The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान कानपुर) (commonly known as IIT Kanpur or IITK) is a Central deemed University located in Uttar Pradesh, about 15 km north-west of the city of Kanpur in the Kalyanpur suburb. Established in 1959 as one of the first Indian Institute of Technology, the institute was created with the assistance of a consortium of nine leading US research universities as part of the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP). It quickly rose among the ranks of engineering universities and is currently one of the most prestigious and highest-ranked engineering universities in India. IIT Kanpur was established by an Act of Parliament in 1959. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room in the canteen building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the institute moved to its present location, on the Grand Trunk Road near the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district. During the first ten years of its existence, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP), where a consortium of nine US universities (namely M.I.