IIT Palakkad is one amongst the new IITs that started functioning in the 2015-16 academic year. IIT Palakkad is located close to Palakkad town in Kerala State, at the foot of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 50 kms from Coimbatore international airport,Tamil Nadu and 130 kms from Kochi international airport, Kerala. The place is known for its rich traditions, sylvan surroundings, especially the Silent Valley rain forests and the famed palmyra trees.
IIT Palakkad currently operates from a temporary campus inside the Ahalia Integrated Campus in Kozhippara on the eastern frontiers of Palakkad. Construction of the permanent campus spanning 500 acres of land in Kanjokode, Palakkad, is in progress. The Institution offers four-year B.Tech programme in four branches: Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The B. Tech. curriculum is well-rounded, maintaining a good balance of technical core subjects laying strong discipline-specific foundation, technical electives covering specialized and advanced topics as well as broad-based general category electives. The institute has also started Masters and PhD programs in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Though a relatively new institute, IIT Palakkad is poised to set a distinct track in engineering education in India.