The Indian Institute of Technology Madras is known both nationally and internationally for excellence in technical education, basic and applied research, innovation, entrepreneurship and industrial consultancy. A faculty of international repute, a highly motivated and brilliant student community, excellent technical and supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The Institute is proud to bear the laureate of being No.1 engineering university in India. More recently, IIT Madras has been given the title of Institute of Eminence.

In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement in Bonn, West Germany for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras was signed in 1959.