Engineering is a very vast and most opted field among students, hence IITs and NITs do not need any introduction as such. But when it comes to choosing among these two most popular and prestigious institutes in India, it’s always a hassle for us.

Both IITs and NITs play a vital role in promoting the structure of the education system in India. Though these two institutions are the best of all options to pursue Engineering in India, they have differences in many aspects which you need to understand before joining these institutes.

Here, in this article, we will discuss about all the differences between IIT Vs NIT and every necessary details you need to know about IIT and NIT like their eligibility criteria, courses offered at IITs and NITs, career opportunities, etc, so that you can easily select which institution is best for you to fulfil your dreams.

 

What is IIT?

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are one of the most prestigious and globally appreciated engineering institutes in India. Every year these IITs create accomplished engineers, scientists and technologists. The first IIT that is IIT Kharagpur was established in 1951. And after that 4 new IITs were inaugurated in 1960 in Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Kanpur.

In India there are 23 IITs established in different cities that run various undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the field of electrical engineering, Mechanical engineering, computer and software engineering, civil engineering, Architecture and planning, chemical engineering, etc.

 

What is NIT?

National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are autonomous institutes for engineering that  are governed and maintained by the state government of India. Earlier, these NITs were known as Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs). In 2007, NIT was declared as Institutes of National Importance (INI) under the National Institute of Technology Act.

Most of the NITs offer both Bachelor and Master’s degree programs in various branches of Science, Engineering, Architecture and Management. In India, there are a total of 31 NITs in various states to provide better education in all sectors of engineering.

 

IIT Vs NIT: Eligibility criteria and Admission Procedure

At present, there are a total of 23 IITs and 31 NITs in India and every year lakhs of candidates appear for entrance examinations with an aim to get a seat in the top IITs or NITs. But to get admission in these prestigious institutes IITs vs NITs, you need to score the minimum cutoff marks in the entrance exams.

Every candidate has a very common question: what is the criteria for admission in IIT vs NIT; what is the admission procedure of IIT vs NIT; how to get admission and a seat in IIT vs NIT; and many more. So here we have provided all the basic details of the IIT vs NIT admission process.

Admission Process for IIT

For Postgraduate Courses

For the candidates who want to take admission in an IIT program, Joint Admission Test for MSc. (IIT JAM) is conducted for them but if a candidate has missed a seat in IIT JAM, then CCMN counseling will be their next option for the NITs.

 

IIT Vs NIT: Number of Institutes in India

In India, there are a total of 23 IITs and 31 NITs in various states providing a high quality of education in the field of engineering and technology.

S.No.	Indian Institutes of Technology	Established in (year)	National Institutes of Technology	Established in (year)
1	IIT Kharagpur	1951	NIT Allahabad	2002
2	IIT Bombay	1958	NIT Bhopal	2002
3	IIT Kanpur	1959	NIT Nagpur	2002
4	IIT Madras	1959	NIT Jaipur	2002
5	IIT Delhi	1961	NIT Calicut	2002
6	IIT Guwahati	1994	NIT Surat	2002
7	IIT Roorkee	2001	NIT Durgapur	2002
8	IIT Bhubaneswar	2008	NIT Kurukshetra	2002
9	IIT Gandhinagar	2008	NIT Hamirpur	2002
10	IIT Hyderabad	2008	NIT Jalandhar	2002
11	IIT Ropar	2008	NIT Jamshedpur	2002
12	IIT Patna	2008	NIT Rourkela	2002
13	IIT Jodhpur	2008	NIT Karnataka	2002
14	IIT Indore	2009	NIT Warangal	2002
15	IIT Mandi	2009	NIT Silchar	2002
16	IIT (BHU) Varanasi	2012	NIT Tiruchirappalli	2002
17	IIT Palakkad	2015	NIT Srinagar	2003
18	IIT Tirupati	2015	NIT Patna	2004
19	IIT Dhanbad (ISM)	2016	NIT Raipur	2005
20	IIT Bhilai	2016	NIT Agartala	2006
21	IIT Goa	2016	NIT Arunachal Pradesh	2010
22	IIT Dharwad	2016	NIT Goa	2010
23	IIT Jammu	2016	NIT Uttarakhand	2010
24	–		NIT Delhi	2010
25	–		NIT Manipur	2010
26	–		NIT Sikkim	2010
27	–		NIT Meghalaya	2010
28	–		NIT Mizoram	2010
29	–		NIT Nagaland	2010
30	–		NIT Puducherry	2010
31	–		NIT Andhra Pradesh	2015

 

IIT Vs NIT: Quality of Education

If we talk about the quality of education provided in IIT vs NIT, it is more or less similar in both these institutes. Both IITs and NITs provide extremely good quality of education and produce qualified engineers, but at the same time it’s obvious that IITs are ahead of the NITs because of their high standard of studies and values.

IITs are top-level engineering colleges in India having an experienced and accomplished faculty and renowned for their educational standards. But still some old and prestigious NITs such as NIT Trichy, NIT Surathkal and NIT Warangal are far better than newly formed IITs (Palakkad and Tirupati).

