ‘Bombay Technologist Best Post-Graduate Student’ award. To foster the talents of the ICTians in non-technical areas, the journal has also instituted ‘Bombay Technologist Creativity’ Award. The Bombay Technologist also supports partial travel and registration expenses of students presenting technical papers within India.

Rankings

The Institute features regularly in various National Rankings in India. It was ranked 2nd in the NIRF for the year 2016. In fact, the Institute ranked 1st when considering citations per faculty, even ahead of IISc. However, the Institute did not feature on any international rankings till now.

Notable alumni

The Institute has produced many first generation entrepreneurs and academicians. Civilian honours including 3 Padma Shri and 8 each of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan have been bestowed upon various alumni ICT. Only two Indian engineers, namely Raghunath Mashelkar and Man Mohan Sharma, have been bestowed with the fellowship of the Royal Society, both of whom are alumni of ICT.Other notable alumni include: