Follow us
Increasing the number of seats in the Indian Institutes of Technology is not as simple as the HRD Ministry makes it sound. The older IITs argue that it won’t be possible to increase the seats in their B.Tech and M.Tech courses, however, a few seats can be increased in Ph.D. courses.
The directors of old IITs have said in the meeting held at IIT Bhubaneshwar on September 11 that the increasing the seats is not possible because of the lack of infrastructure.
One of the directors said that although they are in favor of increasing seats, the scope of the hike is only in the new IITs. The older IITs include IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.
Also Read:IITs: Ph.D. Scholars to serve as Faculty to Improve Student-Teacher Ratio
Despite the lack of resources at the older institutions, directors are positive that the yearly intake can be increased from 21,500 (current) to 31,000 in the next few years by enhancing the infrastructure and student intake of the newer IITs.
Targets were set by the IIT Council on August 23 meeting according to which student intake has to be increased by 50% within the next three years. HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had directed the 23 IITs to evaluate their resources and devise a strategy to increase the intake in B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D. courses year by year.
Following are the targets set for the next three years:
Course | Current Intake | Target Intake |
|---|---|---|
B.Tech | 10,500 | 14,500 |
M.Tech | 8,000 | 12,000 |
Ph.D. | 3,000 | 4,500 |
According to a registrar of one of the older IIT, the student intake needs to be increased by 54% so that the general category students don’t get affected as 27% seats are reserved for other backward classes according to a law passed in 2008. Apart from that hostels, faculty and other resources must also be increased to reach the threshold. The expansion done in the IITs so far is yet to be merged by the institutes.
There is a scope of expansion in the newer IITs as 14 of them have admitted fewer than fewer than 200 B.Tech students, whereas the intake at older IITs is 700 and IIT Kharagpur takes in 1,200 B.Tech students.
Despite the capability to admit more students, the newer IITs will take more than three years to start working at their full potential and admitting more students.
20% of the seats in M.Tech also remain vacant as students leave to work in PSUs in the middle of their course. Keeping this in mind the colleges will write to PSUs to defer the joining dates so that the students can complete their post-graduation before joining.
Also Read:M.Tech Students Ditch IITs Mid-Course for PSU Jobs
The older IITs will start admitting Ph.D. scholars who don’t require the campus lodging facilities. Seats will be increased and aspirants who want to participate in research and working simultaneously will also be allowed to enroll for research initiatives.
IITs have also taken steps to enhance the student-teacher ratio. Ph.D. students will now be counted as faculty and each student will be teaching undergraduate students with a target of 10 hours per week. Teams will also be sent to US tech schools at the end of the session to recruit foreign faculty.
