IITs Performances to be assessed

Updated on: Thursday, September 10, 2015

iitThe Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) performances are getting assessed for the first time,to open themselves up to an independent third-party review of their performance that will assess them on the basis of indicators besides the general performance parameters.

This review will also assess performance of the institutes on indicators like the number of international students enrolled,the number of students opting to take up research-focused careers,and the contribution made by the institutes and their alumni to national goals and local community conditions.

IITs directors will also for the first time be appraised for their performance and all IITs has been asked to evolve a mechanism to do so,officials from the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry said.

The move comes at a time when it is strongly being felt that even the best of India’s educational institutes are consistently failing to top global education rankings. The draft performance appraisal framework that the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has now sent out to all IITs has specifically introduced parameters that are of key consideration in global education rankings like QS,Shanghai and Times.

The ‘Institutional Grid for Assessment’ sent out to all 15 IITs outlines parameters such as the number of international students as scholars,the number of international visiting researchers who stay for at least a week and the number of courses with international participation. Education rankings place a high premium on the global character of an institute.

Other indicators are the number of publications per faculty member or student and the contribution elicited from alumni.

The performance of IITs will also be judged through indicators like the nature of courses and curriculum being offered and their relevance to recruiters,the adequacy of teachers,the quality of teaching environment,the number of students who were motivated to opt for careers in engineering or science and technology sectors,the adequacy of infrastructure-teaching labs and equipment,and the feedback obtained from employers in science and engineering sectors.

In a bid to engage the IITs with society and with the national goals,indicators like the contribution to National Development Goals (NDGs) and national research projects in the sectors of defence,medicine,environment,energy,health,infrastructure and social responsibility are listed.
Transparent and responsive governance structures and diversity of students and faculty in terms of gender equity will also count as parameters in the assessment of the IITs.

THE Parameters for assessing performance

* Global character of institute
* number of international students as scholars
* number of international visiting researchers
* number of courses with international participation Internationalisation
* publications per faculty/ student in a list of top 10 journals
* average number of citations per department/ center/ school Alumni engagement quotient
* contribution elicited from alumni Facilities and teaching nature of courses and curriculum,relevance to recruiters
* adequacy of teachers,infrastructure – teaching labs and equipment
n feedback from employers in science/ engineering sectors
Engagement with societal,national goals
* contribution to NDGs and national research projects
* social responsibility

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