[virtualmic]

I am an IITian, specifically from IITB. I can say for sure that the level of research in general is quite pathetic, except for one or two groups. The only thing IITs used to be good were, (in their early and mid years) to gather some good minds together and give them quite a bit of freedom and a nice environment (in the hostels and such) so that they can discuss their ideas, which they used to implement not while there in IIT, but after graduating.

However, in the recent years, the quality of these minds has become a bit questionable (this is purely anecdotal, no concrete proofs). One thing is for certain though, the amount of discussion which was there in years when each hostel room did not have its own computer was quite high, which now in the age of facebook and multiplayer games has reduced by a huge margin. As far as copying assignments is concerned, that is a pretty common phenomenon in case of general course assignments, unless one is really interested in that course and wants to learn.