IIT Council meeting decides to conduct of a peer review of each institute once in five years

Updated on: Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Aiming to make IITs more relevant, a Council Meeting of the permier educational institutions took a number of measures including conduct of a peer review of each institute once in five years.

HRD Minister Pallam Raju told reporters here after presiding the meeting that "The Council of IITs decided that the peer review of each institute would be carried out on a periodic basis, once in every five years. IITs need to review themselves in terms of what is happening academically, in terms of research, in terms of evolutions towards meeting world standards."

The peer review will be based on similar well-established review systems in world-class institutions and would be rigorous and forward-looking.

Besides periodic review of the institutions, each IIT will similarly undertake an in-house, department-wise review before any external peer review is carried out, the Minister said.

The review committee would consist of five eminent persons from the industry and the academia. The committee members would be selected by the Chairman of the Council of IITs from a panel of 10 names given by the Board of Governors of respective institutes, Raju said.

With a view to increasing the number of PhDs from 3000 at present to 10,000 by 2020, the Council of IITs also approved the recommendation of the Empowered Task Force headed by eminent nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar for "strengthening the PhD Programme in the IITs".

This provides for relaxed conditions for enrolment into PhD programme in IITs. Raju said the admission would be given without GATE score to students with CGPA (Comparative Grade Point Average) of more than 7.0 at the end of the third year but GATE score would be required for scholarship.

However, students from Centrally Financed Technical Institutions (CFTIs) with CGPA of more than 7.0 would be eligible for PhD programmes and also assistantship/fellowships without requirement of GATE scores.

All others will have to appear for GATE to get into M Tech and PhD programs in IITs. The Council of IITs also approved the Trainee Teacher Award NIT/IIT joint scheme with an aim to enhance the teaching quality and to address the faculty shortage issue.

"This scheme is open to all graduating candidates who are in top 15 per cent in the Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTIs). All other candidates who are in top 15 per cent from other AICTE/UGC approved institutions/universities (non-CFTIs) and having a valid GATE score would also be eligible," Raju said.

The concerned NITs would identify and implement initial screening criteria for the selection of potential candidates. "They would be engaged as trainee teachers at NITs. While initially they would assist in teaching, they would simultaneously go through part-time M Tech and PhD programmes of IITs to acquire higher academic qualifications, which is a prerequisite for faculty at NITs," he said.

The Council of IITs also decided that each IIT would establish a Green Office, which would carry out Green Audit and ensure inclusion of green technology related topics/courses in the curriculum.

The Kakodkar Committee Report also emphasizes the need for IITs to be in the forefront of development of technology for sustainable growth.

Most of the education and research institutions in Europe and America have adopted Sustainability Agenda and are implementing programmes to reduce their caron footprint, recycle the resources, adopt energy efficiency measures and include sustainability issues in the teaching programs.

As part of this, every student will be required to complete at least one project of technology application relevant to local neighborhood development relevant to his/her area of expertise/concern.

Raju also said the Ministry would be in touch with Home Ministry to address the issues of appointing foreign faculty in IITs. The Home Ministry has opposed the move by certain IITs to appoint foreign teachers as faculty in IITs.

IIT Council meeting decides to conduct of a peer review of each institute once in five years

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