New HRD plan to make IIT research hubs

Updated on: Thursday, November 24, 2011

The HRD ministry has set up a committee to prepare a roadmap for the implementation of IIT reforms suggested by a panel headed by Anil Kakodkar.

Kakodkar himself will head the new committee which would consist of Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT-Madras, chairperson of standing committee of IITs; Devang Khakhar, director of IIT, Bombay; R K Shevgaonkar, director of IIT-Delhi and one more IIT director to be co-opted later.

A senior ministry official said, "Kakodkar committee gave a comprehensive report on a wide range of issues. Some recommendations need legislative intervention for which the Institutes of Technology Act would have to be amended. There are academic issues that can be dealt collectively by the IITs. The implementation committee would act as an interface between the ministry and IITs."

Sources said some of the minor recommendations would be put in place in the next six months. Issues like change in the administrative and fee structure, IITs' signing annual memorandum of understanding with HRD ministry and financial autonomy would need government intervention.

"The idea is to bring in the changes gradually," one official said. Most of Kakodkar committee's report has been accepted by the IIT Council. It had recommended that IITs should be rebranded as primary research institutes that should ramp up PhD students from less than 1, 000 students to 10,000 PhD graduates by 2020-25, and the number of IITs from 15 to 20.

Kakodkar has also recommended setting up of research parks at each IIT similar to the one in IIT Madras.

The committee suggested that the government should give an outlay of Rs 1.5 lakh per student to the old IITs, and an endowment grant of Rs 50 crore for each new IIT. The government was asked to provide capital funds at Rs 20 lakh per additional student.

It was recommended that the ministry should pay the full operating cost of education along with a scholarship for all post-graduate - PhD, MS and MTech - and undergraduate students from reserved category and economically weaker sections.

The committee recommended that IITs should produce up to 10,000 PhD graduates by 2020-25, while also adding 5 new centres

Times of India

New HRD plan to make IIT research hubs

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