New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the 57th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on Saturday, where over 3,000 students, including 587 PhD scholars, will be awarded degrees.
The Prime Minister will also remotely inaugurate Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility established at the institute's Sonipat campus. Addressing a press conference on Friday, IIT Delhi Director Prof. Rangan Banerjee said PM Modi will present the institute's highest honours, including the President's Gold Medal, Director's Gold Medal, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal and Perfect Ten Gold Medals, to meritorious students.
A total of 3,036 students will graduate this year, including 1,049 BTech students, 567 MTech students, 248 MBA graduates, 243 MSc graduates and 587 PhD scholars. The convocation will also mark the graduation of the first batches of the Bachelor of Design (BDes), Executive MBA, MSc in Biological Sciences and MA in Culture, Society and Thought programmes.
Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi and NITI Aayog member Prof. Abhay Karandikar will attend the ceremony as guests of honour. Highlighting the institute's recent initiatives, Banerjee said IIT Delhi has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 18 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) to establish a nationwide academic and research collaboration network. The partnerships will facilitate student and faculty exchanges, joint research, shared research infrastructure and collaborative supervision of projects. To support these collaborations, the institute has launched ALIGN (Academic Linkages for Innovation and National Growth).
The institute also announced measures aimed at improving student well-being and placements. A placement mentorship programme has been introduced to connect placed students with final-year students for guidance on resumes, interviews and recruitment preparation. Additionally, a peer-support initiative, titled 'Call for a Friend', has been launched to help students cope with stress and anxiety during placement season.
On internationalisation, IIT Delhi said the intake of international students in full-time academic programmes increased from 43 in 2024-25 to 62 in 2025-26, while inbound student mobility for programmes exceeding three months nearly tripled from eight to 23 students. The institute currently has 88 active international MoUs across 30 countries and has launched three new international academic programmes this year, including a postgraduate diploma in Solar Systems and Management in collaboration with the International Solar Alliance and France's Institut National de l'Energie Solaire.
The institute said it recruited 37 faculty members over the past year, taking steps to improve the faculty-student ratio and expand multidisciplinary research. It currently has 16 foreign faculty members, with new recruitment mechanisms being explored to attract global talent. IIT Delhi reported sponsored research, development and consultancy projects worth around ₹600 crore during 2025-26, with a significant share aligned to national missions and supported by government agencies. Over the past decade, the institute has undertaken sponsored R&D and consultancy projects worth approximately Rs 4,000 crore.
The institute's intellectual property portfolio now comprises 1,871 assets, including 1,756 patents. During the past year alone, IIT Delhi filed 196 patents, concluded 26 licensing agreements, and incubated 26 new startups through the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT).
Among new industry collaborations announced were a Horiba Technical Centre, an Emerging Technology and Innovation Lab with Yamaha Motor Solutions India, equipment support from the ICICI Foundation for a smart manufacturing laboratory, and a joint technology hub with Cisco focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity research.
Banerjee also highlighted developments at the Sonipat campus, where a 9,500-square-metre research and academic building has been completed. The campus is also setting up Centres of Excellence on healthcare technologies and handloom technology, along with a national facility for testing materials under extreme temperature and environmental conditions.
The institute's Abu Dhabi campus also recorded expansion during the 2025-26 academic year with the launch of a BTech programme in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Energy and Sustainability, alongside growth in research collaborations and student enrolment, IIT Delhi said.