Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private deemed university in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It was founded in 1984 by G. Viswanathan as a self-financing institution called Vellore Engineering College, later established under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, and granted deemed university status in 2001. In September 2006 it was renamed VIT University. VIT has campuses in Vellore and Chennai, sister universities in Amaravati, Bhopal, and Bengaluru, and an international campus in Mauritius. It has received various rankings, including 691 in the QS World University Rankings of 2026 and 19th overall in India by NIRF in 2024. The Vellore campus hosts Riviera, an annual sports and cultural festival, while the Chennai campus hosts Vibrance. The university has faced controversies, including the 2013 suspension of students over a gender-equality survey, a 2024 gender-equality run event that drew criticism, and a 2024 incident involving a fatal train accident near the Vellore campus. Notable alumni include Soumith Chintala, Papias Malimba Musafiri, Bindu Madhavi, Anand Prakash, Dhyan Sreenivasan, and Shubhangi Swaroop.