Thapar University, (a private university) previously known as Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (before 2007)- was founded in 1956 by Karam Chand Thapar of the Thapar Group of companies. Situated in the city of Patiala in Punjab, it is one of north India's premier institutes of engineering and technology. Thapar University offers courses at the bachelors, masters and Ph. D., level in several disciplines of engineering and technology. Over 10,000 students have graduated from Thapar University. In a survey conducted by DataQuest, it was rated among the top 15 engineering schools in India.

Thaparian culture is based on overall growth. The students keep themselves busy in some activity or the other. These include various academic, cultural and literary activities. At the same time discipline is maintained by the institute to maintain focus on professional growth. The annual college festival "Aranya" has been quite a success among all colleges in Punjab. The institute also has an literary-cultural festival by the name "Saturnalia" held every year in March.

Campus
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) is the major Institute located in the 250-acre (1.0 km2) Thapar Technology Campus (TTC) in the historic city of Patiala(Punjab). Other prominent institute is the L.M.Thapar School of Management. It is one of the premier institute of management in India which facilitate young minds having traits of management and technology blended together to form a perfect suit for current scenario.Other than Thapar Insitute of Engineering and Technology, the Thapar Technology campus also has Thapar Polytechnic, Thapar Centre for Industrial Research and Development


Academics
The Institute offers undergraduate programmes leading to Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree and postgraduate programmes leading to Master of Engineering (M.E.), Master of Software Engineering, Master of Technology (M.Tech.), Master of Science (M.Sc.), Master of Computer Applications (M.C.A.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degrees. In addition, industry oriented and practice based Master's Degree programmes in various disciplines are offered in collaboration with TTTI, Chandigarh.Students have to take the AIEEE Exam in order to get admission into Thapar University for the undergraduate program and students take the MET exam for admission into graduate/postgraduate programs.

Recently, the institute has started MBA as well as dual MBA+BE five year integrated programme.

A number of Thapar graduates have made it to the IES. D.S.Kapur, a civil graduate of 1978 batch was all India IES Topper. Apart from the technical field, Thaparians have excelled in the administrative services.IAS and other Central Services also caught the fancy of the Thaparians, after a 1983-batch electronics and telecommunications graduate K. B. S. Sidhu set the trend, finishing among the IAS toppers in the 1984 batch.

The Management school i.e. L.M.Thapar School of Management has also marched its steps towards excellence. The students, most of whom have prior professional work experience, have been crossing the boundaries and are frequently visiting top institutes like IIM Bangalore and IIM Ahmedabad for project work and dissertation purposes.

LMTSOM is also hugely benefited by the presence of Science and Technology Entrepreneurs' Park which is a part of Thapar University. Management Research and Innovation Forum (MRIF) has been set up specifically for promoting management based research. It is looking forward for collaboration with prominent research centers across the world.


Activities
The most pronounced aspect of education at TIET is the extensive participation of students in extracurricular activities. These are carried out by various societes headed by one member of the faculty. MUDRA (Music and Dramatics Society) conducts its cultural nite and an inter-year cultural competition IZHAAR. LITSOC (Literary Society) is another popular society which conducts the annual inter-hostel literary festival ACUMEN. Other societes include ACID, CCS, IEEE (TIET chapter), SAE (TIET chapter), etc and various departmental societies.

The institute also organises a literary-cultural festival by the name Saturnalia held every year in March. This is complemented by a technical festival ARANYA, normally held in October-November each year. These events involve large participation from prestigious institutes from all over India and is graced by the presence of artists like JAL, KAILASH KHER, EUPHORIA etc. The students publish their own magazines, AVANT GARDE, which represents the views of the students along with addressing issues of the youth and nation, and ECLECTIZA, which emphasizes on the latest advancements and applications in the field of science, thus catering to the thirst of all the techees in the institute. The theatrical society is also one of the most active societies on campus.


History
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) was established in 1956 with the goal of providing undergraduate and postgraduate education in Engineering and Technology, a close interaction with industry, and a strong emphasis on research. TIET has grown steadily in size and activities during the last four decades of its existence. Over 10,000 engineers have graduated from TIET. In recognition of its achievements, TIET was granted full autonomy and the status of a Deemed University in 1985 by the University Grants Commission.


The Thapar Group
Ballarpur Industries Limited, Bilt Paper Holdings Limited, Orient Engineering and Commercial Company Limited, The Pioneer, Sohna Stud Farm Pvt Limited, TT & G Trading Pvt Limited, iBilt Technologies Limited, Bilt Middle East Pvt Limited, Himalayan Hideaways Pvt Limited, Karam Chand Thapar & Bros Limited, Lavasa Corporation Limited and KCT Papers Limited are some of the Thapar group companies. Other Thapar group companies and concerns in India are, the Pioneer newspaper, Thapar house on Janpath lane, Tiger Bay restaurant, Global Green. The Crompton Greaves, Greaves Cotton and JCT group is with MM Thapar. His son Samir Thapar runs JCT Mills and JCT Limited and his son Arjun Thapar runs JCT electronics. Bilt Chemicals and Bharat Starch was vested with BM Thapar and hence would be under his sons Gautam and Karan Thapar's control. Gautam has also been named by L.M. Thapar as the successor of his group of companies. IM Thapar's son Vikram Thapar looks after his group which includes the Calcutta based coal trading business K.C Thapar started out with and prawn farms for prawn exports as well as the Tiger Bay restaurant chain. Thapar Institute of Engineering and Tech. is a group project funded by the Thapar's. JCT Mills FC is a Football club of JCT Mills.


Future Expansions
Patiala-based Thapar University (formerly Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology) plans to set up two campuses over the next five years — one on a 14-acre campus near Chandigarh by 2010, and another in Chhattisgarh.It plans to offer courses in management and engineering at its proposed Chandigarh campus and will invest around Rs 30-35 crore.

The existing 250-acre campus in Patiala has a student strength of 4,600 and can accommodate around 6,000 students, according to Abhijit Mukherjee, director, Thapar University.

“The initial student strength at the new campus would be 200 but would go up to 2,000 eventually. Also, we will need 15-20 faculty members for the Chandigarh campus. The Patiala campus’ management school will be shifted to Chandigarh and the existing engineering courses will also be expanded. As of now, there are 300 students in management and 3,000 in engineering,” said Mukherjee.

As for a campus in central India, Thapar University has been invited by the government of Chhattisgarh to set up a large campus with residential facilities like the Patiala one .

The university is also keen on introducing new inter-disciplinary courses. Recently, it added courses in biology and biotechnology.

On the foreign-alliances front, it already has a tie-up with the University of Waterloo in Canada, Western Ontario and Virginia Tech, and is in talks with more institutes to have exchange programmes and research collaboration