Gradually, the Institute drew upon some of the brightest young Indians in Computer Science to serve on its faculty and initiated an independent academic program in 1971, leading to Ph.D. and M. Tech. degrees. The undergraduate program started later, with the first batch graduating in 1983. The department was formally established in 1984. Many of the nation's leading experts, educationists and consultants in computer science today are the alumni of this department. Currently, the department has a faculty of 22 whose interests span almost all areas of Computer Science.

The department admits about 30 students every year in the B.Tech. program and 50 students in the M.Tech. program. 15 students are admitted to the dual-degree program, which results in students getting both a BTech and an MTech degree at the end of 5 years. There are about 15 students registered in Ph.D. program at a time. There are two software engineers and two other staff attached to the laboratory facilities. Besides, there are a number of research engineers working in various sponsored projects.