Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati is an Autonomous premier Engineering and Technology University, the first among the 3rd phase of IIT's, announced in 2014, to have its foundation stone laid in March 2015. It started functioning with the support of its mentoring institute, IIT Madras from the academic year of 2015-16. The Institute is governed by the Institutes of Technology Act (Amendment) Act, 2016 and is an Institute of National Importance (INI). INI is a status that is conferred to a premier public higher education institution in India by an Act of Parliament for an institution which serves as a pivotal player in developing highly skilled personnel within the specified region of the country/state. The Institute is currently functioning from a temporary campus at Tirupati–Renigunta road. The Institute's permanent campus is coming up at a site in Merlapaka Village, Yerpedu (Mandal), Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. It's expected to be a 12,000 student campus in the coming decades. Currently the Institute is offering Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral Programmes.