IIT Roorkee traces its origins to a government notification of 25 November 1847 establishing a college of engineering at Roorkee, which was known as Thomason College of Engineering for a century. The college was raised to university status in 1949 as the University of Roorkee, and on 21 September 2001 it was converted into the seventh IIT and declared an institution of national importance, according to the institute’s pages.
It offers bachelor’s degrees in 10 disciplines of engineering and architecture and postgraduate degrees in 55 disciplines, and lists a Saharanpur campus and a Greater Noida extension centre. Its NIRF 2026 data submission reported 4,615 undergraduate, 2,772 postgraduate and 3,295 PhD students for 2024-25; its IITR by Numbers page states 10,300+ students and 500+ faculty.