Eligibility rules for IIT exams to be tweaked

Updated on: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New Delhi: The race for an IIT seat may get tougher, with HRD minister Kapil Sibal calling for a greater weightage to the class XII examination results. By raising the importance of the school-leaving examination, the minister hopes to curb the proliferation of coaching schools focused on JEE, which is the entrance examination for IITs.

“The coaching centres are giving training for the IIT entrance. As a result, students are not studying seriously for class XII exam and giving more attention to entrance exam. We want to get rid of the coaching centres by giving more weightage to the board exam,” Sibal said.

This decision to make the class XII exam relevant to the IIT admission process was taken at the meeting of the IIT council on Monday. It was decided to set up two committees. The first, headed by Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar, will draw up a vision statement for IITs.

Sibal, who was unwilling to pre-empt the manner in which the class XII results will be made more relevant, has entrusted the task to the five-member Kakodkar committee. The second committee, which will comprise department of science and technology secretary T Ramasami, department of biotechnology secretary M K Bhan and CSIR director general Samir Brahmachari, will focus on the curriculum.

Besides finding a solution on “how to rid the system of the dependence on coaching and teaching shops”, the Kakodkar Committee will focus on how to move the IIT system forward with a greater emphasis on research. “The emphasis of IITs has to shift from just undergraduate to research, with attention to national commitments and projects, where there will be no private sector interest,” Mr Sibal explained.

The committee, which will have six months to submit its report, will also outline possible collaborations with the private sector. “The Kakodkar Committee will look at ways to increase the quantum of research, as it is research that creates wealth.”

The curriculum committee will have three months to submit its report and will concentrate on new areas of study for the institutes. The minister said while some of the recommendations will be implemented in the 2010 academic session, all of these will be implemented by 2011 academic session.

Sibal said that non-plan funding to IITs would be linked to the number of students. Explaining the increased financial outlay, the minister said he doesn’t see the IIT system becoming financially independent, as a lot of the faculty members are solely concentrating on research and teaching. In this regard, Mr Sibal said the norms to attract investment from foreign universities will be changed so that any overseas institute can invest in IITs in short duration of time.

Eligibility rules for IIT exams to be tweaked

More Education news