Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (Uttarakhand, India) has an illustrious history and a glorious past. It has its roots in Thomson College which was founded in 1847 to train technical manpower for construction of Upper Ganga canal. It was the first Engineering College in the then British Empire. In 1949, this great institution was accorded the status of the first technological university of independent India and was renamed as University of Roorkee. On September 21, 2001, the Government of India declared it as the Nation's seventh Indian Institute of Technology.
Department of Water Resources Development and Management (WRD&M)
The Department of Water Resources Development and Management (WRD&M) of IIT Roorkee is a premier place of learning of international standing in post-graduate education, training and research in the discipline of water resources development and management. Since its creation in 1955 under the stewardship of ECAFE (now ESCAP) of the United Nations, the department has imparted post graduate education and training in water resources development and management to 2234 water resources professionals from 41 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The department has creditably undertaken numerous national and international sponsored research and consultancy projects on hydraulic & hydrological modelling, remote sensing & GIS based studies for river basin geomorphology & flood-plain changes, stream bank protection & erosion control, flood estimation & management, hydro-power development, irrigation water management, river engineering including inland navigation, planning & design of hydraulic structures for water resources management. Besides regular post-graduation programmes, the department has been conducting many short-term national and international training courses on different themes of water resources management for purposes of capacity building of water resources professionals from India and abroad. The department has successfully completed major R&D projects on action research for effecting improvement in specific under-performing large irrigation systems in India under sponsorships of Ford Foundation, IWMI, etc.
The Department offers M.Tech. and Post Graduate Diploma/training programmes for specialization in the fields of Water Resources Development ( for civil, electrical and mechanical engineers) and Irrigation Water Management (for civil engineers, agricultural engineers and agricultural scientists) separately and organizes short duration courses on various topics in the water sector.
CEC offers a platform for the professionals and officials to relearn the fundamentals and the advances made in the cutting edge science and technologies. It helps the professionals to unlearn the obsolete and to acquire the advanced knowledge from the experts and peers in different areas. The courses are offered in varied and flexible formats and are led by faculty of this Institute. Experts from industries and R & D organizations are also invited to interact with participants. The Course participants are lodged in the Guest House of the Continuing Education Center and other Guest Houses of the Institute.