 

IIT Vs NIT: Courses Offered

Both IITs and NITs are the most prominent institutions for engineering in India offering various undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.Here is a detailed list of all the courses offered at IITs vs NITs:

Courses offered at IITs

Undergraduate	Postgraduate	Doctorate
Bachelor of Technology (BTech)	Master of Technology (MTech)	PhD
Bachelor of Architecture (BArch)	Master of Architecture (MArch)	–
Bachelor of Science (BS)	Master of Science (MSc)	–
Dual Degree M.Sc	MS	–
Dual Degree MA	Master of Business Administration (MBA)	–
–	Master of Design	–
–	Post Graduate Diploma (PGDIPL)	–
–	Master in Medical Science & Technology (MMST)	–
–	Postgraduate Diploma in Maritime Operation & Management (PGDMOM)	–
–	Post Graduate Diploma in Information and Technology (PGDIT)	–

 

Courses offered at NITs

Undergraduate	Postgraduate	Doctorate
Bachelor of Technology (BTech)	Master of Technology (MTech)	PhD
Bachelor of Architecture (BArch)	Master of Architecture (MArch)	–
Bachelor of Science (BS)	Master of Science (MSc)	–
Dual Degree (BTech-MTech)	Master of Business Administration (MBA)	–
Dual Degree (BS & MS)	MS	–

Some of the popular BTech programs offered at IITs and NITs:

 

IIT Vs NIT: Fee Structure

Fee Structure of IIT vs NIT is one of the major parts of these university comparisons. Although both of these institutes are under the control of fundamental governmental bodies of the country, fee structures are relatively different for IIT vs NIT.

Fee structure of NITs is generally lower than that of IITs.Here are the fee structures for the general category in IIT vs NIT across India.

 

IIT Vs NIT: Placements and Packages

It’s a fact that students choose to study in IITs because of their extraordinary placement records. If we compare the placements of IIT vs NIT, the placements for NITs continued more domestically with international recruiters from Microsoft, Ernst, Facebook & Young, amongst others. Here is a list of all the top recruiters at IIT vs NIT:

IIT

Students from an IIT receive the average package between 12-15 lakhs per annum for BTech courses, and this package is only for domestic companies. For the placement in any foreign MNCs, these students can get offers worth crores as well.

For corporate positions, an IITian can expect average packages around 10-12 lakhs per annum and for research positions it can be 6-8 lakhs for other different courses. A student pursuing MBA from IITs can expect an average package of 16-25 lakhs as their starting offers. These offers can be more sometimes.

NIT

For BTech and engineering students passing out from NITs, the average packages start around 10-15 lakhs per annum. The package offered to BArch students is around 5-6 lakhs per annum. For other BS and MS courses, the average package offered ranges between 5-7 lakhs per annum, and an MBA can expect an offer ranging from 6-8 lakhs per annum.

But still there are some students from NITs, who have got better job placements than students from newly formed IITs. Hence, we can say that only institutions can not decide the placement and package of a student, it is their talent and knowledge.

 

IIT Vs NIT: Facilities and Infrastructure

The facilities provided and the infrastructure are also one of the important factors that define the quality of an institute.IITs are formed much before NITs and their infrastructures are wider and equipped with latest advanced technologies than NITs.

The labs of IITs are renowned as the best for any engineering and technological college in India and their classrooms are filled with excellent digital learning instruments and technologies.

In order to carry out research in various fields  IITs provide better machinery and the best facilities to students and hence projects that are undertaken by these institutes are widely accepted.

IITs have also preserved prototype models of renowned scientists in mini museums such as the functional prototype of the ‘Van De Graff Generator’ invented by Robert Jemison Van de Graaff asserted by IIT Kanpur.

When we talk about NITs, they are productivity-driven and provided with basic amenities. These institutes are still going through their development phase.

The social presence of these institutions creates an equal reach among all the engineering aspirants and pursuers and gives them worldwide acceptance.

 

IIT Vs NIT: Extra Curricular Activities

Both IITs and NITs conduct several extra curricular activities apart from the course. These institutes provide students ample opportunities to participate in national and international level competitions every year under sports and other extracurricular activities to explore their passion.

The extracurricular activities conducted by IITs and NITs in their campuses are:

 

IIT Vs NIT: Cultural Fests and Sports

Both IITs and NITs do not focus only on their students to excel academically, they also provide exciting sports facilities and extracurricular activities amongst the students. If you are a part of these institutes, you should not miss these inter-college competitions:

Cultural Fests in IIT

 

Conclusion

On a concluding note, both of these institutes IIT vs NIT are government and reputed engineering institutes of India. Selecting the best college can be challenging for you, hence we have discussed IIT vs NIT in all aspects to make it easier.

If we compare IIT vs NIT in all aspects like placement, quality of education, infrastructure, courses offered, etc, it is evident that IITs are better than NITs. But it’s not always about IIT or NIT, it’s about your specific branch of interest as in the long run branch you are opting really matters.

We can also say that the top 3 NITs (Nit Trichy, Nit Surathkal and Nit Warangal) are better than most of the newly formed IITs. So, at the end decision is yours.