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In this presentation, the status of nano education in India will be discussed by taking the example of Indian Institutes of Technology. The seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT’s) at Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai, Guwahai and Roorkee in India are the premier institutes set up by an act of Indian Parliament for promoting teaching and research in all disciplines of science and engineering in the country. A status of nanotechnology curriculum at these institutes is a good indicator of nano education in India because of the presence of a large number of quality science and engineering students at these institutes. A focused research funding by National Initiatives on Nano Science and Technology of Department of Science and Technology and other funding agencies has provided an impetus to a large scaled research activity across different departments in these institutes. Like all educational institutes, there is an institutional emphasis at IIT’s to carryout research and education in synergic proportions. Initialization and strengthening of research activities is thus naturally being followed by the introduction of nano teaching courses. A close existence of the basic science (Physics, Chemistry), basic engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical) and interdisciplinary departments like (Biotechnology, Biomedical, Textile and Polymer) having strong departmental teaching programs makes IIT’s the ideal institutes for developing the curriculum in an indisciplinary research field of nano science and technology. Although, all these institutes have basic nano science and technology related courses, some institutes have started (or are in the process of starting) specialized nano teaching programs. Special features of these programs at different IIT’s, which provide different curriculum models for the introduction of nano education in science and engineering disciplines, will be discussed. |