IITs to play a bigger role

Updated on: Monday, January 17, 2011

The Institutes of Technology (Amendments) Bill, 2010, will make it mandatory for all the 15 IITs in the country to provide training, facilitate study visits, share laboratories and resources with other technical institutions in their respective zones.

The council of IITs has already given a go-ahead to the proposed amendment of the Institute of Technology Act and the HRD ministry is all set to amend the Act. Such a step is being taken to ensure that the growing number of technical institutes produce industry-ready students.

According to MK Surappa, director, IIT Ropar, Punjab, the IITs will, through this amendment, take on an advisory role for other institutes. Surappa adds that the new amendment is sure to bring about an improvement in terms of quality. "We will ensure right dispersion of knowledge so as to build a strong base for students at all levels," he says.

While the IITs are ready to help other institutes that fall within their zones, they want to ensure that their own students do not suffer. SC Saxena, director, IIT Roorkee, shares, "The amendment is still in its nascent stage. Also, we will need to first upgrade our resources and only then figure out how we can adopt other institutes to make the best of the resources that we have. We will sure welcome the amendment, but not at the cost of our students."

The IITs plan to build a consolidated database and get infrastructural issues in place to ensure smooth dissemination of information. MS Ananth, director, IIT Madras, points out, "We are already helping students of other institutes by sharing our research infrastructure and will be ready to open our doors to more such initiatives in the future."

Amit Patra, professor, department of electrical engineering, Kharagpur, emphasises , "We have already started some programmes in this regard and plans are ripe to carry the collaboration to a higher level. For instance, if we have a subscription of a research journal which is expensive then we plan to share it with the other engineering colleges. We already have a web channel — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) — wherein we upload and share lectures and course materials with other IITs and engineering schools. This is a joint programme conducted by the seven IITs (Delhi, Bombay, Guwahati, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Roorkee) and IISc-Bangalore . Also, we have plans to set up a virtual laboratory, which will enable students to access and share resources round the clock."

Like NPTEL, IIT Delhi has set up the National Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineering (NRCVEE). Its objective is to function as a national resource centre for imparting value-based education in engineering institutes.

Amendments Planned
(a) To include eight new Indian Institutes of Technology and declare them as institutions of national importance.

(b) To declare the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, as an institution of national importance and integrate it with the Indian Institutes of Technology system.

(c) To empower the Central government to notify 'zones' in the country for advising the state government and the Union territory included in its zone in the matter of technical education and any technical issue referred by them to the institute for advice.

Student Voice
The proposed amendment will surely help undergraduate students because the IIT curriculum is amongst the best in the world. However, apart from frequent interactions between professors of the institutes, student exchange programmes should also be facilitated.
Arafat Ahmad, Rizvi college, Mumbai

As far as laboratory sharing is concerned, travelling from one college to another between experiments doesn't seem feasible. Further, it is likely that the IITs will give first preference to their own students when it comes to lab timings. Instead of depending on the infrastructure of IITs, other technological institutes should ensure that they have quality infrastructure.
Rajni Aggarwal, Roorkee Institute of technology, Roorkee

Apart from sharing resources, administrative processes should also be shared. For instance, while most of the other institutes follow an aggregate percentage system, the IITs follow a GPA system that helps students who want to pursue their studies abroad.

Times of India

IITs to play a bigger role

More Education news