Set up in 1974 as an interdisciplinary program, the Department of Management Sciences (DoMS) at IIT Kanpur was one of the first in the country to leverage the analytical education of engineers in the training of management professionals. The program subsequently evolved as a full-fledged department in 1988. Under the aegis of IIT Kanpur, known for its vibrant academic culture, the DoMS has become one of the well regarded departments of industrial engineering and management sciences in India.

The department currently has 26 faculty members with PhDs from reputed universities within and outside India, having interests in diverse fields such as quantitative and statistical decision modeling, operations and supply management, manufacturing systems, finance, marketing, economics, analytics, infrastructure, IT, Innovation, Intellectual Property Management and knowledge management. In keeping with the overall academic ethos of IIT Kanpur, teaching and research are pursued with passion and dedication. Faculty members are also engaged in a diverse set of activities including industry consultancy, management development programs and public sector projects. Some senior faculty members from this department have gone on to leadership roles in several Indian universities, or gained other recognitions: Director of NITIE, Director of IIM Lucknow, Director of IIIT Bangalore, Vice Chancellor of UPTU, and President of the Operations Research Society of India.

The department encourages active collaboration with industry as well as other academic institutions. The department receives several faculty applications every year from candidates interested in its research oriented environment. The aim of the department is to continue to excel in its research and training programs, promoting both technical and managerial skills as well as higher ethics and values.

The curriculum at the department comprises state-of-the-art techniques to plan, design, implement and manage integrated systems of people, material, capital, information and technology. The subjects taught provide a well-rounded coverage of the methods to manage and improve productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability of industrial, information and infrastructural (service) systems. In today's competitive era these methods have rapidly become relevant for engineers in all disciplines. Consequently, fresh engineering graduates as well as practicing professionals in fields ranging from computer science to aerospace engineering and architecture to electronics engineering regularly enroll in DoMS postgraduate programs.

The department currently offers Ph.D., M.Tech. and M.B.A. programs in Management Sciences. The Ph.D. program is widely regarded as one of the best programs in management research in India. Candidates with master's degrees from diverse academic backgrounds go through a rigorous selection process to gain admission to the Ph.D. program. Research scholars undergo courses in management disciplines such as Quantitative and Statistical Decision Modeling, Operations and Supply Management, Manufacturing Systems, Finance, Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Innovation, Intellectual Property Management, Quality Models, Service Science & Management, E-Governance etc. Doctoral students from DoMS have found faculty positions at reputed universities such as University of Florida, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIIT Jabalpur and IIM Calcutta.

The M.Tech. program is the earliest program offered by the department. It provides a perfect blend of coursework in industrial engineering and management sciences. Admission is selective, a high GATE score being a prerequisite. Students take a year of course work followed by a year-long dissertation on a thesis topic. The intervening summer internships are used for practical project work in industries. Several alumni of the M.Tech. program have done our department proud in both the corporate world and academia with careers in reputed companies such as HSBC Analytics, Citibank, Symphony, GENPACT, IBM, Oracle, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Reliance, Texas A&M University and IIMs.

The MBA program was started in 2001, keeping in mind the growing need for managers with a strong technical background. Admission is through the Common Admission Test (CAT) followed by personal interview and group discussion. The syllabus includes several core courses in the first year that provide a broad foundation in management and include a strong practical component, with industrial projects incorporated in the courses. In the second year, students have the flexibility to choose among several electives depending on their individual interests and career goals. Conscious effort is made to keep the course content relevant to the Indian scenario. The case study method is used extensively to encourage participatory learning. The program has a mandatory two month summer internship component. Specialization offered in MBA includes sectorial areas of Service and Manufacturing and functional areas of Operations, Systems, Marketing, and Finance. Recent graduates of the MBA program have been placed in reputed Indian and multinational companies such as GENPACT, Accenture, ICICI Bank, ABN AMRO, Ashok Leyland, ACC, Citibank, Honda, LG, Maruti Udyog, Siemens, and TCS.

In order to be able to offer state-of-the-art academic programs, the department seeks to collaborate with reputed Asian, European and US universities. This will enable the department to globalize its academic research and teaching paradigm. At present the department has collaborations with RPI, USA, and METEC Defence University College (Ethiopia).

Our Vision

To excel in both industrial and management education and research to have a long lasting impact on management theory and practices in academia as well as in industry.

Core Competence

Aside from teaching, the faculty are engaged in wide research areas which include Operations Research, Operations Management, Decision Support Systems, Flexible and Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Industrial Engineering, Organization Sciences, Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Small Business Management, Total Quality Management, Manufacturing Strategy, Management of Technology , Strategic Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing and Consumer Behavior, e-Commerce, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation, Infrastructure Finance and Policy, Intellectual Property Rights.

Facilities

The department is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for computational support. The System Optimization laboratory provides computational support both for teaching and for research. It includes connected Pentiums and Workstations to form a local area network, and provide access to the computing facilities of the institute and Internet.

To support its various academic programs the department already has a separate dedicated academic building, and it would strive and maintain the full utilization of its 10 class rooms/seminar rooms/MDP class rooms, library, faculty lounge, 30 faculty rooms, rooms for PhD. students and computer labs.